Stop 6: old tech
You are now at the new Pharmacy, number 1 Brown St. It
was used as a Laundry towards the end of the 19th Century. We saw an
old photo with seven women wearing long white aprons standing outside the
building in 1895. Then it became a police barracks and then a technical school.
Notice its curved roof, distinctive to Portlaw.
Una
Howley’s granddad, Jim Timmons, was a teacher and a vice principal at the
technical school. We met him on one of our walks. He still lives on Brown St in
number 98. He told us that the vocational school classes started in 1954. There
were also four night classes held there. Girls could attend after 1960. Like
most other small vocational schools in the area, it was closed in 1969.
Kilmacthomas Technical School was more central and now that people had free
transport to it, it made more sense to have one big school. Mr. Kenny Bowers and
his family lived there at one time.
Notice
the pretty garden in front of it. This is called the I.C.A. garden. The I.C.A.
planted it a few years ago. Also notice the building on the right hand side.
This is the old dispensary, which was in use for 50 years.
The Old Dispensary is where the town’s Heritage Group wants to set up a Heritage Centre.
