Ajax Division - Revision history

Kevinpsiu at 21:42, 3 September 2017

2017-09-03T21:42:03Z

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	==History==		[[File:Ajax Campus Class Room.jpg\|thumb\|right\|300px\|Interior of Ajax Campus Classroom during a lecture by Ernie Wall, c. 1946-47]]
	In ~~the 1940s~~, [[Skule]] was faced with a problem much larger than that of the ~~current~~ double cohort. Before the end of World War II, the University of Toronto anticipated a possible engineering class of up to 1500 first year students (mainly war veterans) at the conclusion of the war. At this time, the St. George campus facilities could only accommodate around 350 students.		'''Ajax Division''' or '''Ajax Campus''' was a temporary campus set up by the University of Toronto at the decommissioned Defence Industries Limited munitions plant in Ajax, Ontario. It was used for engineering students in the immediate post-WWII period when the Faculty experienced a significant boom in enrollment from returning veterans. The campus was hastily put into service for the fall 1945 term, and was used until April 1949.

			== History ==
			In 1945, [[Skule]] was faced with a problem much larger than that of the double cohort class entering university in 2003. Before the end of World War II, the University of Toronto anticipated a possible engineering class of up to 1500 first year students (mainly war veterans) at the conclusion of the war. At this time, the St. George campus facilities could only accommodate around 350 students.

	The University began planning to secure additional facilities for the incoming veterans, and in August 1945 a suitable place was found to accommodate them all: the Ajax munitions plant, some 40 kilometers from the St. George campus. With less than one month until the start of classes it was impossible to open the new campus for September, so 400 first year engineering students were accepted at the St. George campus. Ajax was to accept an additional 1500 students four months later in January.		The University began planning to secure additional facilities for the incoming veterans, and in August 1945 a suitable place was found to accommodate them all: the Ajax munitions plant, some 40 kilometers from the St. George campus. With less than one month until the start of classes it was impossible to open the new campus for September, so 400 first year engineering students were accepted at the St. George campus. Ajax was to accept an additional 1500 students four months later in January.

			[[File:Ajax Campus Classroom Seats.jpg\|thumb\|left\|200px\|Ajax Campus classroom, c. 1946.]]
	With hardly enough time to complete the construction, university staff frantically converted buildings into residences, labs, and lecture halls. It was an incredible effort, as described in the [[The Varsity]]: <blockquote>For example, some of the earlier [women's residences] to be constructed went up so quickly that fire exits were forgotten: so later two rooms had to be chopped out. ''The Varsity, January 16, 1946''</blockquote> Another article, one day before classes started at Ajax, mentioned: <blockquote>One classroom is called for at 9 a.m. on Thursday’s timetable. The Superintendent’s staff expect to have it ready by Wednesday midnight. ''The Varsity, January 15, 1946''</blockquote> But in the end, everything was finished according to schedule and on January 16, 1946, the Ajax Division opened its doors to 1400 first year engineering students. By the time it closed in 1949, over 3100 students had completed their first two years at Ajax and moved downtown to continue their studies. Closing Ajax was only possible after two new buildings were completed at St. George: the [[E.A. Wallberg Memorial Building]] in 1948, and the [[Mechanical Engineering Building]] in 1949.		With hardly enough time to complete the construction, university staff frantically converted buildings into residences, labs, and lecture halls. It was an incredible effort, as described in the [[The Varsity]]: <blockquote>For example, some of the earlier [women's residences] to be constructed went up so quickly that fire exits were forgotten: so later two rooms had to be chopped out. ''The Varsity, January 16, 1946''</blockquote> Another article, one day before classes started at Ajax, mentioned: <blockquote>One classroom is called for at 9 a.m. on Thursday’s timetable. The Superintendent’s staff expect to have it ready by Wednesday midnight. ''The Varsity, January 15, 1946''</blockquote> But in the end, everything was finished according to schedule and on January 16, 1946, the Ajax Division opened its doors to 1400 first year engineering students. By the time it closed in 1949, over 3100 students had completed their first two years at Ajax and moved downtown to continue their studies. Closing Ajax was only possible after two new buildings were completed at St. George: the [[E.A. Wallberg Memorial Building]] in 1948, and the [[Mechanical Engineering Building]] in 1949.

