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Ajax Division: Difference between revisions
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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 | '''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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==Spirit== | ==Spirit== | ||
All these, however, are not what Ajax alumni fondly remember to this very day. And they are definitely not what | 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. | ||
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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"'' | |||
<br /> | <br /> | ||
===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. | ||