In 1843 a District Grammar School was opened in the centretown area of Ottawa at the corner of Waller and Daly streets. There were 40 paying students. In 1859 the school was one of the first in Ontario to admit girls.
Several Grammar Schools were consolidated as the Ottawa Collegiate Intstitute (OCI) in 1873. At the time collegiate institute was a designation given to schools in Upper Canada that had four or more masters who were well-qualified to teach classics, moderns, English and mathematics. The school board aquired the land on Biddy Street for C$3,200 and paid a squatter C$100 to give up any claims on the land. (Biddy Street was renamed Lisgar street in 1880 after Lord Lisgar Canada's second govenor general.)
The building was designed in the Gothic Revival sytle by W.T. Thomas and W. Chesterton and was built at a cost of C$26,000. The school opened in 1874 with Govenor General Lord Dufferin having laid the cornerstone.
In 1892 the school was the first public secondary school in Ontario to hire a female teacher.
Four new classrooms were added in 1892 but a fire in 1893 caused the school to be temporarily closed. In 1903 a new wing was built with eight new classrooms. Another wing with laboratories and an auditorium was added in 1908. A rifle range for the cadet corps was added in 1912 and a cafeteria in 1923.
In 1922 OCI was renamed Ottawa Lisgar Street Collegiate Institute which soon was shortened to Lisgar Collegiate Institute.
In 1951 a new gymnasium was built accross the street with a connecting tunnel. This building was enlarged in 1962.
Noted Alumni
The school's website is http://www.lisgar.ca