by Richard A. Johnson
Winnipeg, Manitoba
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The University of Manitoba was created in 1877 in the federated form similar to the University of London with Colleges. These colleges included St. Boniface, St. John’s and Manitoba and, from 1888, Wesley. Initially, the Colleges provided all the teaching; the University itself was responsible only for determining academic requirements for matriculation and graduation and for the granting of degrees. However, the growth of the city and particularly the need to teach science subjects presented three new pressures for staff and space and, consequently, for a suitable site. For most of the 1890s a keen debate took place because the Colleges, while reluctant to allow the University to take on any teaching function, realized that they did not have the resources to mount science courses for a rapidly expanding enrolment. Details on these debates and the early teaching of science are to be found in the recent article on the history of the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba, published in 2004. [1]
Formal opening of the Science building during a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York, 1901.
Source: Richard Johnson.
If the University were to be responsible for the teaching of these subjects, a new building and a site would also be needed. Already for a time and for some thirty years of the new century the “Site Question” plagued relations between the University Council, and later the Board, and successive Provincial Governments. [2] Notwithstanding the possibility of a “permanent site”, an important first step in the development of physical facilities was taken in 1899 when
Whereas the lands and premises hereinafter mentioned and described, forming part of the reservation made by the Hudson’s Bay Company for public purposes in the City of Winnipeg known as the “Old Driving Park” containing about six and sixty one-hundredths (6.60) acres was by Order-in-Council of the Privy Council of Canada approved of by His Excellency, the Governor General on the twenty second day of June A. D. 1898 granted to the Government of the Province of Manitoba for Educational purposes.
And whereas “The University of Manitoba” is a corporation duly existing and incorporated under the laws of Manitoba.
And whereas we have deemed it expedient to grant unto the said The University of Manitoba the lands and premises hereinafter described for educational purposes subject however to the terms, stipulations, provisions and conditions herein contained.
... we do by these presents grant, convey and assure unto the said University of Manitoba and the successors thereof all that certain parcel or tract of land ...
... that the lands hereby granted shall be devoted to and held as a site for the erection of suitable buildings for and in connection with The University of Manitoba and for academic purposes only; it being our aim, object and intent in granting the land and premises aforesaid to The University of Manitoba to make the University capable of giving proper training in the higher branches of education.
... There is hereby reserved from and out of the said premises the clear annual rent charge of one dollar to be paid annually ... on the second day of January.
... that the lands ... shall not at any time be leased, conveyed or transferred to ... any person or persons or body corporate without the leave license or consent of His Honor [sic] the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council first having been obtained.
Save only such leases to professors, students, caretakers and other persons (of the same or other classes) as may be thought to be advisable in connection with the purposes or work of the University while carried on upon the said lands and premises.
Given under the Great Seal of the province of Manitoba ... [3]
The “lands and premises” referred to in the above were north of Broadway Avenue opposite the present Legislature and now occupied principally by Memorial Park. The north side was bounded by University Place which the Winnipeg Directory lists as running “west from 100 Vaughan” and York as running west only to Kennedy Street. [4] To the west was the open area through which Colony Creek ran its rather meandering course from across Portage Avenue to the Assiniboine River near the present Osborne Street Bridge. This was the area that became referred to as the Broadway Site although, as we shall see presently, that “Site” had a rather flexible geography. [5]
The next step was to provide a building in which the science lectures and practical work and offices, etc. could be housed. At a Special Meeting of the University Council held on 29 September 1899 [6] to receive and discuss the report of its Building Committee as presented by its Chairman, George Bryce, the Council approved the following:
1. That in accordance with the instructions of the council our committee has had plans for the university building prepared by Mr. George Browne, architect, and after careful examination of same, begs to recommend them to the council for approval,
2. The architect considers that in order that the building may be ready for occupation for the fall of 1900, it is necessary that a portion of the work be proceeded with forthwith and the committee recommends that it be empowered to obtain tenders and let contracts at a cost not exceeding $2,500 for the excavating, weeping and tile drain work, and stone mason work for footings, and exterior foundation walls up to three feet be completed during the season.