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	All these, however, are not what Ajax alumni fondly remember to this very day. And they are definitely not what makes Ajax so special in [[Skule]] history.		All these, however, are not what Ajax alumni fondly remember to this very day. And they are definitely not what makes Ajax so special in [[Skule]] history.

			[[File:Ajax Campus Dining Hall.jpg\|thumb\|right\|300px\|Engineering students lining up for food at the Ajax Campus Dining Hall, c. 1946-47.]]
	From crowding 150 engineers at a time into the "green dragons" (the semi-trailers used to move students between classes), to having to trek the great distances between classes during winter when one missed the green dragon, to the many dances and sporting events, everything brought the students much closer together than was possible at the St. George campus. Many students fondly recall Big Red, the Irish settler around the cafeteria – but they less fondly recall the food served there.		From crowding 150 engineers at a time into the "green dragons" (the semi-trailers used to move students between classes), to having to trek the great distances between classes during winter when one missed the green dragon, to the many dances and sporting events, everything brought the students much closer together than was possible at the St. George campus. Many students fondly recall Big Red, the Irish settler around the cafeteria – but they less fondly recall the food served there.

99.247.26.94: /* Spirit */

2016-08-04T22:47:29Z

Spirit

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	==Spirit==		==Spirit==
	All these, however, are not what Ajax alumni fondly remember to this very day. And they are definitely not what ~~make~~ Ajax so special in [[Skule]] history.		All these, however, are not what Ajax alumni fondly remember to this very day. And they are definitely not what makes Ajax so special in [[Skule]] history.

	From crowding 150 engineers at a time into the "green dragons" (the semi-trailers used to move students between classes), to having to trek the great distances between classes during winter when one missed the green dragon, to the many dances and sporting events, everything brought the students much closer together than was possible at the St. George campus. Many students fondly recall Big Red, the Irish settler around the cafeteria – but they less fondly recall the food served there.		From crowding 150 engineers at a time into the "green dragons" (the semi-trailers used to move students between classes), to having to trek the great distances between classes during winter when one missed the green dragon, to the many dances and sporting events, everything brought the students much closer together than was possible at the St. George campus. Many students fondly recall Big Red, the Irish settler around the cafeteria – but they less fondly recall the food served there.

Archivist at 03:13, 31 March 2013

2013-03-31T03:13:32Z

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	But the back of the battle had been broken or rather, had collapsed from weariness. The clamour died down and the tired, wet and footsore combatants went back to the study of statics.		But the back of the battle had been broken or rather, had collapsed from weariness. The clamour died down and the tired, wet and footsore combatants went back to the study of statics.

	~~===~~Written by the "Varsity War Correspondent~~===~~		''Written by the "Varsity War Correspondent"''

	<br />		<br />

	~~'''~~Editorial - Welcome Ajax!~~'''~~		===Editorial - Welcome Ajax!===

	Today's Varsity goes to 1,500 more students than ever before. To-day we begin circulation of an expanded paper on two campi, 24 miles apart but offspring alike of a parent University that knows no boundaries.		Today's Varsity goes to 1,500 more students than ever before. To-day we begin circulation of an expanded paper on two campi, 24 miles apart but offspring alike of a parent University that knows no boundaries.

Archivist at 03:12, 31 March 2013

2013-03-31T03:12:37Z

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	==Stories==		==Stories==

	~~'''~~Dog is Man's Best Friend~~'''~~		===Dog is Man's Best Friend===

	Do you remember the old, mangy, brown dog, perhaps a collie, that used to always slouch around near or in the cafeteria seeking handouts (and some of that food they served us was really for a dog)? The dog had a name as most dogs but my memory recall is not what it was. Maybe Big Red was its name.		Do you remember the old, mangy, brown dog, perhaps a collie, that used to always slouch around near or in the cafeteria seeking handouts (and some of that food they served us was really for a dog)? The dog had a name as most dogs but my memory recall is not what it was. Maybe Big Red was its name.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~The Racers~~'''~~		===The Racers===

