Ernest Harmon ES History
Opened: 1956
Closed: 1966
The first school at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base was an elementary school established in 1948 using a small clapboard building that housed twenty-eight children and three teachers. A new elementary school was built near the base entrance in 1955 and formally opened in May 1956 by the former base commander, Colonel Richard Fellows and the school principal, Mr. Gerald Brennan. In 1956 there were nineteen teachers and sixty-two children.
In June 1960 the elementary school was relocated to a building with large play areas. There were twenty-nine elementary teachers. Mr. Harvey Bodiford was the superintendent of both Harmon and Goose Bay US military schools with his main office at Goose Bay.
The base’s civilian dependent population continued to grow during the early 1960s and the schools expanded along with them. In 1962/63 the elementary-middle school staff jumped to forty-two.
By 1965/66, the last year of military operations at Ernest Harmon AFB, the elementary enrollment was over 1000 students with thirty-eight teachers. When the base closed, there were 1175 elementary students with forty-three teachers.