3. That the council make application to the provincial government for a temporary advance of a sum not to exceed $2,500, on account of building fund, for the purposes of carrying on the foregoing work
So came into being the first building of the University itself—a three story (plus basement) structure located at the north of the property but facing Broadway across an open campus as shown in the expanded section of Stovel’s Pocket Map of Winnipeg in 1910. [7] Its cornerstone is dated 1900 and may be seen today in the concourse connecting the Allen, Parker and Armes Buildings (built in the late 1960s) in the Science complex on the Fort Garry campus. It was formally opened in 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York (the future King George V) who, with the Duchess, was returning to England across Canada after opening the first parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia at Canberra. [8] The scene is depicted in the reproduction of a postcard shown above. The building cost $63,140.87. [9]
Chemistry laboratory at the Broadway site of the University.
Source: University of Manitoba, Archives and Special Collections, UMA Armstrong 344 Yale.
The next decisions with important implications for the capital aspects of the site were the actions taken by the University Council on 8 April 1909. It approved the creation of three new chairs in English, History and Political Economy at the University. It also approved two new professorships and further academic staff in Civil and Electrical Engineering. Furthermore, to meet the increased needs of Engineering students for “service” courses, additional staff were appointed in Physics and Mineralogy and Chemistry. The space available in the original building was insufficient to house all of these additions. So the Council approved
That premises be provided for the next session to accommodate the teaching of English, History, Political Economy, and Mathematics, in order that more room may thus be given in the present building for the Departments of Science and Engineering. [10]
At its meeting on 5 June 1909, the Council approved the estimate for the new building of up to $12,000 and authorized the Building Committee “to let the contracts and to have the building completed.” These contracts were to include the installation of additional boiler capacity in the original building and various improvements of the grounds in the immediate vicinity. The Council also adjourned to view the site and, having done so, directed that “the new building be placed to the north of the old building.” [11]
This second building was known as the “Arts Building”; its plans indicate that it provided space for six classrooms, three Professors’ Rooms, a Ladies’ Sitting Room and, in the basement a suite for a caretaker complete with kitchen and three bedrooms—and a carpenter’s shop. It is seen as the white building behind (i.e. north of) the Science Building in the circa 1932 photograph of the newly-constructed Civic Auditorium. It is easily seen that this view corresponds to the “North Elevation” in the architects plans also shown above. [12] The total cost of the building, furniture, fees and modifications to the steam supply in the Science Building came to $14,980.74. [13]
The “Old Parliament Building” on Kennedy Street, which later housed Political Economy, Architecture and Philosophy.
Source: Gordon Goldsborough.
While the debates on the “permanent site question” lurched onward, a deputation from the Council met with the Acting Premier Rogers who reported that the Government “favored [sic] the retention of the present site and promised on behalf of the Government, if the University decided to retain it, to procure power to expropriate adjoining properties, such as that of All Saints Church and other adjacent land in order to enlarge the present site, the cost of such expropriation to be met by the Government. Mr. Rogers intimated his willingness to undertake the expropriation of land contiguous, on the north side of Broadway up to Colony Street. He hoped also that some additional land could be secured on the south side of Broadway on Colony Street.” Furthermore, he was reported to be willing to fund a joint deputation to Ottawa to persuade the Federal Government “to transfer the land occupied by the Military quarters for University purposes” and also referred to “a portion of land under the control of the Government [i.e. of Manitoba], situated on the banks of the Assiniboine River which might be handed over to the University for athletic purposes.” [14]
Colony Creek dominated this area between Portage Avenue and Broadway Avenue. At the time, a narrower version of Osborne Street North ran only south from Broadway—whence the reference to expansion (westward) to Colony Street. Two bridges across the creek may be seen in the circa 1920 photograph of the construction of the Emergency Building—to the left of the building site. The “Military quarters” to which Rogers is reported to have referred are the Fort Osborne Barracks buildings which are seen on the 1910 Winnipeg map.