	Most of the Ajax students lived in residence in the "H" huts built for the munitions plant war workers.		Most of the Ajax students lived in residence in the "H" huts built for the munitions plant war workers.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~Social Life at Ajax~~'''~~		===Social Life at Ajax===

	Speaking for the 4T9ers, most of us were a pretty determined lot having been out of school for up to five or six years. Recently demobilized from the Army, Navy or Air Force we had to work hard to cope with the demands of post secondary academic life. And those who came to Ajax directly from high school got caught up with this determination and the sense of "let's get on with it".		Speaking for the 4T9ers, most of us were a pretty determined lot having been out of school for up to five or six years. Recently demobilized from the Army, Navy or Air Force we had to work hard to cope with the demands of post secondary academic life. And those who came to Ajax directly from high school got caught up with this determination and the sense of "let's get on with it".
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~The Great Ajax Tombstone Caper~~'''~~		===The Great Ajax Tombstone Caper===

	One Saturday morning some time back, I heard Arthur Black on the CBC interviewing some American hack who was flogging his book about what he thought were hilarious college pranks. Not long after, the winter edition of the University of Toronto Magazine arrived, and in it your column on the planned celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of AJAX. This has prompted me to write to you about what to me is a real college prank. And much better, a stunt in which no one was hurt, showed some skill, imagination and more lean than most sophomoric exploits do.		One Saturday morning some time back, I heard Arthur Black on the CBC interviewing some American hack who was flogging his book about what he thought were hilarious college pranks. Not long after, the winter edition of the University of Toronto Magazine arrived, and in it your column on the planned celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of AJAX. This has prompted me to write to you about what to me is a real college prank. And much better, a stunt in which no one was hurt, showed some skill, imagination and more lean than most sophomoric exploits do.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~All the Comforts of Home Await Influx of Pioneers at Ajax~~'''~~		===All the Comforts of Home Await Influx of Pioneers at Ajax===

	Ajax is an airy, sprawling community, glistening in the sun, rolling over gentle ridges down to the blue glint of Lake Ontario, and dominated by the smokestack of its central heating plant and the huge tank of its private water supply. The Queen Elizabeth Way, as yet unpaved, runs by its back door. On hundreds of siding freights chug busily in and out.		Ajax is an airy, sprawling community, glistening in the sun, rolling over gentle ridges down to the blue glint of Lake Ontario, and dominated by the smokestack of its central heating plant and the huge tank of its private water supply. The Queen Elizabeth Way, as yet unpaved, runs by its back door. On hundreds of siding freights chug busily in and out.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~Long-Lost Friends at Ajax Cause Supervisor's Headache~~'''~~		===Long-Lost Friends at Ajax Cause Supervisor's Headache===

	At Ajax, it seems, everybody at one time or another during service years knew everybody else.		At Ajax, it seems, everybody at one time or another during service years knew everybody else.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~Hammers Still Pounding, Everybody is Hurrying~~'''~~		===Hammers Still Pounding, Everybody is Hurrying===

	Amidst the year's first blinding snowstorm, the Great Adventure began yesterday for 1,400 students registered at the Ajax Division. Last night, for the first of many times, the rafters of the Recreation Hall rang with The Blue and White. Today is get-acquainted day. Tomorrow at 9 lectures begin, and the Ajax Project will be securely launched.		Amidst the year's first blinding snowstorm, the Great Adventure began yesterday for 1,400 students registered at the Ajax Division. Last night, for the first of many times, the rafters of the Recreation Hall rang with The Blue and White. Today is get-acquainted day. Tomorrow at 9 lectures begin, and the Ajax Project will be securely launched.
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	<br />		<br />
	~~'''~~Strange Transportation Toting Ajax Schoolmen~~'''~~		===Strange Transportation Toting Ajax Schoolmen===

	[[Image:The Green Dragon.jpg\|thumb\|left\|150px\|The Green Dragon. Image from "The Pictorial History of Ajax 1941/1972.]]		[[Image:The Green Dragon.jpg\|thumb\|left\|150px\|The Green Dragon. Image from "The Pictorial History of Ajax 1941/1972.]]
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	<br />		<br />

