Brandon University - Sickle Yearbook (Brandon, Manitoba Canada)

Page 14 text:

BRANDCN COLLEGE 60tI1 ANNIVERSARY tReprinted from Feb. 2, 1960, Brandon Daily Sunl One day in 1890 a notice appeared in The Brandon Sun: Old patrons of the Rapid City Academy will be glad to know that Mr. S. J. McKee has decided to open his academy in Brandon on Monday, November 10. This year-1960-Brandon 'College is 60 years old. Its roots go further back. The college has constituted a major cultural force in the pioneering and civilization of the Western Manitoba prairies. This year Brandon College prepares for great chang as. Many of the men who guided the institution through its formative years and through a punishing decade of depression-from Dr. McKee to the late Dr. J. R. C. Evans -will not see these changes. The sweeping college expansion program, calling for the spending of 53,600,000 over the next five years, is largely a result of the dreams and tenacity of a handful of dedicated men. In the late- 1870's Scots and English settlers were pushing ahead of the railway-builders into the rolling country of Western Manitoba. For awhile it looked like Rapid City was going to become the commercial hub of the area. B OPENED IN 'I880 An academy was opened there in 1880 by several Baptist clergymen. It was a denominational, residential school, providing courses in English, mathematics, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and theology. For most of the decade Dr. McKee was director of the school. But the early promise of Rapid City soon faded. Brandon was chosen to be the first CPR divisional point west of Winnipeg, almost guaranteeing that 'the straggling tent town would become Manitoba's second city. Keeping in step with the times, Dr. McKee abandoned the Rapid City operation, moved south and opened his academy in rented rooms above Nation's Dry Goods Store at the corner of Eighth Street and Rosser Avenue. Next year, in 1891, the school was shifted to the top floor of Fraser's Store, now the Cfhrest Block. During the next nine years Dr. McKee's private academy occupied various rented quarters around the town. The school by 1897 had developed into a full-fledged business college, offering courses in typing, shorthand and book- keeping. By 1897 the academy was being called Brandon College. But it was not yet certain whether the Baptists would establish a permanent college in Brandon. The Bap- tist churches of Western Canada were considering three other college sites: Rapid City, Portage la Prairie and Calgary. However, delegates to the convention of Baptist churches of Western Canada in 1899 unanimously voted to set up a college in Brandon. Dr. A. P. McDiarmid was appointed principal. Professor McKee, whose school was merged with the new institution, was made senior staff -member. Baptist board of directors, in the words of Dr. McDiarmid, envisioned a Christian college in the West for the training of young men and women in general, and in particular, for the helping of young men entering upon pastoral and missionary service. First year enrolment was 110 students, 13 of whom were heading towards the ministry. On Oct. 5, 1899, the board of directors approved that permanent college buildings be erected on a parcel of land bounded by Eigh- teenth and Twentieth Streets and Princess and Lorne Avenues. Less than seven months later the conerstone was laid for the five-storey mainbuilding. BUILDING CAMPAIGN During 1900 more than 533,000 was raised by canvassers across Canada. Brandon College in this year be- came affiliated with the University of Manitoba. The dollar went a lot further then than it does now. Residen-ts at the college in the first year of the century paid 331.25 a week for room and board. An addition to the Administrative Building was constructed in 1906 and named Clark Hall after Dr. W. S. Clark, one of the major donors to the project. Clark Hall :became the women's residence. In 1908 the department of theology was established. By this time Arts constituted the maior faculty of the college. Three years later the denominational institution switched its affiliation from the University of Manitoba to Baptist-governed McMaster University, then located in Toronto. After being at the 'helm since the formation of Brandon College, Dr. McDiarmid retired from the presidency in 1912. Dr. Howard P. Whidden, an American, succeeded him. The board, accepting Dr. Mc-Diarmid's resignation, paid tribute to the unconquerable logic and manly cour- agel' he displayed in helping to establish the college with no financial backing, save the faith and enthusiasm of the few Baptists then resident in the West and the esteemed pledges of a few thousand dollars from hon- ored friends in the East. . Ten 1 ... -..fd

