St Peter's School, Lewiston, Class of 1910
Description
St Peter's School ('Ecole St Pierre') was the first parish school in Lewiston. It opened in 1878 to service the French-speaking children of immigrants who poured into Lewiston in the 1860s and 70s to work in the mills. Note the large Stars-and-Stripes behind the graduating class; although children were taught exclusively in French (from Canadian textbooks) until the 1930s, there was a growing desire among parents to 'Americanize' their children to provide them with better life chances.