	~~'''~~Houses Drenched in Student War - Fire Department Called to End Hose Battle~~'''~~		===Houses Drenched in Student War - Fire Department Called to End Hose Battle===

	Last night, on the last night of the first term, the residents of 734 and 736 waged war across the open field between the two buildings. Using fire hoses as weapons, the participants fought for every inch of ground in the largest battle yet witnessed on the campus.		Last night, on the last night of the first term, the residents of 734 and 736 waged war across the open field between the two buildings. Using fire hoses as weapons, the participants fought for every inch of ground in the largest battle yet witnessed on the campus.
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	But the back of the battle had been broken or rather, had collapsed from weariness. The clamour died down and the tired, wet and footsore combatants went back to the study of statics.		But the back of the battle had been broken or rather, had collapsed from weariness. The clamour died down and the tired, wet and footsore combatants went back to the study of statics.

	''Written by the "Varsity War Correspondent~~"''~~		===Written by the "Varsity War Correspondent===

	<br />		<br />

	Editorial - Welcome Ajax!		'''Editorial - Welcome Ajax!'''

	Today's Varsity goes to 1,500 more students than ever before. To-day we begin circulation of an expanded paper on two campi, 24 miles apart but offspring alike of a parent University that knows no boundaries.		Today's Varsity goes to 1,500 more students than ever before. To-day we begin circulation of an expanded paper on two campi, 24 miles apart but offspring alike of a parent University that knows no boundaries.

Archivist at 01:39, 31 March 2013

2013-03-31T01:39:52Z

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 <br />
 '''Strange Transportation Toting Ajax Schoolmen'''
 Did you ever visit Ajax? No! Then you haven't noticed the large grey cattle-cars, or, to be more specific, the vans used to transport students the half-mile from the main area to the lecture and lab buildings. These wood and steel boxes on wheels, eight feet in width and height and 30 feet in length, are dragged along by a detached cab in front. The buses cover the route every hour approximately on the hour, and continue until the alleged queues of Skulemen are all taken care of in one fashion or another.
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 ''Originally published in the Varsity, Monday February 18, 1946''

Archivist at 01:36, 31 March 2013

2013-03-31T01:36:12Z

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	''Written by R.W. 'Bob' Scott''		''Written by R.W. 'Bob' Scott''

			<br />
			'''All the Comforts of Home Await Influx of Pioneers at Ajax'''

			Ajax is an airy, sprawling community, glistening in the sun, rolling over gentle ridges down to the blue glint of Lake Ontario, and dominated by the smokestack of its central heating plant and the huge tank of its private water supply. The Queen Elizabeth Way, as yet unpaved, runs by its back door. On hundreds of siding freights chug busily in and out.

			...

			Each residence has a flight of steps, each a powerful bulb over the door, each a plushily-furnished common room, 58 bedrooms, showers, baths, and laundry. "Quiet, Please!", admonished a poster inside the door. "Sleep-Saboteurs and Radio Rowdies are Hitler's Friends."

			The Gate House, where we surrendered our pass and our lighter under the x-ray eyes of blue-coated guards, lies at the neck of the L, in a convenient site for its possible future function as a centre for Hart House activities.

			And beyond the Gate House stretch the assembly lines, down towards the lake, buildings like sparse grey beads on a string of roofed, hardwood-floored corridors. Here the laboratories will be fitted up; but not until the demolition of fire-hazardous shell-filling rooms has broken the continuity of the chain.

			Two of a fleet of six caravans, seating 80 and capable of holding 140, will be retained by the University to carry students the miles to their lectures.

			The labs-to-be are now utterly bare, shells with thick brick walls and gleaming hardwood floors, laced with the colored pipes of steam, water, and power supply. But they will be humming when the engineers move in next spring.

			''Originally published in the Varsity, Thursday Sept. 27, 1945''

			<br />
			'''Long-Lost Friends at Ajax Cause Supervisor's Headache'''

			At Ajax, it seems, everybody at one time or another during service years knew everybody else.

