Posted on July 29: U of T questions McMaster

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/McMaster.JPG” caption=”McMaster on Bloor”]Q: What university observes McMaster University in celebrating its past?

A: The University of Toronto

Q and A, a regular online feature which commemorates the University of Toronto's 175th anniversary, highlights McMaster in an excerpt from The University of Toronto: A History.

The question:

Q: What theological college bucked the federation trend with the University of Toronto in 1888?

A: Toronto Baptist College chose independence and would later become the foundation of the new McMaster University.

A portion of the excerpt…

“The Toronto Baptist College, rejected federation in favour of becoming an independent arts and theological college. Its building on Bloor Street on land purchased from the University (now the Royal Conservatory of Music) had been made possible in 1881 by the generosity of the Toronto businessman William McMaster, who provided $100,000 for what became known as McMaster Hall, and an annual contribution of $14,500 a year. Although the college participated in the federation discussions, it had serious concerns about the form of federation.

Later in 1887, legislation was introduced to unite the Baptist theological college with a Baptist arts college in Woodstock. The supporters of an independent Baptist university knew they could count on further support from William McMaster, and three weeks after the bill was introduced, he drew up a new will leaving virtually his entire estate to the new Baptist institution, McMaster University. He died suddenly the following spring, and the princely sum of close to $1 million came to the institution.

A movement by some prominent Baptists to thwart independence and join the University of Toronto was decisively defeated by the Baptist Convention of 1888, which passed a motion that McMaster University “be organized and developed as a permanently independent school of learning, with the Lordship of Christ as the controlling principle.” In 1912, the university purchased a large block of land on Avenue Road north of Eglinton, but owing to the war it did not proceed with its plans to relocate there. The question of federation would continue to be raised from time to time, and in 1930 it was finally laid to rest when McMaster University physically moved to Hamilton, Ontario.”

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Photo caption: Postcard of McMaster University on Bloor Street, date unknown. (photo: U of T)