Since no further word had been received on the government’s willingness to provide increased financial aid [15] for this expansion and since offers of “one or two free sites” had been received, the Council, after a “lengthy discussion” and a split vote of 28 to 11 felt “that the present site even if enlarged as suggested would be inadequate to a Provincial University; and respectfully suggests that in the acceptation [sic] of one of the two free sites [16] offered lies the solution of the question of site.”
No useful action took place on the question of a permanent site. But pressure for space continued to mount, even during the Great War. The population of Manitoba was rapidly increasing: from 255,211 in 1901, 365,688 in 1906, 461,630 in 1911, to 553,860 in 1916 and the enrolments for these years were 302, 464, 766, and 662. [17] Morton also reports that there were 6 staff in 1905 and 16 in 1912 and, “[t]he return of the soldier students, a trickle in 1917 and 1918 became a flood in 1919” so that enrolment rose to 2,013 in 1919-1920. [18]
At its meeting on 1 April 1915, we find the Council receiving a letter to President McLean from G. R. Coldwell, Minister of Education, advising “that the Government will agree that the University shall have the use of the south wing of the Old Court House Building [built in 1882] as soon as the New Court House is finished, [That happened in 1916.] your occupation to be at the pleasure of the Government. I think that you will be able to have reasonable accomodation [sic, et seq.] there for some time. No definite period can be fixed in the matter.” Both wings of the building are shown below, the north wing having been added in 1894. This view shows the south west corner of the Science Building to the immediate left and one of the houses on University Place to the right. [19]
At the same meeting [20] the Committee on Accomodation reported that blueprints (copies of which were provided to the Council) indicated that there was room for “a library, some eighteen commodious class-rooms, and a considerable number of rooms for professors and other purposes.” Later President McLean reported that the “Provincial Government had made good its promise of provisional accomodation ... and that classes in Arts and Law, and the Administrative Offices and the Library were fairly adequately housed” for the 1916-1917 session. [21]
The University was also given the use of the building of the Deaf and Dumb Institute which faced south on Portage Avenue between Sherbrook and Maryland Streets; it was used by Engineering with its senior years finally moving to the Fort Garry campus 16 years later. [22] In addition, “[r]ooms were rented in houses on Vaughan Street, and there lectures were given in all the rooms from parlour to kitchen.” [23]
The University site north of the provincial Legislative Building, circa 1922.
Source: University of Manitoba, Archives and Special Collections, UMA PC80.316.6.
On 9 October 1919, the Board of Governors considered “the question of accommodation for the unprecedented enrolment of students for the current session, i.e. 1919-1920. Hon. Dr. R. S. Thornton, Minister of Education
“[P]resented the assurance of the Government that it was prepared to proceed immediately, through its Department of Public Works, to erect temporary accommodation for laboratories, class-rooms, etc., on the University property on Broadway and to continue to add to the same during the coming Spring and Summer until sufficient space had been provided to meet the more urgent needs of instruction for say [word inserted here and obscure] the next five years.”
Mr. S. C. Oxton, Deputy Minister of Public Works, who was present also,
“submitted details of the Government’s plan, being a floor plan and elevation of a one story brick and hollow tile structure, without a basement but on concrete piers and reinforced concrete sills, arranged in a quadrangle style about the campus on Broadway.”
The Board approved the “general plan” and appointed a Building Committee to supervise details of the design and equipment, noting that the first units “however energetically pushed to completion, could not be counted on before 1 March [1920].
For more immediate relief, the Council was advised that space in the power house (on the east side of what is now Memorial Boulevard just north of the then Land Titles Building) had been obtained to house draughting laboratories, and approved the repair and fitting for classroom use of the attic of the Deaf and Dumb Institute. [24]
From this emerged the “Emergency Building.” The various “blocks” were reviewed by the Committee and approved for use by the various units with, in sequence from the north “one unit immediately west of the old building for Botany and Zoology; one unit extending in a southerly direction along the west side of the campus for Chemistry; following that a lecture theatre to seat 300 students (Theatre “B”); following that a unit to be shared by the Departments of Physics and Civil Engineering; then a large lecture theatre at the south west corner of the campus to accommodate 600 students (Theatre “A”) - and east of this, along the front of the campus a unit to be shared by Civil and Electrical Engineering.” [25] The plans dated 17 December 1919 by architect John Manuel show the detail of this one-story structure. One of his plans shows an elevation of a very imposing central entrance section of the west side facing eastward across the “quadrangle.”