			That fact is making dawn-to-dusk headaches for Mr. Ronald H. Perry, Superviser of Residences. Mr. Perry, we have it on eye-witness authority, carries aspirins in his pocket. Mr. Perry's job of the moment is allocating residence rooms on the basis of keeping as many old friends as close together as possible.

			"It was fine when we started out," Mr Perry said. "Lads came to me and said they'd heard of old service pals also registering at Ajax. So I put them together as room-mates, or at least in the same building.

			"If they hadn't any special preferences, I grouped room-mates by age, course, and service background and hope they'd make a go of it."

			But in the last few days, it seems, just about everybody who arrived on the Ajax campus was discovering long-lost friends. "The requests for transfers choked our records completely. So for a week we have frozen all movement. At the end of that time people can move again - if they still want to."

			Mr. Perry pointed out that every change of rooms involved changes on eight separate sets of records. "We have three sets of forms to look after, and the Bursar has five. With very many removals, the work of keeping track becomes staggering."

			Sixteen houses accommodating some 75 students each had been completely filled by Monday night, with three more available and two in reserve.

			A constitution based on that set-up by the Residence Committee for the U of T residences on the Toronto campus provides for residence self-government via House Committees, - a joint House Committee, and a Housemasters' Committee. Elections to these bodies will take place shortly.

			The U-shaped buildings consist of two wings of double rooms connected by a common room, and boast study rooms and a kitchenette in each wing. Originally women's residences constructed by Defense Industries Ltd., former proprietors of Ajax, the houses were transferred to the University in excellent condition and have been still further improved.

			"They are just different enough to require separate floor-plans for the supervising staff," Mr. Perry commented. "For example, some of the earlier ones to be constructed went up so quickly that fire exits were forgotten: so later two rooms had to be chopped out."

			The seven women students have one end of one wing in House 21 to themselves, complete with a separate entrance and common room. The remainder of the building is filled by girls on the secretarial staff of the U. of T., Defense Industries Ltd., and War Assets Corp.

			''Originally published in the Varsity, Wednesday January 16, 1946''

			<br />
			'''Hammers Still Pounding, Everybody is Hurrying'''

			Amidst the year's first blinding snowstorm, the Great Adventure began yesterday for 1,400 students registered at the Ajax Division. Last night, for the first of many times, the rafters of the Recreation Hall rang with The Blue and White. Today is get-acquainted day. Tomorrow at 9 lectures begin, and the Ajax Project will be securely launched.

			Over 1,200 students are now living in residence on the Ajax campus; some 80 per cent of them ex-service personnel. Corridor-choking queues slouched around corners of the Administration Building until late at night, en route to the Bursar's Office and room allotment at the Residence Director's.

			Housemasters scurried, tracing lost baggage, directing hungry hordes to the cafeteria. In room after room of the Staff's labyrinthic Arbor Lodge, extempore conferences threshed out last-minute administrative details.

			Throughout the Ajax campus,, saws droned and hammers pounded, readying Hart House, the laundry, and other campus corners for immediate use. Hart House at the moment exists as a palatial furnished common-room occupying the centre of a carpenters' shambles of beams and paint. Completion for the remainder within two weeks is expected.

			One classroom is called for at 9 a.m. on Thursday's timetable. The Superintendent's staff expect to have it ready by Wednesday midnight.

			First mass get-together of the Ajax students was a sing-song last night sponsored by the Engineering Society. Five Society members went down to teach Ajaxians the immortal Toike Oike.

			Abetted by S.P.S. Dean C. R. Young, Director J. R. Gilley, and Hart House Superintendent D. L. Emond, the visiting experts raised the roof. Haltingly but with gathering confidence, the thousand Ajaxians responded.

			Coffee and sandwiches rounded out the evening. Ajax had begun.

