Text from the Plaque
Believing in the need for a preparatory school to serve the projected and much-debated provincial university, John Colborne, the newly-appointed lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, secured the legislative assembly's support in 1829 for such an institution based "upon the most liberal principles, under the most able masters". Upper Canada College began classes at York (Toronto) in 1830 and, the following year, moved into permanent premises on King Street West. During the 1880s the school's extensive endowment of Crown lands was given up in exchange for the present "Deer Park" site, to which the students and faculty moved in 1891. From its inception, Upper Canada College offered a strong classical curriculum and is today one of the oldest and most prominent schools in Canada.
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