“Satisfactory progress” was reported at the meeting of January 23, 1920. (UC, p. 77).
The much-scattered space was still insufficient to meet the University’s needs, so arrangements were made with the Government to use the “Old Parliament Building” for the 1919-1920 session and again the following year. [26]
Again, Dr. R. S. Thornton attended a meeting of the Council, this time on 28 October 1921 to discuss various building and site issues.
For the most immediate needs, he confirmed the University’s use of the Old Parliament Building—“for the present winter”—and the University’s use of “The Gateway” and Ordinance Buildings (subject to the needs of the City for the widening of Osborne Street from Broadway to the Assiniboine River Bridge) recently vacated by Fort Osborne Barracks when it moved to the former Agricultural College site (now the Asper Jewish Community Campus) in Tuxedo. The central building of the original Manitoba Agricultural College there has survived the century.
He then went on to propose “to erect a two storey building running eastward from the centre of the western section of the present annex and over the tunnel from the central heating plant with the idea that the accommodation thus provided would serve the University in lieu of that supplied by the Old Parliament Building, in case it were found necessary to demolish it.”
Although the offer was considered tentative by both Thornton and the Council, the decision was soon made to proceed because plans dated March 1922 by John Manuel (the same architect as for the 1919 Emergency Building) show details of the two-story “Emergency Building Extension.” The east end of this wing, facing across a “road” [27] towards the Power Plant and the rear of the Old law Courts building has the appearance of a very formal “front door.”
The “Old Court House” Building. The University used the south wing for Arts, Law and Administration, and the basement for Engineering.
Source: Richard Johnson.
The next major decision affecting the physical existence of the University was to erect two buildings on the site of the Manitoba Agricultural College in Fort Garry, one for Arts (the present Tier Building) and one for Science (now the Buller Biological Laboratories). [28] It was also decided to divide Arts and Science into Junior and Senior Divisions, the first to remain on Broadway and the upper two years to move to Fort Garry and, shortly afterward, to move Engineering into the Agriculture and Agronomy Building and Architecture into the attic of the Arts Building there.
This split required an accompanying division in the Library and yet another move in its peripatetic history. The Library collection, enhanced magnificently by the Isbister bequest in 1883, had been housed initially in quarters rented from the Historical and Scientific Society and then in the McIntyre Block (on the west side of Main Street just north of Portage and Main). When that building was destroyed by fire in 1898, what remained of the library came to be housed in the Science Building and, when the University occupied the Old Law Courts, it was moved there. And its journeys were not at an end even then.
In 1932-33, the decisions required to divide the library holdings between the two sites were made easier by the donation by the Carnegie Corporation of $50,000 (“from the balance available for appropriation in the British Dominions and Colonies Fund”) [29] to each of the four western Canadian universities with the use, proposed by The University of Manitoba and accepted by the Corporation “for the development and maintenance of Library facilities for Junior Students of the University.” [30] Apparently there had been some discussions about the space needed to house additional acquisitions because, in one of the intermediate communications, the spokesman for the Carnegie Foundation observed that “Of course, what you need are books and service, and not buildings; once you get the books into vigorous use and the housing will take care of itself.” [31] So was created formally a “Junior Library.” [32]
In a very short period of time, Senior Division of the Faculty of Arts and Science moved into the (now) Tier and Buller Buildings, the Senior Library into the third floor of the former and the School of Architecture (which by this time had occupied space in the Deaf and Dumb Building along with Engineering) into its attic. All but the first year of Engineering (and the hydrology laboratory which remained in the basement of the Kennedy Street Building) moved into the now vacated Agriculture and Agronomy Building. With the easement of space in the Emergency Buildings, the Junior Library moved into the Broadway wing previously occupied by Engineering, and the Pharmacy Laboratory [33] from its building on Notre Dame Avenue (which still stands) to the Broadway site.
