McGill University - Old McGill Yearbook (Montreal Quebec, Canada)

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PROFESSOR NEVIL NORTON EVANS, M.A.Sc. AUTHOR OF ' RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF AN UNDERGRADUATE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO ' 22

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Cardinal Villeneuve Hon. Vincent Massey Dr. Chipman 21 Dr. Dresser Dr. Lafleur

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Random Recollections OF AN UNDERGRADUATP: of fifty years A(X3 WRITTEN FOR OLD McGILL, 1934 by PROFESSOR NEVIL NORTON EVANS. M.A. Sc. HALF a centur - ago, the College grounds were separated from Sherbrooke Street by a wooden fence, and wooden gates led into the Avenue. Just inside, and on the left of the entrance, was a picturesque little stone lodge, where lived the Groundsman with his family. During the excavation of the railway tunnel under the mountain, this little building was so injured by the blasting that it had to be taken down (about 1918), and it has not been replaced. A wooden sidewalk ran from Sherbrooke Street north to the Main Building, with a turn-otY to the left to the Redpath Museum, which was opened in 1882. To the east of the Avenue was some grassy, level ground, beyond which, and behind the houses on University Street, there was a picturesque little glen. Through this there ran a little brook, or burn, which gave the name Burnside to James McGill ' s farm. Beside it there wound a delightful shady path, much admired of lovers; and near by was a spring of delicious clear, cold drinking water, now, alas, under the Chemistry and Mining Building. Behind the Redpath Museum was the Observatory, a storey lower than it is today; and across the head of the Avenue was the Arts Building; while a little further to the east, and a little back, was the Old Medical Building, occupying the site of the front of the present Biology Building. These were all the University Buildings on the Campus in those days. During the reconstruction of the Arts Building in 1926, thanks to the ingenuity of the architects, the old facade was so little changed externally that the general impression now made is much the same as it was half a century ago. The building then consisted of three parts, the Molson Hall to the left, the Centre Building, and the East Wing on the right. These three portions were connected by one-storey structures, the westerly one of which housed the Museum (till 1882), and the easterly one the Chemical Laboratory and adjoining Lecture Room. The East Wing was originally intended for students ' dormitories, but was never used as such. It was divided into two parts, front and back, the front part being the Principal ' s residence, and the back that of the gentleman who exercised the functions of Secretary, Registrar and Bursar. The door of the Principal ' s residence (above the present Office door) was reached by two curving flights of steps, while a very small door in the east wall gave admission to the other residence. The Bursar ' s office itself was on the ground floor, immediately inside the little door, consisted of one small room, and was presided over by the official himself and, later, one clerk. Not infrequently, in the early days, one found the ofifice empty; and then an elderly gentleman, in black frock coat and slippers, would appear from upstairs. The Principal had a very small office in the Main Building, and the Dean of Arts a smaller one, and neither of them had a secretary. No private offices were provided for Professors: they generally hung their coats and hats in the Faculty Room, which was on the ground floor; and if a student wished to see one of the staff, he had to meet him in his class-room, either just before or just after a lecture! On passing through the main entrance of the Centre Building, which housed both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Applied Science, one entered a large hall or passage, run- 23