Page 13 text:

THE LATE DR. J. R. C. EVANS , '-4-.gen , N156-

Page 15 text:

STUDENTS RECRUITED Brandon College took an active part in the First World War. A platoon of students was recruited in 1916 for the 196th Battalion CEF. During the war commercial and theology courses were discontinued. One year after the construction of the first unit of the Science Building, Dr. F, W. Sweet in 1923 succeeded Dr. Whidden as president. Voicing some of the heartiness characteristic of that decade, Dr. Sweet in his 1924 president's report to the board said: The knowledge acquired during these six months has given me admiration for Western Canada and good hopes for the futureg confidence in the loyalty of western Baptists to the collegeg appreciation of the system of higher education in the four pro-vincesg a conviction that the Brandon type of college has an important place in western education, satisfaction that Brandon as a city has the characteristics most desirable for a small col- lege city. BECAME PRESIDENT Dr. Sweet died in 1925. Dr. D. Bovington took over but retired a year later. Dr. J. R. C. Evans, after a period as acting dean, in 1928 began his 31-year span as college president. During the next four years the college curriculumunderwent some fundamental changes. An increased de- mand for university courses caused the college in 1928 to drop the teaching of grade nine, a holdover from the old academy. Grade 10 was eliminated in 1930. Two years later grade 11 was discontinued, while grade 12 department of education courses were instituted. Brandon College, paralleling the development of the prairie west, had grown from a prairie high school to a college offering complete university courses and having degree-conferring powers. But the depression crippled the institution and nearly forced it to fold. WESTERN SUPPORT Baptist Union of Western Canada, meeting in Edmonton early in 1931, decided the financial condition of Brandon College was so shaky that its doors should be closed, A group of college supporters had agreed as a syndicate to pay the institution S750,000 if the people of Western Canada raised S100,000 in 1930 and S400,000 more in the next three years. But many people on the prairies were having a hard time feeding themselves as drought brought crop fail- ures and the nation reeled under financial collapse. Only 54,000 was raised in 1930. Members of the syndicate were released from their agreement. At the time about 300 persons were enrolled at the college. About 190 of them were Arts students. It was recognized that, beyond regular revenues, the college somehow had to raise 347,000 a year to carry on. Only by borrowing against college securities and digging into a scholarship fund were faculty salaries paid and students' laboratory and room fees returned at the end -of the 1930-31 academic year. But the college pulled through, narrowly staving off bankruptcy. SPLENDlD SPIRIT ' I am glad to be able to refer to the splendid atmosphere and spirit that have significantly prevailed through- out the year, said Dr. Evans in 1936. It seems to me that .here lies the reason, in the main, why Brandon Col- lege has been able to survive the trying days and years of depression through which we havenpassed. The spirit of the institution is unique, without doubt, and in it is to be found our greatest asset. , The college limped along for two more years, its enrolment gradually swelling and its funds rapidly dis- appearing, The year of crisis was 1938. , Baptist Union at a convention that year finally decided the college -should close its doors at the end of the academic year. There was despair in Brandon. In a letter dated Feb. 18, 1938, Dr. Evans wrote: The uncertainty regarding the future of the college and the opinions that have unfortunately been ex- pressed to the effect that the college will terminate its work this year have created an impossible situation . . . We cannot meet obligations pressing upon us, nor can we plan for the future either academically or financially. But again the college weathered the storm-this time by undergoing a major re-organization. AFFILIATION CHANGED Affiliation was changed from McMaster to the University of Manitoba. For the first time in its history, the college became a non-denominational corporation under a 36-member board of directors elected by the Brandon College Association. Brandon Board of Trade assumed responsibility for control and administration of the institution. ' Eleven