High School of Commerce (Ottawa)

The home of the High School of Commerce from 1967 to 1990. Today the building is home to the Adult High School

The High School of Commerce was an Ottawa secondary school that existed from 1929 until 1990. A commerce program had begun at Ottawa Collegiate Institute in 1902. The program became quite popular, and in 1915 it had to move to temporary quarters at Hopewell Public School. In 1917 it moved to the new Ottawa Technical High School building, but officially remained an OCI program. In 1921 the commerce program was merged with the vocational program and both were administered by Ottawa Tech. Both the technical training and the commerce programs proved quite popular, and in 1929 the commerce program was moved to its own building, attached to the west of Glebe Collegiate Institute, and the High School of Commerce became Ottawa's fourth public high school.

In 1967 the High School of Commerce moved to an even larger and never facility on Preston Street. This was considered an extremely modern facility, most notable for having an IBM 1401 computer on the third floor. However, enrolment in the commerce program began to steadily decline as most students opted for the composite schools and demographics made for fewer young people. In 1983 part of the building was given to the adult education program. This program gradually grew and in 1990 the High School of Commerce was closed and the Adult High School took over.