School History

Who was D.S. MacKenzie?

D.S. MacKenzie Junior High School, named in honour of Alberta's first Deputy Minister of Education, was officially opened on March 7, 1969.

A History Lesson

Duncan Stewart MacKenzie was born in Ontario on February 21, 1868, the year following Confederation.  One of nine children who grew up on the farm of his Scottish Canadian parents, D.S. MacKenzie came west in 1891 to teach in McGregor, Manitoba.  The following year he returned to Ontario and taught in schools there for three years.

D.S. MacKenzie, at the urging of his brother Kenneth, came to Edmonton in 1895.  In 1896 he was appointed principal of Niblock School, a four-room brick school on the site where Old Scona now stands. D.S. MacKenzie was the first high school teacher in South Edmonton (Strathcona).  His annual salary for the first year was $660.00.  By 1901 D.S. MacKenzie was also the principal of Grandin Street School, on the site where King Edward School now stands. In September 1905 D.S. MacKenzie became the Deputy Minister of Education for Alberta.

D.S. MacKenzie died on April 26, 1935, at the age of 67 years.  His wife Mary, whom he married in 1904, died in 1962.  They had three children, two sons and a daughter.

Mr. MacKenzie exemplified the solid, hard working qualities that we value in the responsible citizens who helped develop western Canada.  His contribution to education and to good citizenship will always be a model of personal excellence that students and staff at this school strive to emulate.