Notes:
Parkdale began in the 1850s as an independent settlement (west of Toronto) within York County. The original village was north of Queen Street West; east of Roncesvalles from Fermanagh Avenue, east to the main rail lines. It was roughly one square kilometre in area.
1872: A group of parents established the first local school in a rented one-room cottage on Queen Street West and Brock Avenue, in Parkdale.
1877: Trustees of School Section No. 22, York Township, opened a school (with 12 pupils) in a small, rough-cast house on the site of the present school.
1878: A just-formed school board demanded a new school house for Brockton-Parkdale. When the town council refused, Chairman John Clark and Secretary-Treasurer Major John Gray erected the first school on Jameson Avenue at their own expense.
1879: Parkdale incorporated as a village; school board had six members. Small cottage replaced by a two-roomed brick building. School named Jameson Avenue School. Principal: J.A. Wismer.
1881: Jameson Avenue north of Queen Street renamed Lansdowne Avenue for the then Governor General of Canada. (Presumably the school name changed to Lansdowne about this time.)
1884: Three-storey Victorian structure built as a model school.
1889 Mar 23: Parkdale annexed to city of Toronto; school became part of the city school system. It accommodated 650 pupils in 14 rooms; averaged 50 students per classroom.
1889 Apr 18: Name of Lansdowne School changed to Parkdale School. (Toronto already had a Lansdowne School, opened in 1888; it was renamed Lord Lansdowne in 1967.)
1909-10: Old building replaced by a three-storey school of 15 rooms designed by Charles H. Bishop.
1914: Addition.
1922: Addition. School had 18 rooms, including a Home Economics room, an Industrial Arts room and kindergartens. Approximately 630 pupils; average class size was 35.
1958 Nov 6: New senior wing (begun in 1955) formally opened. School could now accommodate 800 students; grade 7 and 8 students came from Queen Victoria Public School.
1993 May: Students and staff moved to temporary site on playing field of Parkdale Collegiate Institute.
1995 Apr: New building occupied. The entrance to the old school has been kept as a separate structure. It can be seen at 75 Lansdowne Avenue, at the entrance to Parkdale Community Recreation Centre and Pool.
