Trafalgar Castle School - Yearbook (Whitby, Ontario Canada)

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A view of the college in 1874 at the time of the official opening. Chapter Five The Gala Opening Even before its official opening the Ontario Ladies ' College was attracting attention across the province. For beauty, and healthfulness of location, for comfort and pleasure of pupils these premises are without rival in the Domin- ion, and we predict for them an honored and durable fame, said the Mail, a Toronto daily newspaper. The Christian Guardian also paid glowing tributes to the college and those who had worked so hard to secure it. Sept. 3, 1874 was set as the date of the official opening by the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Dufferin. The day dawned dark and gloomy, but the town was gayly decorated with flags and bunting for the auspicious occa- sion. About 11:30 a.m. the train bearing the Vice-Regal party arrived at the Grand Trunk station and was switched north to the Port Whitby and Port Perry line. His Excellency was met at the uptown station on Dundas Street by Mayor Greenwood, Malcolm Cameron M. P. and a host of other local dignitaries, as the rain came pouring down. Four soldiers from the 34th Battalion of local militia came to their rescue with a tarpaulin stretched over the bayonets of their rifles, thus allowing the cere- mony to proceed. Following introduction of the town council, members of parliament and prominent citizens, the Mayor read an address of welcome to the Governor-General, referring to the advan- tages of Whitby and Ontario County and express- ing the town ' s loyalty to the Mother Country and Queen Victoria. Lord Dufferin replied briefly and inspected the guard of honor. A parade of carriages then proceeded through the main streets of Whitby to the new college. The lead carriage stopped briefly at an arch erected at the gates of the college grounds on which stood 12 little girls in red, white and blue dresses, each of whom waved small Union Jacks and bowed their welcome. On arrival at the Ontario Ladies ' College, Lord Dufferin and the Countess of Dufferin were presented with an address by Judge Burnham on behalf of the Board of Directors. He explained that the Ontario Ladies ' College had been chartered under the General Act of the Ontario Legislature and was under the supervision and patronage of the Wesley an Methodist Conference. The college, he said, would offer a thoroughly sound practical edu- cation which would provide instruction in re- fined manners, domestic habits and religiou s

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to the Christian Guardian that 10 gentlemen assumed the financial responsibility and paid the $20, 000 to meet the urgent claim. How the Grey Nuns became involved in the negotiations is not known, but the quick action of Mr. Sanderson and Sheriff Reynolds saved the Ontario Ladies ' College and assured its future. Work went ahead to organize a joint stock company, with expectations of raising $20, 000 to $25, 000 in communities from Kingston to Owen Sound. In June, 1874, the provisional directors and the Whitby District representatives of the Methodist Church sent reports to the Toronto Conference asking its support for the Ontario Ladies ' College. The conference, the govern- ing body for the Toronto area, appointed a 10- man committee, including Dr. Egerton Ryerson, a leading Methodist and Superinten- dent of Education for Ontario, to examine the reports. Following a study of the requests, the committee recommended that the Confer- ence accept the college as a connexional in- stitution, extending to it the patronage of the Conference without assuming any financial responsibility. Secondly, it recommended that the college be placed under the supervision and patronage of the Toronto Conference, with authority to appoint officers and visitors as may be granted from time to time by the General Conference in accordance with the bylaws of the institution. Upon receiving the committee ' s report, the Toronto Conference accepted the recommen- dations and appointed Revs. Dr. Nelles, E. H. Dewart, and W. H. Withrow as visitors to re- port on the progress of the college to the-Con- ference. On a recommendation from the directors, the conference appointed Rev. Mr. Sanderson as principal and chief resident officer responsible for the moral and domestic government of the college, as well as its educational work. Rev. James Roy was appointed as the college ' s first professor. Throughout the summer of 1874, Rev. Mr. Sanderson made regular reports to the Guardian on the progress of raising the stock. In the issue of July 8, he reported that about $2,000 was subscribed at the Toronto Confer- ence and another $3, 000 collected by Methodist ministers in the Toronto area. Two ministers canvassed Toronto where they obtained $500 each from two prominent citizens. One minister covered the area to the north, one to the east, and one to the west of the city. Another took Belleville, Cobourg and Picton, while Mr. Sanderson himself visited Brampton, Streetsville and Barrie. Everywhere he went, he invited all to visit Whitby to see Trafalgar Castle, and reported a man from Montreal had assured him that residents of that city would invest in such a grand under- taking. In the issue of July 22, Mr. Sanderson re- ported on his travels to the north and westo In Barrie, with the aid of Rev. D. C. McDowell, he obtained $600, and Orillia citi- zens, despite a depression in the lumber trade, pledged $300. One pledge of $200 and another of $100 came from Brampton, but as most of couple of hours. By July 22 the total stock raised amounted to about $28, 000, and a week later stood at $32, 500. Rev. Mr. McDowell ' s beginning of $600 had run to $2, 200, with Prince Albert, near Port Perry, taking $900, Darlington $500 and Belleville $900. On Aug. 26, the first general meeting of the stockholders of the Ontario Ladies ' College was held in the office of the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway Company. Mr. Sanderson announced that $35, 000 of stock had been taken and the balance of the $50, 000 required would be forthcoming once the remaining circuits had been visited. Election of the first board of di- rectors followed with those chosen being: James Holden, N. G. Reynolds, G. Y. Smith, Walter Coulthard, Joshua Richardson, and J. L. Smith, Whitby; Aaron Ross, Prince Albert; Thomas McClung, Bowmanville; and W. D. Matthews, Toronto. Provision was made for the Toronto Conference to also elect members to the board. The directors at a sub sequent meeting elected Mr. Holden, managing director of the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway, as president, and Mr. Coulthard, vice-president. F. H. Torrington, a promi- nent Toronto musician, was chosen to teach vocal and instrumental music at the college, and J. Hock as teacher of drawing and painting September 15, 1874, was set by the direc- tors as the opening date for the Ontario Ladies College, climaxing nearly a year of hard work and planning to bring the college into being. G.Y. Smith

