Bishop Ryan requested that the School Sisters of Notre Dame take over the teaching and administration of the new school. Grade 8 graduates from Holy Family, St Johns, St Eugenes, St Helens, Blessed Sacrament, St Margaret Mary in Hamilton and students from the Fruitland and Winona schools would make up the student body. The boundary between BR and Cathedral was set at Gage Ave above and below the escarpment.  That first year the students had to pay a tuition fee of $3.00 per month to attend Bishop Ryan. The first staff consisted of Sister Joan Boyer (first principal, 1958-1962), Sister Raphael Arnold, Sister Clarice Missere, Sister Frances Cabrini, Miss Sandra Agro (Giammichele) and Mr Gerry Ward.  

             

The new school building was officially opened at a gala celebration in the school gymnasium on April 16, 1959. Classes began for the Grade 9 students in the new B.R. on Friday April 17, 1959. In the four subsequent years other parts of the school were opened to accommodate students from Grades 10 to 13, one year at a time. Enrollment grew steadily to just under 2000 students until a “satellite” school had to be set up at St Francis Xavier Elementary School to house Grade 9 students from Stoney Creek, Winona and East Hamilton. To relieve the overcrowding at the main campus, the satellite operated from 1971 to 1975.

           

Bishop Ryan High School was housed in this building at 166 Queenston Rd until the move to new facilities at 50 Albright Rd, second semester, 1991. The Hamilton Public School Board transferred the facility at 50 Albright Rd, Elizabeth Bagshaw School at the time, to the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic Separate School Board to accommodate the BR community in February, 1991. A new era began at the “new” BR in a more modern school with completely renovated classrooms and facilities. The building was new, but the BR spirit continued from its original site. Cries of “We are BR” still filled the hallways and sports fields.

           

Classes began on January 7th, 2014 at the third reincarnation of Bishop Ryan High School  (SW corner of Dakota Blvd. and Rymal Rd.E.). The new building has up to date facilities, but the same BR spirit, “where faith, pride and effort promote excellence”.

Written by: Dan Smith (BR teacher, 1970-2003), A Celtic Forever