			''Originally published in the Varsity, Tuesday January 15, 1946''

			<br />
			'''Strange Transportation Toting Ajax Schoolmen'''

			Did you ever visit Ajax? No! Then you haven't noticed the large grey cattle-cars, or, to be more specific, the vans used to transport students the half-mile from the main area to the lecture and lab buildings. These wood and steel boxes on wheels, eight feet in width and height and 30 feet in length, are dragged along by a detached cab in front. The buses cover the route every hour approximately on the hour, and continue until the alleged queues of Skulemen are all taken care of in one fashion or another.

			The buses have an official seating capacity of 30 and will stand another 70 but any A-Jack who has participated in the friendly rush at noon or at five o'clock will verify the statement that the actual seating capacity is about 60 (two layers) while many a bus has probably carried a total load of well over 150. At about 150 lbs. each, that means about 11 tons of solid engineers.

			In an in-between trips interview with one of the drivers it was found the four drivers, Messrs Hinan, Bartlett, Greer and Burley, are quite proud of trucking such a condensed load of knowledge.

			They have been at the job since the commencement of the D.I.L. plant and admit their preference for the present gang because, according to Mr. Hinan, "the students seem to load and unload a lot faster than the women did. This is probably due to their eagerness to get to their lectures."

			But the buses don't cost the A-Jacks a red cent so, crowd or no crowd, you can have your Bloor St. rush-hour street-car!

			''Originally published in the Varsity, Monday February 18, 1946''

Archivist at 01:32, 31 March 2013

2013-03-31T01:32:06Z

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	''About the author: Course - Mechanical 4T9. Written on 10/19/94.''		''About the author: Course - Mechanical 4T9. Written on 10/19/94.''

			<br />
			'''The Great Ajax Tombstone Caper'''

			One Saturday morning some time back, I heard Arthur Black on the CBC interviewing some American hack who was flogging his book about what he thought were hilarious college pranks. Not long after, the winter edition of the University of Toronto Magazine arrived, and in it your column on the planned celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of AJAX. This has prompted me to write to you about what to me is a real college prank. And much better, a stunt in which no one was hurt, showed some skill, imagination and more lean than most sophomoric exploits do.

			No doubt, you remember and have heard much about the "Green Dragons", "Big Red", playing gastronomical Russian Roulette with the boiled eggs stamped 'CANADA FOR EXPORT ONLY', and on and on. Herewith the "Great Ajax Tombstone Caper". You may or may not remember anything about it, but at the time we could have done with some consultation from a Civil. I hope that you will find it interesting, mildly amusing and of some use at the Ajax Remembered celebrations.

			''''''The Great Ajax Tombstone Caper''''''

			Out of the night the menacing looking Franklin limousine braked to a stop with a crunch of gravel on the shoulder of the road. It was a chilly drizzling night in mid-October in the haphazard settlement that straggled along the Rouge River near Lake Ontario. The huge doors clicked open and five roughly-dressed young giants strode confidently through the dripping grass toward the single light bulb that barely lit a work site. Tom Citizen was mixing concrete and pouring a front porch for his modest cottage.

			"Hey Mac!" said Turner who led the group as usual, "How would you like to trade some concrete for a bag of cement?"

			"Whu, Whu, What do you want it for?" stuttered Tom not knowing what was coming next.

			"We're making a tombstone." growled six foot six inch Keen.

			---

			Word had come down - or so we were told - from the Blue and White Society to the Engineering Society and thence to Heisey (ever the promoter and our Eng.Soc. representative) of a task for the Ajax Engineering and Business Club. The Rah-Rah geniuses had decided that they wanted a tombstone to mark the weekend when the Varsity Blues would finally "bury" the Western Mustangs. We had the people, the place and the enthusiasm to bring off this super-optimistic venture. The main problem was time! We had less than a week. Could we do it? Damn right!

			One of our "real" engineers, (the Hespeler and later IMAX boy Shaw) had the form together in no time in the hobby hut. Fortunately, time dims all memories, so I can't remember who from the crew scaled the barbed-wire fence into the nascent housing development and returned with a bag of in-scarce-supply cement. There we were having agreed to this hare-brained scheme, with a form to make the tombstone, a bag of cement and no aggregate or a place to mix the concrete even if we had.

