The Coffee House

Along the same lines as the "Random Local News" thread in Current Events and Politics, here's a place to talk about the history of your local area! Post about buildings, objects, and events which are important to your local area's history. 

(Data Protection and Anonymity: The Board Guidelines forbid members from posting their personal information outside topics which they started in the Community Café (with designated exceptions). Anything posted in this thread constitutes such an exemption)

The city where I live was a notable Roman fort, so I'll have plenty to post in here . However, I'll start by going a little more recent than that. This is the first school I went to: 


(Source: Pinterest)

It's Upton St Mary's School, which first opened in 1885. It was an infant school, so it was only open to students between four and seven years old. To be honest, I don't have particularly fond memories of the place: this was before I was diagnosed with Asperger's, so nobody could make any accommodations for me, and I had a hard time getting on in my classes . However, it was still a sad day when I left in 1998 - even more so because my class was the very last one to graduate from this school. It closed at the end of that school year, ending an era which had lasted for 113 years. These days, it's become a pre-school - so, at least it's still playing a role in children's education . 

Anyone else got anything they want to share?

Shannon Miller is from Edmond, even though she's born in Missouri.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/en...ntry=MI032

Source: Doug Hoke / OK History

Nice ! I don't know very many famous people from Chester (of course, when I looked it up, I found a few, but nobody of any particular importance to me). 

Now, here's one of the lost features of Chester's history. These are the Javelin Men, escorting the judge's coach past the Militia Buildings: 



Sadly, I never got to see this - and it hasn't been possible to see it for over 50 years now. The Militia Buildings were demolished in the 1960s, to way for this generic office block . (Eventually, this was itself demolished, and nobody really misses it)

Here's a bunch of pictures showing what our buses used to look like: 

https://victoryguy.smugmug.com/Chester-C...ort-Buses/

I think they looked very smart in brown and beige, especially the double-deckers. I miss that livery (and I honestly wonder whether it inspired the TCH default theme )

I started this thread with a picture of Upton St Mary's school - the first school I went to. So now, I'll post about the second school I went to: Upton Heath. Here's an aerial photo of the main buildings (which isn't dated, but it was taken before 1965):


(Source: History of Upton-by-Chester)

The school built in 1950-51, using typical postwar architecture (for example, the windows were made using aluminium that was left over from the war). When it opened in 1951, it was known as Upton County Primary; it later changed its name to Upton Manor, and then to Upton Heath (in 1998, when it merged with St Mary's).

The school still exists today; however, the 1950s buildings do not. They were demolished at the end of 2019, and a new building now stands adjacent to where they once stood. I suppose the old buildings were ageing, but even so, it's kind of sad that a large part of my childhood no longer exists in the form that I knew it .

You can find more information (and more photos) over here.

Here's a series of photographs of Chester in the 1990s:

https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/whats-on...C4LLLYwaf8

I don't remember the boat . However, I do remember quite a few of these (including the buses, which I posted about earlier!)