pupils to read, write, and count in French with classes being held in just local houses. In 1818 the first school was built with James Hogg and Edward Lynch as some of the first teachers that year. Another school had to be built at the cross roads of Main and what is now School Street, but was torn down in 1968. There were also small schools located on the properties of the late Rev. John Mitchelle and the late D. Mackay Ross. Each surrounding rural community had their own one room school house, Mountain Road, Louisville, Marshville, Cape John, Seafoam, Melville, Hodson, Hedgeville, Bigney, Welsford, and Toney River. The River John Consolidated School was built in 1968 at the top of School Street with a few hundred students attending, with the new addition built in 1985 around when one of the old schools was torn down near it. Until its closure in 2015, the school held students from primary through to nine. Students in senior high had to then travel by bus to West Pictou High School in Lyons Brook, and more recently Northumberland Regional High in Alma. Newspaper The Pioneer community newspaper began publishing in 1877 on every Thursday in River John, with a subscription rate of 50 cents for the year. The Pioneer contained business ads that were prominent during the shipbuilding days, carriage building, local events such as kitchen parties, fancy goods and patient mediation ads since the paper was edited and published by J. D. Gauld who was the owner of the drug store. With the decline of shipbuilding which resulted in loss of many businesses in the late 1880s, the Pioneer ran its last issue. Here are examples of inserts within the original newspaper: In the February 27th issue, 1879, notes “Mrs Bates, better know here as Miss Anne Swan, the Nova Scotia Giantess, has presented Mr Bates with a child. 30 inches in length, 16 inches across the chest and 22 pounds in weight.” In July 2014, The Pioneer was resurrected again after near 130 years with monthly publishing's on paper and online. It is now published by the River John Community Action Society as a not-for-profit community-owned paper and contains upcoming events, community news, crossword puzzle, letters to the editor and more. The advertisements in the paper pay for the residences in the B0K1N0 district, but outside of that is a $25 yearly