The “Broadway Site” had now contracted mostly to the use of the Science Building, its Annex and the typically described “Temporary Buildings” with a few scattered activities nearby. It stayed that way for another twenty years.
With the growth of programs and facilities on the Fort Garry Campus both before and after the Second World War, it became more and more attractive to consider moving most of the University’s activities on the Broadway Site to the one campus. In 1940, the Canadian Army had leased the Students’ Residence and some grounds at Fort Garry for training purposes [34] and the University had built a flock of “Huts” to house everything from its cafeteria (Hut “H” on the site of the new Arthur V. Mauro Residence) to classrooms and laboratories. These were available to accommodate the Junior Division.
After an attempt to affect the transfer for the 1949-50 session, [35] the Board finally considered the resolutions
That the secretary of the Board of Governors be instructed to advise the Government that the University is prepared to transfer the Broadway property to it before March 31, 1950, on the understanding that the University will officially vacate the buildings on April 30, 1950, or as soon thereafter as possible, and that the Government will be responsible for the management and maintenance of the property and the insurance on the buildings after that date.
That the comptroller be directed to move all furnishings and equipment in the Broadway Buildings to Fort Garry as soon after April 30th as possible; the furnishings and equipment for the Junior Division laboratories to be installed in the huts already agreed upon, and the Junior Library to be moved to the second floor of the Administration Building. [36]
That the Chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee be authorized to consult with the Government about the use of Theatres for the Evening Institute, space for Music and special enterprises which the University may wish to carry on within the city of Winnipeg for the time being. [37]
While formal action was held over at that meeting, soon after agreement had been reached whereby the University would have use of the second floor of the centre wing and that “Theatres A and B on the ground floor ... will be placed at the disposal of the University.” [38] At the same time, an agreement was reached to house the University’s School of Art, formerly the Winnipeg School of Art, in the space that the latter had occupied in the Old Law Courts on Kennedy Street.
The Board of Governors approved execution at its meeting of Thursday, 12 October 1950.
View from the back of the Hudson’s Bay store, circa 1948, showing the Winnipeg Auditorium (now home to the Archives of Manitoba and Manitoba Legislative Library) but also providing an unusual view of the Broadway Site including the “Arts Building” (the white building at the rear of the Science Building).
Source: Richard Johnson.
Morton wryly observes “that there is nothing so lasting as the provisional” [39]. Once the University had abandoned (most of) the Temporary Buildings on the Broadway Site which it had occupied for some thirty years, various departments of the Government used them for another decade.
Finally, in 1961-62, the original Science Building and the Emergency Buildings were razed and the site developed by the twinning of Memorial Boulevard from St. Mary Avenue to Broadway and the creation of Memorial Park.
All that is left now appears to be the plans and photographs, and the fading memories of those who frequented its halls. Or perhaps not! It was said (admittedly some years ago now) that if one lay on the grass at a selected site in Memorial Park on a hot, still summer’s day, one might still detect the odour of chemical fumes rising from the ground. [40]
This article would never have been written if it had not been for the contributions of several people. Dr. Henry E. Duckworth initially peaked my curiosity with his postcard similar to the view of the campus from the north. This shows the “Arts Building” which, although I had retained a clear impression of the Broadway Site from circa 1940, I had never seen it; Dr. Harry W. Duckworth provided many useful leads and observations in addition to his recent centenary article. Don Fraser gave generously of his collection of early Winnipeg postcards. Since one’s recollections and memory may only be relied upon to a point, material essential to the confirmation of much of what has been written here was provided by the Archives of the University of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg Archives and Records Centre, and the Archives of Manitoba. Special thanks go to Lewis Stubbs, Evelyn West and Chris Kotecki of these, respectively, for their untiring persistence in locating some old and arcane material.
Note: References to the Minutes of the University Council and Board of Governors are listed as UC, date, page(s) and BofG, date, page(s), respectively and to W. L. Morton, One University, A History of the University of Manitoba, 1877-1952, McClelland and Stewart, 1957 as WLM, page(s).
1. Duckworth, H. W., and L. Gordon Goldsborough, “Science Comes to Manitoba,” Manitoba History, Spring/Summer, 2004, pp. 2-16.
