St. Louis Catholic Elementary School, Mimico

History

During the post war years Mimico quickly grew with the arrival of many new families from largely Catholic European nations, especially many from Italy, settling in northern Mimico. This led to the creation of St. Louis school out of St. Leo's (established in 1926), both of which are within the parish of St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church, Mimico, and together formed the former Mimico Separate School Board. St. Leo's Italian speaking pastor, Rev. Dr. Louis Markle, was very instrumental in the creation of the school while plans for a separate Italian church in northern Mimico were considered after liturgical changes led to the replacement of Latin with English for services at St. Leo's church (Italian masses are still celebrated at the church). Rev. Dr. Louis Markle choose his own patron, St Louis of France, as the patron for the school. St. Louis was built on the former farm of the founder of St. Leo's, Mr. Edward Stock, whose nearby home, 'Eden Court' (recently designated as historic) on Royal York Rd. (formerly Church St.) was used for masses before the original St. Leo' was built. St. Louis is separated from the rest of Mimico by the Queen Elizabeth Way which was constructed through Mimico where many homes were demolished for it. The school was first served by the Sisters of St. Joseph until the Town of Mimico was dissolved in 1967 which led to the amalgamation of the Mimico Separate School Board with the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the Toronto Catholic District School Board). St. Louis has faced challenges as new parishes and schools, especially Holy Angles (also a largely Italian parish near the Queensway) wee created and Toronto experienced a general decline in the population of school aged children in recent years. The original St. Louis school was demolished in 1990.

Graduating students from St. Louis originally attended Etobicoke's first catholic secondary schools, Michael Power (for boys) or St. Joseph's, Islington (for girls) both in central Etobiocoke. If unable to pay, students had the option of attending the local public Mimico High School. After full funding for Catholic Education was introduced in the 1980s, new catholic secondary schools were established in southern Etobicoke. St. Louis is now a feeder school for Bishop Allen Academy in New Toronto.