			---

			Hughson's family had stored their magnificent air-cooled Franklin limousine during the war, and he had driven it down to Ajax from Ottawa, so we had wheels. Into that cavernous car we loaded form and cement and we were off! Where? To look for some mixing cement at night - of course I'm not sure what spirit guided us to the Rouge valley. But we had cruised through most of the Ajax-Pickering area looking in vain for the elusive "do-it-yourselfer" when that single bulb glowed in the distance dimly illuminating Tom and his cement mixer.

			---

			The tombstone form, now filled to the top with concrete, was far from light work for us as we slid it carefully onto the floor of the Franklin. Back in the Hobby hut cum shack, the Quebec heater was glowing in preparation for some forced concrete curing. It was my assignment to organize the curing detail. A roster was set up so that some poor sod would struggle out of bed throughout the night to stoke the stove and douse our handiwork with a bucket of water at hourly intervals. Someone had heard that we needed to keep fresh concrete damp, (reinforcing wire would have been of more use). By the next morning the shack was awash and steaming, and the tombstone was set.

			Shaw undertook to chisel the inscription into the still plastic surface as we all watched anxiously. The visible portion of the stone carried the words that went something like, "October 23, 1948 HERE LIES JOHNNY METRAS AND HIS WESTERN MUSTANGS - MAY THEY REST IN PIECES". Below the ground line we decided we'd identify our production by roughly carving "MADE IN AJAX ENG BUS 5T1". The powers-that-be (Heisey) decreed that this might leave us open to some sort of discipline. Hence "ENG BUS 5T1" was defaced. At least "they'd" know it came from Ajax!

			---

			It was almost midnight Thursday as the Franklin ghosted down Mount Pleasant Road. We were on our way to the main campus to "plant" our handiwork. Now at 6 foot 2, Anderson and I were no longer the midgets of the crew having been joined by Bates who was always game for a gag. Six of us now, with two long handheld shovels from God knows where and the completed stone resting on the car's back floor, headed for the tricky part.

			The murky campus was deserted as we pulled up outside the Red Schoolhouse at about one a.m. It seemed to take just a minute or so until we'd wrestled the two hundred pound plus hunk of concrete out onto the campus, and planted the Ajax tombstone where we had turned over the sod for a three foot by eight foot "grave" smack in the middle of the main circle. The ever-alert campus police arrived about half way through the operation, but were persuaded by the well-lubricated Mutt & Jeff - Bates and Keen - that we were only doing some "authorized fall landscaping".

			Back to Ajax we drove in triumph, along the empty fog-shrouded road (that has become 401) with Bates "navigating" the dotted line from his prone position on the left-front fender. The "grave" discovery was made early Friday morning but our effort was removed to allow for the Varsity vs Western Soccer Games that were played on Saturday. The "Officials" couldn't possibly have left it there for any time.

			---

			When last seen, the tombstone lay sadly in two pieces at the bottom of the basement stairs of a Frat house on St. George, (green concrete with no reinforcing!). No doubt it is long gone now, but finally, everyone can know who was responsible for the Great Ajax Tombstone Caper, and that it ranks right up there with the legendary bricking up of U.C.'s front door and the Ajax 1934 Plymouth convertible chariot in the first Chariot Race. What happened at the game? The Ajax tombstone seems to have had an effect. Cursory research fails to tell what the score was, but the Blues whomped Western, setting the scene for the triumphant '49 season.

			But, by then U of T Ajax Division was just a memory too.

			''Written by R.W. 'Bob' Scott''

Archivist at 03:14, 24 March 2013

2013-03-24T03:14:53Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:14, 23 March 2013
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	''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''		''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''

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	'''The Racers'''		'''The Racers'''
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	''About the author: Course - Mechanical 5T0.''		''About the author: Course - Mechanical 5T0.''

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	'''Social Life at Ajax'''		'''Social Life at Ajax'''

Archivist at 03:14, 24 March 2013

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← Older revision		Revision as of 23:14, 23 March 2013
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	''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''		''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''
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	'''The Racers'''		'''The Racers'''

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	''About the author: Course - Mechanical 5T0.''		''About the author: Course - Mechanical 5T0.''
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	'''Social Life at Ajax'''		'''Social Life at Ajax'''

Archivist at 03:12, 24 March 2013

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← Older revision		Revision as of 23:12, 23 March 2013
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	''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''		''About the author: Course - Electrical 4T9. House at Ajax 730, East Wing. Those are the only clues you'll get.''