2. Discussions had been on going between the Council’s Site Committee, chaired by Archbishop Matheson (who, from 1908 was also the University’s Chancellor), and Frederick. W. Heubach, Financial Agent and David R. Finkelstein, Real Estate Broker (and, later, Mayor of the Town of Tuxedo) over the latters’ offer of a 160 acre site in Tuxedo (the site currently occupied by the Tuxedo Golf Course). It was a very controversial topic with the motion of conditional acceptance of Heubach’s offer being adopted 23 to 3 with three apparently rather pointed abstentions. Subsequently in 1924, Isaac Pitblado, a long time member of the Council and Chairman of the Board of Governors resigned as the Bracken Government decided in favour of the Fort Garry site occupied by the Manitoba Agricultural College. (WLM p. 135). J. A. Machray, the vice-chairman of the old Council was appointed by the Government as his successor but retained his position as Bursar—with disastrous consequences! The 160 figure is recorded in UC, 9 December 1909, p. 456, but Morton reports 150 acres. (WLM p. 75) The formal agreement recorded in UC 6 October 1910, p. 125-7 contains the surveyed dimensions which contains 147.0235 acres.) The difference may involve the adjacent site of the School for the Deaf, later used as the Normal School and now the Canadian Mennonite University. (q.v. endnote 22).
3. The full text is recorded in UC, 23 March 1899, pp. 4, 5.
4. Up to 1948, the west end of York Avenue was listed as being at “147 Kennedy”, while Vaughan ran “North from the Law Courts.” In 1948, the description of Vaughan begins with “York re-begins”, and the description of York continues past Vaughan with “Canadian Red Cross (Women’s Work Committee)” (in the south end of the Auditorium) to “Memorial Boulevard intersects (closed to Osborne N - use St. Mary’s”). University Place is no longer listed at this location. (There was a second one in Tuxedo.) “Osborne Street North Extension” was listed up to 1927 but only between “Broadway opposite All Saint’s Church to Assiniboine River” past the “Ordinance Depot Military District No 10” and, further south, “Fort Osborne Barracks” both of which appear on the Stovel map (q.v. endnote 7). In 1928, Osborne North was first listed “from Portage to Osborne Bridge” (although no addresses were listed in the two blocks north of Broadway), and Memorial Boulevard is listed as running “from Broadway to Portage.”
5. The whole may be seen in the ca. 1920 photograph of the building of the Emergency Building and the street layout in the 1910 Stovel map (q. v. endnote 7). The photograph also happens to give, inter alia, a clear view of the creek. Having purchased a lot on Colony Street, the Council approved $200 to build a sidewalk from Colony to Vaughan Street probably involving one of the bridges seen in the illustration. (UC, 10 October 1907). The site had an iron fence along the Broadway frontage the erection of which was discussed at the April 1909 meeting of the Buildings and Grounds Committee which committee, in 1915, recommended that it receive “one coat of dark green paint” at the cost of $75. (UC, 1 April 1915, p. 241.) The Committee also recommended that “the rear entrance to the University grounds from Vaughan Street be graded and gravelled” and that “the present wooden sidewalks be repaired, (the same to be undertaken by the janitors in view of their dangerous condition.).” [The sidewalks or the janitors ?] The house in the extreme lower left corner of this illustration was the Rectory of All Saints Church (now the site of the much-debated public lavatory). At the time of the photograph, the Winnipeg Directory lists at 495 Broadway: the Reverend Walter M. Loucks Rector, at “495(rear)” Edw. Holmes, Sexton, and at 499 All Saints Church.
6. The meeting took place in the “University Rooms” - likely in the Davis Block on Market Street. q.v. Duckworth and Goldsborough, p. 5.
7. Stovel’s Pocket Map of Winnipeg, reproduced in A. F. J. Artibise. and E. H. Dahl, Winnipeg in Maps 1816-1972, National Map Collection, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa 1975.
