1922

Boys Industrial School Essondale 1929

The Provincial Industrial School for Boys (later called the Boys Industrial School of Coquitlam or BISCO) opened in 1922. At the time, administrators viewed labour as a cure for “delinquency.” The institution was opened under the Provincial Juvenile Reformatory System. Yet many boys were incarcerated for social reasons unrelated to reformation. The boys worked on projects onsite and at the neighboring Colony Farm. They were housed in cottages with Tudor-style exteriors but inside was a sterile, institutional setting. Three cottages still stand today.