Pepperrell HS History
Opened: 1956
Closed: 1960
Pepperrell High School was located on Pepperrell Air Force Base in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The base was previously known as Fort Pepperrell and was operated from 1941 to 1960. The base was named in honor of Sir William Pepperrell of Kittery, Maine, commander of a force of 4200 soldiers and sailors aboard 90 ships, who captured the French seaport of Louisbourg after a 46-day siege on June 16, 1745.
The brick junior/senior high school building hosted classes for the first time during the 1956-57 school year. The school yearbook was the Aurora Borealis and was published the first year of the school. The school teams were the Falcons. Mr. Scott Keahy was the principal for the 1957-58 school year. That year there were nine seniors, thirteen juniors, twenty-two sophomores, thirty-four freshman and two classes each for seventh and eighth grade. There were fifteen teachers on the staff.
The Student Council was an integral part of the school, and the sports were basketball and bowling. Both sports had boys’ and girls’ teams and played Canadian schools in the local area.
A unique feature of the school were the student run radio programs, “Falcon’s Lair” and “Cliff’s Caboose”, that were broadcast on the weekends at the local radio station.
The school closed in 1960 when the Americans left the base. The school building became a Children’s Rehabilitation Center and then was renovated and converted into condominiums.