8. The Duke was not created Prince of Wales by his father Edward VII until November of that year even though that title had been vacant since Edward’s accession to the throne on 22 January 1901. One of his biographers, (Kenneth Rose: King George V, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1984) gives the “probable explanation of the delay” as the wish of the new King and Queen to “avoid confusion in the minds of their subjects” as he, Edward, had held that title for some sixty years and the Queen for forty (p. 44).
10. UC, 8 April 1909, p. 427. As an aside, this reference to “Departments” as such is, to this author’s belief, the earliest use of this term. Before and considerably after this date, appointments were made to “chairs” and appointments and other salary matters were listed by title and name without any reference to Departments as such.
11. UC, 5 June 1909, p. 436. Both the Science Building and, now, the Arts Building were financed by the University itself from its Land Grant sales. The first University building for which Government funds were committed (in 1913) was for an Engineering Building on the Fort Garry Campus, a building that was not erected until 1949.
12. The “Plans Revised” are dated June 1909 by the architect J. H. G. Russell. The building was 60 feet (E-W) and some 38 feet (N-S); its main entrance was on its south side facing the rear of the old building and reached by a short outside staircase apparently leaving “room for a roadway of at least 33 feet” (UC, 5 June 1909, p. 436.)
13. UC, 9 December 1909, pp. 455, 456.
14. UC, 11 March 1910, pp. 34, 37.
15. From the minuted discussion of UC, 4 April 1912, it transpired that there had not been a clear understanding by all Council members at the earlier meeting of 10 March 1910 that the Government was prepared to purchase the land for the University and not just provide the University with the power to expropriate it. By the time the Council discovered this events affecting the “site question” had moved on. (WLM pp. 80, 90). If the Council had been clear about the offer, what a difference it might have made to the University’s development given the Roblin Government’s preference for developing the site on and around Broadway!
16. In 1910 a second site of some 50 acres had been offered in West Kildonan but was deemed too small for the University’s purposes. WLM, p. 80.
19. Reference here is to one of the two contiguous buildings which faced east across Kennedy Street and along York Avenue (which, at that time, did not continue westward past Kennedy Street). There are also references in the Committee responsible for the allocation of space in 1916 to the use of the north building as well. (UMB Archives UA11, Box 3, File 3) The 1980s New Law Courts is now located on this site and York continued through to its north. The “New Court House” to which Coldwell refers is the one that still stands at the corner of Kennedy Street and Broadway (completed in 1916). In the north wing of the building illustrated the Manitoba Legislature had met temporarily in 1881-82 where it initiated the “first concerted movement for “provincial rights” and provincial control of natural resources. As a courthouse it had witnessed the case of Barrett vs. The City of Winnipeg on the “Manitoba Schools Question.”(The Manitoban, 7 March 1921) In 1882, construction was completed on the “Old Parliament Building” on Kennedy Street on the east side of what is now the grounds of the Legislature (q. v. further).
21. UC, 5 October 1916, p. 491. It must have been about this time that the “Arts Building” was converted for use of Science and became referred to as the “Annex” or “Science Annex.” An insurance map of Winnipeg (Western Canada Fire Underwriters Association 1918-1950, vol.1, sheet 117) identifies it as containing “Geology and Classrooms”, and “Museum B.[otanical?]” and adjacent to the north a “Green Ho.[use?]” and “Plant St[ora]ge.” These latter two may have been the result of Professor Buller’s advice to the Council that such facilities be developed in cooperation with those responsible for the Legislative Grounds. There is a note that the Parks Board Superintendent Mr. Champion “will also cooperate with the Department of Botany in laying out and stocking a Botanical Garden” (Buildings and Grounds Committee circa 1918). Dr. Henry E. Duckworth recalls taking instruction in Geology in this building in the 1930s. (Personal Communication). Apparently, these greenhouses continued in use until 1932 when we find the Board of Governors directing President McLean to advise the Botany Department “that the University cannot any longer provide funds in this connection and that work now being carried on must be closed out without delay.” (UC, 1 September 1932, p. 259)