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principles as well as what are considered the higher branches and accomplishments. Judge Burnham went on to outline the history of Trafalgar Castle, referring particularly to the visits of Prince Arthur and Baron Lisgar. The Governor-General congratulated the Board on its acquisition of Trafalgar (iastle and expressed his interest in education and the youth of Canada. He took special pleasure at seeing a bust of Sir Walter Scott, one of the princes of European literature in the room where he delivered his address. The Governor-General proceeded to issue a warn- ing about a new class of literature and school of writers whose chief object seems to be to extract amusement and to awake laughter by turning everything that is noble, elevated and reverenced by the rest of the world into ridi- cule. These writers, he said, substituted parody for invention, and coarse vulgarity for the tender humor of a better day, or if this error is avoided, a sickly morbid sentimen- talism is substituted, more corrupting than absolute vice, or a historical sensationalism which is as bad as either. I cannot but think that it is a great matter that in our schools that we should take the greatest pains to main- tain a standard of healthy robust and refined taste. A considerable number of presentations followed, after which the Governor-General and his party left Whitby by train. The actual opening followed the official ceremonies by 12 days. On Sept. 15, 1874, 25 pupils enrolled and a large gathering was held in the evening to acquaint the townspeople of Whitby with the new college. One of the first items to which the new Board of Directors turned its attention after the opening was provision of sidewalks to the college. The matter was brought before the town council with a request for special funds, which resulted in an appropriation of $400 to construct a plank sidewalk six feet wide from the College to Dundas Street. Funds were also supplied to repair the walk to Brock Street. One councillor wanted to limit the expense of the work by constructing a four-foot sidewalk but his amendment was defeated. Late in 1874 the Ontario Ladies ' College secured its first principal. Rev. John James Hare, a man of remarkable ability who was to serve in that capacity for 41 years. A native of the Township of Nepean, near Ottawa, he was 27 years old when he assumed the posi- tion. He was regarded from his earliest years as a child prodigy, having obtained a second class teacher ' s certificate at the age of 12, and matriculated into Victoria University three years later. At 17 he began a teaching career and at 19 entered the Methodist ministry. Mr. Hare served in churches at Chatham, and Smiths Falls before returning to Victoria University in Cobourg to graduate in 1873, winning four first prizes. After leaving college he was ordained and made assistant pastor at the largest church in London, Ont. In 1874, the year he became principal of the Ontario Ladies ' College, he married Miss K. McDowell, daughter of Rev. D. C. McDowell, one of the college ' s founders. By November 1874, the Ontario Ladies ' College had 28 boarders and 14 day students, with applications coming in almost every week. Ten teachers were now employed and enrolment would reach 115 by the end of the first year. On Dec. 23, Mr. Torrington, the musical director staged his first musical and literary entertainment for the public at an admission price of 25 cents. Rev. Dr. Nelles of Cobourg was on hand to give an earnest and practical lecture on popular errors and possible success in the education of girls. Following short readings by the pupils, the president and vice-president of the Board and Mayor Greenwood each delivered addresses. Thus closed the first months at the Ontario Ladies ' College, everyone being certain that a promising future lay ahead. Rev. and Mrs. J.J. Hare ' s wedding photo, 18 '