Mr. H. J. A. Brown, secretary-treasurer for the South Peel Board of Education, began negotiations to purchase land for this new school, and the site chosen, a 13 1/2 acre birch-dotted woodlot, was bought for the sum of $32,469. Construction began at once.

The breakdown of costs for the school was as follows:

Contractor's fee	$580,000
Cost of land	$32,469
Architect fee	$34,800
Landscaping and Fencing	$80,000
Cost of debenture issue	$25,200
TOTAL COST	$752,469

Plans were made to open the school in January, 1958, and the student body of Lorne Park Secondary School assembled for the first time in September of 1957 at T.L. Kennedy, where they would attend the afternoon shift until the school was ready.

The school itself was constructed out of a wide array of materials. The 35 000 square feet of roofing came from New Brunswick, while the shop and gym floors were made from granwood tiles, imported from England. The main entrance was praised as a masterpiece of design, with its suspended concrete canopy and massive two-storey windows facing south. When the school opened, the front foyer was panelled in luxurious mahogany boards, of which there is only a small section left today. As for the actual building, there were twelve 'ordinary' classrooms, along with a shop, library, music room, art room, home economics room, cafeteria and a gymnasium.

While students transferred from T. L. Kennedy in January, the official school opening was not held until Friday, March 7th, 1958. Gifts of a lectern, key, Holy Bible, portrait of the Queen and a guest book were all made by the community. Lorne Park opened with 272 students and a staff of sixteen. The principal, Mr. Mumford and vice-principal, Mr. Manders, were responsible for ten classes: four in grade nine, three in grade ten, two in grade eleven and one class in grade twelve.

During the first few years, many traditions were established at the school, and dozens of clubs and activities were started. Compared to school practices today, regulations at Lorne Park in the first few years were fairly strict. Certain staircases had to be used for going up and others for coming down. Boys wore short haircuts, girls could not wear jeans and students were not allowed to use the front entrance. Oddly enough, during the first year of the school prior to choosing an official mascot, the football team played under the name of the "Lorne Park Cardinals" and finished with a 2-4 record. By the end of the fifties, the school had firmly established itself in the community and by 1960, Lorne Park boasted a staff of 24, teaching 506 students.

The 1960's brought great changes to Lorne Park. In late 1960, grade nine students actually held a boycott against the cafeteria. Students wore placards to protest the fact that prices were going up, while food quality had remained the same - bad.

In 1963, under a new plan from the South Peel Board of Education, schools were reorganized into "streams." As a result, a new $535,000 Business and Commerce wing (now the english/ science hall) was added to the school, and in 1965, a $1,315,000 Technical wing was opened. The Lorne Park community was somewhat reluctant to accept the opening of the latter wing because it was felt that it would 'take away' from the academic tradition that the school had built up for itself. Nonetheless, the new facilities were quickly welcomed as students began taking courses in Small Engines, Industrial Chemistry and Mechanical Drafting. In 1966, a new library was opened, which jutted out onto the north lawn of the school. It was shaped rather oddly and was very small due to the fact that a larger structure would have blocked light to other classrooms.

The student population of Lorne Park was changing as a whole as well. LP students consistently placed top in the Board in UNICEF fundraising each year, and when Mr. Bailey became principal in 1966, students were granted permission to use the front entrance. In addition, a smoking area was set aside for students and staff, and grade thirteen classes were granted a common room for their use. Lorne Park became the first school to use computer-built timetables, and in 1967, Canada's centennial year, students erected a replica of the Centennial symbol at the front of the school - a monument which is still there today. In addition, a time capsule was placed at the base, to be opened in 2067.

A number of notable Lorne Park events in the sixties included a music trip to Expo '67 in Montréal, winning first place in the Toronto Township's Victoria Day Parade of 1964 (with the float "Good Ship Lorne Park"), and in 1969, Lorne Park hosted the taping of the CBC television program "It's Debatable", moderated by Elwy Yost.

In 1969, Mr. Berges replaced Mr. Bailey as principal, and the South Peel Board of Education was replaced by the Peel Board of Education, the largest school board in the nation. In 1969, Lorne Park also went on shift with students from the Clarkson area, while they waited for construction of their new school to finish. By all accounts at the time, the shift period was not a happy time.

By 1970, plans had begun to be drawn up to replace the library with a resource centre large enough to house 250 students. The Board also planned the addition to house a seminar room and an auditorium, however, the Ministry of Education vetoed the expense, and Lorne Park had to settle for what is now the Lecture Hall. Construction on the $468,000 addition began in 1971 and was completed in time for the new school year in 1973.

Lorne Park led another revolution that same year when it became the first school in the board to offer full-credit semestering. While the Board had only intended to have a few semestered schools in the entire region, the experiment at Lorne Park proved so successful that it was adopted by most schools in Peel within a few years. In 1976, Mr. Berges left and was replaced by Mr. Bridge as principal of Lorne Park Secondary School. In 1977, the school celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a Community Action Day, a Penny Arcade for the neighbourhood, a "Golden Oldie" dance, Old Boys' football games as well as an Open House. In 1978, Her Honour Pauline McGibbon, Ontario's first woman Lieutenant-Governor, was invited to the school to discuss the role of the monarchy in Canada. After she addressed 300 senior students, she was awarded Lorne Park's first honourary citizenship letter.

During the eighties under the leadership of principal Mr. Swalwell, Lorne Park carved itself out a niche in the Metro Toronto area for academic, athletic and extra-curricular excellence. Lorne Park students placed in the top few in the nation in math contests and the debating team began to attract the attention and envy of private schools in Toronto.

Ms. Voisin, principal at Lorne Park from September, 1994 to January 2000, had leadership over one of the most active, creative, energetic student bodies in the region. In the nineties, Lorne Park emerged as one of the top schools in the region and it was not uncommon to see Spartans in the news - be it for athletic excellence in field hockey, mathematic marvels on contests or as the top debaters of the nation.

Spartans have travelled the world in various programs, including several student and teacher exchanges, music and sports related trips, debating and Model United Nations conferences, as well as for a variety of other reasons. Some of the more obscure destinations have included a trip to Fort Resolution to discover Far Northern technologies, and a trip to Tuktoyaktuk, NT as part of the Open House Canada cultural exchange in 1979. The whole school went on an 'unexpected vacation' in November, 1979, when the Great Mississauga Train Derailment forced the evacuation of the city for one week. This resulted in rescheduled Championship team practices, a postponed Drama production and about 1,600 very happy students...

The school population peaked in 1979, when Lorne Park had a teaching staff of 92 and 1 647 students in a building designed for 1,420. From 2000 to 2006, under the principalship of Cathy Patterson, the school's population has stayed consistent, with approximately 75 teachers and 1,430 students. Lorne Park is a Regional Enhanced Centre which also features an extended French program and a wide array of courses in the Arts and Industrial/ Communication Technologies. It is the largest in the Lorne Park family of schools. Other schools in this family include Hillcrest, Lorne Park, Owenwood, Tecumseh and Whiteoaks elementary schools.

The proud Spartan tradition is nearly fifty years old and still going strong. Lorne Park Secondary School continues to strive to be the best, as is reflected in our school mission statement: "Lorne Park Secondary School is dedicated to fostering academic and personal excellence, pride and spirit in a dynamic and supporting environment" Portam Futuro Aperimus! May Lorne Park continue to open the doors to our future!