22. The building on the far left was the original school built before 1890 and, after a fire in October 1891 was re-opened in 1892. A postcard dated 22 December 1909 calls the building in the foreground “McFadden Hall.” The space crunch had been growing through the war years because Thomas H. Johnson, the Minister of Public Works in a letter dated 15 May 1915 noted that there was a “building at the northwest corner of Portage Avenue and Sherbrooke Street. This building has been recently occupied by the Militia Department but is no longer required.” The city Directory lists it as the “Manitoba Institute for the Deaf and Dumb” (in e.g. 1912); in 1919 it is listed as the “Manitoba University Annex” and in 1921 as “Manitoba University Engineering.” The 1919 to 1921 listing of the institute is as the “School for the Deaf” located at the Manitoba Agricultural College in “St. Vital” (as the Fort Garry campus was identified at the time). It then moved to its Tuxedo site, now the main building of the Canadian Mennonite University. The cost of that building was reported to be $900,000, and that $830,000 “was secured through the sale of the old property on the corner of Portage and Sherbrooke” (The Manitoba School for the Deaf, Winnipeg, in Construction, XVI, June 1923, pp. 190-196.) Presumably, this sale was to the Government as no record of it seems to appear in the BofG records nor is there any mention of recompense from the government to the University when it moved out in 1950. It is possible that the School was located for a time in 1917 at the old Agriculture campus in Tuxedo as there is reference to converting it to use as part of the Manitoba Military Convalescent Hospital located there. (op. cit. same volume).
23. WLM, p. 125. And, apparently, on University Place as well because the Council comments on “alterations in connection with the two University buildings and the houses in University Place” (UC, 12 November 1912, p. 405).
24. BofG, 9 October 1919, pp. 88, 89.
26. UC, 24 November 1920, p. 146, and UC 30 December 1920. The latter adds “and indeed until permanent buildings are provided for the work of the University.” The “Old Parliament Building” was located facing east across Kennedy Street just south of Broadway and aligned with the existing residence of the Lieutenant Governor. Note the similar architecture. Note also the statue of Queen Victoria which is now in front of the Legislative Building.
27. The roadway running from what is now York Avenue by the Cenotaph to Broadway Avenue apparently was not generally identified as Memorial Boulevard (or anything else) because, as late as 28 April 1949 the Board allowed the Conklin Shows to set up their amusement booths as part of the City’s 75th Anniversary Week on “both sides of the road which runs from the cenotaph to Broadway.” It appears in the last picture recording the demolition of all the buildings in 1962 as an unfinished gravel (?) road.
28. Both were in the nature of depression relief projects. The third building—originally planned for Engineering—had to wait until 1949. To this author’s eye, the Tier building seemed to represent what all a collegiate building should with its full cladding in rough Manitoba Tyndall. The tenders for it included both claddings; when opened the lowest bids (by Claydon Bros.) were $416,741 for all stone and $424,741 for brick and stone. The Minutes of the Special Meeting o the Board of 2 October 1930 record that “There was apparent unanimity that the buildings should be of stone especially as the lowest tender for all stone was cheaper than the lowest for brick and stone.” The reader is invited to conclude from this whether the preference was more due to the aesthetics or the cost.
30. Formal announcement is recorded in UC, 12 November 1934. Discussions had been on-going since November 1933 but had been interrupted in part because of the change in Presidents of the University.
31. UC, 16 November 1933, p. 136.
32. UC, 9 January 1935, p. 363.
33. It had been established initially as the Manitoba College of Pharmacy in 1899 and formally affiliated with the University as a College in 1908. In 1914, the College was replaced by a Chair of Pharmacy.
36. This was to be its third last move, the penultimate one being its relocation to the new University Library completed in 1952 and the last the incorporation of its collection into that of the libraries as a whole.
37. BofG, 9 February 1950. The University Bookstore maintained a branch in the north-west corner of the 1919 building into the 1950s.
38. UC, 28 September 1950, p. 1221.
40. In relation to this, the author can recall being in the building, perhaps in the late 1930s, and not being able to see from “the clock” (which was outside of the centrally located Theatre B) to the north west corner of the building because of the chemical fumes which drifted either directly out of the laboratories or via the crawl space under the roof which apparently was not ventilated.
Page revised: 5 September 2021
