Canadian Literary Institute,—A few friends of ministerial education in Canada

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9/22/23 3h  · Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Post by Jim Curran

Canadian Literary Institute,—A few friends of ministerial education in Canada, not wholly dis- couraged by the failure to establish a permanent institution at Montreal (see article Monrrear Cor- LEGE), resolved, in the autumn of 1856, to make another experiment, which, while having special reference to the training of young men for the min- istry, should also look to the general education of the young of either sex. Liheral offers were made by three places—Fonthill, Brantford, and Wood- stock—to induce the friends of the enterprise to lo- cate the institute in these towns. Woodstock was selected, responsible parties having pledged $16,000 to be given to the institute. In due time Rev. Dr. R. A. Fyfe was called to take charge of the institu- tion, and the school was opened July 4, 1860, and its prospects looked hopeful. These prospects were apparently blighted by a fire, which, on the 8th of January, consumed the institute building. A large number of students had just come to Wood- stock, after a vacation, to commence work in their respective classes, and, in spite of the great misfor- tune which had befallen the school, it was decided to go on. A deep interest was awakened among the Canadian Baptists in consequence of the disas- ter referred to, and what at first seemed a great calamity turned out to be a rich blessing. In a few weeks $21,000 were pledged towards the erection of a new building, larger and better than the one that had been burned. But there are other and more pressing wants of a young struggling seat of learning besides proper buildings. One by one these have been met, and successful work done in both the literary and the theological departments. The statistics which we are able to sive of what the institute has accomplished since it was opened in 1860 show that hundreds have been the recipients of its advantages, many of whom have entered the ministry; 61 have graduated from the theological department; 40 have settled as pastors who were unable to take a full course of study. A large number of persons, both male and female, who have enjoyed the benefits of the courses of study which the institute has furnished, are in the dif- ferent professions and callings of life, owing to it a debt of gratitude which they cannot easily repay. The school has now reached a period to which all similar seminaries of learning sooner or later come, when its future usefulness, and existence even, de- pend on the solution of the question of endowment. The late lamented president, Dr. Fyfe, asked that at least $120.000 should be raised for such an endow- ment. The question of the removal of the theolog- ical department to Toronto has heen discussed. Should the funds necessary to place both the lit- erary and the theological departments on a firm foundation be secured, the proposed plan may be carried out. Since the above was written it has heen decided that a theological seminary shall be erected near Toronto, the site and buildings of which will cost $75,000, and a generous member of the Jarvis Street church of Toronto, whose liberality is known throughout Canada, has agreed to defray the entire expense of the ground and structure. From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart(NOTE: This was renamed Woodstock College in 1883, however in 1881, its faculty of theology was already transferred to Toronto Baptist College, and in 1888, its ladies’ department was moved to Moulton College in Toronto. The campus was used as a boy’s preparatory school until 1926.) Photo from woodstocknewsgroup