			'''The Racers'''

			Most of the Ajax students lived in residence in the "H" huts built for the munitions plant war workers.

			A second student group commuted every weekday in car pools, primarily to the east end of Toronto.

			This alternative was expedient because accommodations for a married student was virtually unobtainable around Ajax. Many rented rooms, or flats in east Toronto. Also, a single student with parents who had the room, could live at home and significantly reduce living expenses, by commuting.

			The car pools were made up from these students, passengers, usually were in the same year and course in a particular car. There was a lot of last minutes substitution from one vehicle to another in order to expedite departures.

			The cars were mostly dilapidated, used, from five to fifteen years old, unless subsidized by a parent or purchased from a veteran's demobilization backpay situation, then they were newer. The oldest from my recollection was a 1929 Durant Sedan, possibly followed by a 1930 Peirce Arrow Cabriolet and a 1937 Lasalle. The newest may have been a 1946 Studebaker Starlite Coupe, but it was not a contender.

			The route to Toronto was on Kingston Rd. Highway No. 2 - as construction was incomplete on 401. At five o'clock the dozens of student cars jockeying for a "pole" position for the race to Toronto was a sight to behold. We got to know most of the cars of our classmates, and in the true competitive spirit, to pass them on my way home was a source of satisfaction to driver and passengers alike.

			Eventually the traffic situation was so wild after five p.m. between Ajax and West Hill that truck drivers who were familiar with this stretch of the road pulled over and waited to "let it all go ahead".

			The only race rule that I can recall that was considered for implementation was "No passing three abreast on a Hill!".

			Imagine what could have been the situation when some ex-fighter pilot types drive in front of the cars, and trying to sustain their image, while some equally determined ex-P.B.I. (Bloody Infantry) drivers were trying to squash this image by passing each other.

			''About the author: Course - Mechanical 5T0.''

			'''Social Life at Ajax'''

			Speaking for the 4T9ers, most of us were a pretty determined lot having been out of school for up to five or six years. Recently demobilized from the Army, Navy or Air Force we had to work hard to cope with the demands of post secondary academic life. And those who came to Ajax directly from high school got caught up with this determination and the sense of "let's get on with it".

			Truth to tell we were drudges during the week nights, struggling to grasp the rudiments of various disciplines and courses and trying to keep the process under control. But Friday nights and Saturday nights were given to the pursuit of all manner of entertainment.

			Sometimes it was an evening of all male company at the Spruce Villa with ten cent draft beers, sawdust on the floor and bawdy songs though some were lucky enough to be invited into the barely more genteel atmosphere of the "Ladies and Escorts". But mostly it was a search for congenial access to the company of the fair sex.

			Thus was born "THE HOUSE PARTY".

			Each residence or "hut" had a House Committee with the all important Entertainment Subcommittee which had the responsibility of arranging the band of disc jockey, the food and above all, THE GIRLS!

			Disarming phone calls to Toronto managed always to coerce a group of 40 to 50 single young ladies from the telephone company, a nurses residence, a college or any other source of girls to attend the "House Party" and to even pay for the chartered bus that brought them to Ajax and returned them home at the end of the evening.

			The utilitarian barracks style residences were ill-suited for the party atmosphere but we did our best in the all male house. We hung streamers and arranged for flowers to brighten the scene. And, with propriety, we assigned one of the two large communal washrooms for the ladies use and with a blinding display of male class we made the washroom more suitable for the ladies by stopping up the long and incredibly ugly trough type urinal, filling it with water and a couple of dozen goldfish.

			The common room was arranged with a small dance area, the small band ground out the simple tunes of the day and the ritual of "getting acquainted" began. Romances bloomed in those heady days after the war and we know that some have lasted to this day.

			''About the author: Course - Mechanical 4T9. Written on 10/19/94.''