John and Douglas Kindergarten fonds

The John and Douglas Kindergarten was opened at Yarmouth, N.S. in 1915. It was a pre-school for 4 year-old children. It began as a committee of the Local Council of Women, and then became part of the Associated Charities of Yarmouth when that body was incorporated in 1920. The Associated Charities was founded during World War I by the Local Council of Women. The name John and Douglas was adopted in 1920 when an endowment was set up by Mrs. A.J. Fuller and Mrs. Maud Cann in memory of their sons, John and Douglas, who had died in a recent epidemic. The kindergarten was established to help working mothers whose husbands were overseas. The school was first operated in a room in the Town Mission building until 1920 when the Associated Charities purchased the Alexander Lewis property on East Street. The school did not receive government funding until 1993; until that time it operated solely from community support. The I.O.D.E. was also closely involved with the operations of the kindergarten as they supplied milk every day since 1921. Presently the Yarmouth School Board provides a classroom in the South Centennial School for the school. The kindergarten is administered by a board and remains the only surviving activity of the original Associated Charities of Yarmouth.