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

Page 9 text:

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.

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HHSTOIRY—ComiftiiMedl But the critics were outvoted. The College buildings began to arise on the suburban site, and as things were booming, the lumber and cost of labor came very high. By 1882 a building the size of the present edifice was completed. But by that time the last nail iiad been driven into the roof, the great boom which had made the hearts of Winnipeg- gers so glad had collapsed. Those who had been so generous in sub¬ scribing to the College building fund were now on the rocks of adversity, and could pay nothing. Consequently the College went on the rocks of a prolonged financial stringency. Money was so scarce in Winnipeg that Professors Bryce and Hart were put to great shifts to obtain their daily bread and butter. An amusing story is told to the effect that when he wanted to buy a bag of flour, Professor Bryce got Professor Hart to endorse his note, and when Professor Hart desired to purchase ten pounds of butter he went to Professor Bryce to have him back his note. But with the arrival of a principal for the College in 1883, things took a decided turn for the better, and the College entered upon a new epoch. Times still continued to be hard from 1883 to 1890, but the Rev. Dr. King, who had come from an Ontario pastorate to preside over the new and struggling institution, was a financial genius. He not only did great work in appealing to Presbyterian congregations in the Canadian West, which was, of course, thinly peopled at that time, but he went up and down, and aroused interest in the College among the wealthier Presbyterians of Ontario. Dr. King was the honored s)nd energetic principal of the College from 1883 to the year of his death, 1899. With his coming the College became a theological semin¬ ary, and he was professor of theology as well as principal. Arts work was continued, however, from the day when the College was founded. A notable event in Dr. King’s tenure of office was the new plan of holding a summer school. This was instituted in 1892, and continued for ten years. In this way candidates for the Presbyterian ministry could study at Knox College, Toronto, during the winter, and at Mani¬ toba College during the summer, thus being able to respond as soon as possible to the crying need of the West for ministers to man her rapidly growing fields. Principal King did the pioneer work in collecting the substantial endowment fund of Manitoba College, which now amounts to $230,000; the site is now valued at $750,000. He was ably assisted by Profes¬ sors Bryce, Hart and a number of lecturers, many of whom are now to be found as members of Winnipeg legal firms. One lecturer, how¬ ever, who came to the College in 1887, became professor of history in 1891, and is today the genial acting principal, Rev. Dr. Andrew Baird. In 1899 Principal King died, and the next year the Rev. Dr. Patrick came out from Scotland to be the new head of the College. During the twelve years of his rule the College pursued the even tenor of its way, with an increasing body of students and a growing staff of teach¬ ers. His death occurred a few months before that of Principal Sparl¬ ing of Wesley College. And with the name of Principal Sparling we have an epitome, at least by suggestion, of the history of Wesley College. Three men had a share in directing the fortunes of Manitoba College from the days of its Kildonan infancy; but, once Wesley College was opened, Dr. Sparling was its tutelary genius and financial and honored head to the date of his death in June, 1912. And yet it should not be forgotten that the Rev. Dr. Stewart, the present acting principal of Wesley College, had a share in the honor of establishing this enterprise. Dr. Stewart came to this country from Ontario in 1879. As he itinerated through the new districts of Mani¬ toba, he dreamt of a day when western Methodism would be able to have its own college, and began to urge upon his brother min¬ isters the necessity for a denominational college in Winnipeg. In 1887, in Brandon, the Manitoba and Northwest Conference enthusiastic¬ ally adopted Dr. Stewart’s suggestion, and requested him to go through the province that summer to see if Methodist people were ready to sanction the project. Dr. Stewart found that Manitoba Methodists were decidedly agreeable; he reported to the conference, a board for Wesley College was appointed, of which Mr. J. H. Ashdown, now chair¬ man of the Board of Governors of the United College, was one of the original members, and the history of the institution was begun in 1888. Almost the first act of the Wesley College Board was to appoint the Rev. J. W. Sparling, of Kingston, Ontario, as principal. Dr. Sparl¬ ing came to Winnipeg in the fall of 1888, saw that a couple of teachers were appointed, opened classes in the lecture room of Grace Methodist Church, then went back to Kingston to complete his year there as pastor. The next autumn he returned to Winnipeg, and from 1889 Pago 6