United College Collegiate - Tric Tics Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Intleit dnlleg? fell Iji - ittiki, buk - a - lac - a - bee United, United, hip - oree Kanna keena, wah wah, kanna keena tah United, United, rah, rah, rah. U-N-I-T-E-D ’14 frll Go back, go back, go ’way ’way back, You’re up against the Fourteen Pack, M. - C.M. - X.I.V. M.D. - D.D. - LL.B. Nineteen Fourteen evermore, 1 - 9 - 1-4 Pago 4

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JAMES A. MACLEAN, Ph.D., LL.D. President of the University df Manitoba.

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By PROFo W„ To ALLISON, PIhuD, VERY once in a while in the history of a nation there is what the old chroniclers would term “the beginning of a fairer time.” This is equally true of the history of institutions. Whenever a college becomes old enough to point backward with a proud finger to its history, there are always certain stages to be noticed in the ascent. And we generally find that whenever one of these stations is reached, some member of the college is deputed to honor himself and the occasion by looking backward and tracing the progress of events ab urbe condita. This is the duty assigned to the writer, a duty of the year, to signalize an event which must ever be memorable in the history of higher education in the Canadian West, the amalgamation of Manitoba and Wesley Col¬ leges effected in August, 1913. Manitoba College has its roots deep in the soil of the Red River Valley. For forty-one years it has been educating the youth of the great West. It owed its inception to the old Scotch element in this community, the Selkirk stock, who flourished in those days in Kil- donan. The College was established at Kildonan in 1872. The old rec¬ tangular buildings were designed rather for use than as a delight to the aesthetic eye. But it was a great thing to begin such an important work, and the Kildonan settlers were much heartened by the cordial way in which the Synod of the Canadian Presbyterian Church approved of their ambitious plan. In 1873 the Rev. George Bryce, M.A., was invited to become a teach¬ er in the new college. lie arrived in Kildonan the same year, but soon discovered that he could not cope with the work single-handed. He became convinced that both sections of the Presbyterian body in Kil¬ donan and vicinity would need to put their shoulders to the educational wheel if the project was to succeed. So he interested the Church of Scotland, then familiarly called the Old Kirk, to help the Free Kirk, the Canada Presbyterians, in such a commendable enterprise. These two bodies were more friendly at that time than ever before in their his¬ tory, and prophets were freely asserting that in a few years they would be united. As a matter of fact, the union of the various branches of the Presbyterian fold in Canada was consummated in 1875. And today it is extremely interesting for the Presbyterians and Methodists of Canada to remember that the founding of Manitoba College antici¬ pated that union in its cementing of the two branches of the church in its support. With the consent of the Free Kirk and Old Kirk parties of the West, Professor Bryce went down to Kingston in 1873 and talked so convinc¬ ingly to the Assembly of the Old Kirk that they decided to unite with the Free Kirk in this educational enterprise. They promptly desig¬ nated the Rev. Thomas Hart to be professor and co-laborer with Pro¬ fessor Bryce in the new union college. At the present time, when the amalgamation of Manitoba and Wesley Colleges is accepted by many as a prognostication of the union of the Methodists and Presbyterians of Canada, it is very interesting, indeed, to remember the old adage that history repeats itself. From the year 1873 the College was an assured fact. In a couple of years, however, Professor Bryce and others became convinced that the College should move out of its humble quarters in Kildonan and establish itself permanently in Winnipeg. Many of the Kildonan people were most indignant at such a suggestion. But Professor Bryce was a man of iron will, and his Winnipeg friends backed him up in his argu¬ ments; and the upshot of the whole matter was that Manitoba College, after being located in Kildonan for only a couple of years, was moved to Winnipeg. For five years Professors Bryce and Hart taught their classes in a residence on the site of the old Franklin House, at the corner of Main and Alexander streets, but in 1880 the Presbyterian leaders in the West decided that a forward movement must be made and a fit and proper building erected as the abode of the Presbyterian Minerva. In 1880 Winnipeg was enjoying the exhilirating experience of her first boom. It was easy, therefore, to interest the laymen of the city in the cause of higher education. During 1880 and 1881 subscriptions poured in for the new College. A site was procured where the building now stands. Many citizens ridiculed the choice of the location for the new edifice. Today every one regards Manitoba College as in the heart of the downtown district, but in 1880 it was far out on the prairie; it seemed to many of the Presbyterian citizens that it was as far away from the centre of things as St. Boniface is today.