While the College was originally founded for, and has always served to supply the needs of the Diocese, which has a first claim upon it, its name Diocesan is not to be interpreted in a strictly local sense. The aim of the College is to furnish a supply of capable men, primarily for the Diocese of Montreal, then for the wider field of the whole Dominion, and in some degree also for the boundless field beyond—the harvest field of the world.
The present principal, the Rev. Elson I. Rexford, M.A., LL. D., D.C.L., was appointed in 1903.
THE PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE, MONTREAL
The Presbyterian College, Montreal, is an institution solely for the training of ministers. Its establishment was authorized by the Synod of the Canada Presbyterian Church in 1864, at the request of a number of ministers and prominent laymen in the city of Montreal, with a special view to supplying the pressing needs of the congregations and missions in the valleys of the Ottawa and Lower St. Lawrence, for which it was found difficult to secure a sufficiency of trained men. A charter of incorporation was obtained in 1865, but work was actually begun only in October, 1867, when classes were opened in the Lecture Hall of Erskine Church, under the instruction of the Rev. Wm. Gregg, of Toronto, and of Rev. Wm. Aitken, of Smith’s Falls, as lecturers for the session. In 1868 the Rev. D.H. MacVicar was appointed sole professor of Divinity. On the addition of other members to the permanent staff, he was made Principal, and occupied this position until his death in 1902. The Rev. Dr. Robert Campbell exercised the function till the appointment of the present principal, the Rev. John Scrimger, appointed in 1904.
The first building for the use of the College was erected in 1873, on a site immediately adjoining the grounds of McGill University. This building soon became insufficient, and in 1882 it was greatly enlarged through the liberality of Mr. David Morrice, the Chairman of the Board of Management.
The College is controlled entirely by the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the General Assembly appointing its Board of Management and Senate each year, as well as filling all vacancies on the staff. For educational purposes it is affiliated to McGill University, and maintains the closest relations with that institution. The students receive practically all their literary training in the University classes.
THE WESLEYAN THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
This institution was founded in the year 1872, by the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada, for the training of candidates for the Ministry, and began its educational work, September 29, 1873. In 1879, by direction of the General Conference of the Methodist Church of Canada, an act of Incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of the Province of Quebec, and the College was affiliated to McGill University. At the Union, in 1883, of the several Methodist bodies in Canada, constituting “The Methodist Church,” it was recognized as having the same relation which it previously held as one of the Connexional Educational Institutions of the Church. In 1887 the Charter was so amended by the Legislature of the Province of Quebec as to give to the Institution the power to confer degrees in Divinity.
The present buildings, which were erected in 1914, on the site formerly occupied in part by the old building were formally opened on Saturday, October 3, 1914, and are situated on University Street, near Mount Royal, at the eastern entrance to the University grounds and accommodate about one hundred students.
Rev. George Douglas, D.D., LL. D., the first Principal, held that position for twenty-one years, and the late Reverend Doctor Shaw was connected with the Institution, first as Professor and afterwards as Principal, from its foundation till 1910.