The following is the first in a series of articles detailing the history of each of the buildings on Brandon University’s campus. These articles will focus on the history of each building, their impact on campus, and the history of the person the buildings are named after. Questions of whether or not we should view these names with pride or disdain will arise. The purposes of these articles are to understand how we got to where we are today – taking both the negatives and positives into consideration – and whether or not we need to act as students to change the names of buildings, to appropriately reflect the values and diversity of our campus, instead of glorifying potentially controversial historical figures.
Of course, these articles are speculative, and for any real change to happen, we would need to bring the idea to BUSU, who would then bring the issue forward to the council of unions. We would not be alone, though. “BUFA would welcome plans to research and possibly rename the buildings on campus to reflect our diverse history. The core of the movement follows the types of actions we have enshrined in our new collective agreement,” says Ariane, the Vice President of Equity for the Brandon University Faculty Union who advises the association on all matters relating to equity, inclusion, and diversity. The renaming of buildings and streets is a hot topic in recent years, after all, especially with the Truth and Reconciliation movement, and we as the BU community should not ignore this topic. So, to start off the article series, we will look at Brandon University’s first two buildings: The Original Building and Clark Hall.
In 1899, the McKee Academy, formerly known as Prairie College, moved to Brandon and became Brandon College. Mr. William Davies and his sister-in-law Mrs. Emily Davies pledged $25,000 to establish the then-Baptist college in Brandon. Mrs. Davies herself laid the cornerstone for the Original Building on July 13, 1900. The building was completed not long after and officially opened October 1, 1901. Hugh McCowan, a Winnipeg architect, designed the building made from locally produced bricks and Manitoba limestone with a Romanesque appeal. There was a chapel at the centre of the interior where the bell tower sits. The university only offered theology, commercial, and high school departments at first.
On October 27, 1906, Clark Hall joined the lonely Original Building. William Alexander Elliot designed the building to blend with the preexisting Original Building, giving it a less grand tower at its centre. This building was originally used as a women’s residence, which was admirable seeing as women did not even earn the right to vote until 1916 in Manitoba. The new building included a gymnasium, reception offices, a dining hall, and a music studio that was the beginnings of the School of Music. A man named Dr. Charles Whitfield Clark donated $30,000 of the $40,000 it cost to build Clark Hall, and he was honoured with the building being named after him. Some sources name a Dr. W. S. Clark as the basis for the name of the building, but since I found no W. S. Clark in relation to Manitoba, Charles Whitfield Clark is the more likely candidate for the naming rights of this building.
Charles Whitfield Clark was born in 1845 in New Brunswick. He moved to Ingersoll, Ontario at the age of two with his family and later studied medicine in Aylmer, Ontario before completing further schooling in the United States. He made his way back to Canada, and in 1882 moved to Winnipeg, becoming the city’s first homeopathist. His career as a doctor spanned the length of 72 years, with only a two-year break in 1912 when he moved from Winnipeg to Toronto due to poor health. Clark and his wife adopted their nephew in 1882 after the death of the boy’s mother, and they had a son who died at the age of 8 in 1884 due to diphtheria.
Clark was interested in athletics, and some sources claim he was a major supporter of women’s right to education, fittingly providing money for the women’s residence at Brandon College for this cause. However, he was also a part of the Freemasons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. All three of these organizations were fraternities. If you are not familiar with fraternal orders, that is a rabbit hole you can discover on your own, but to put them in brief terms, they have been around for centuries and most, including the ones noted above, completed charity work and wanted to better their communities. Such organizations were also heavily controversial, as they had ritualistic ceremonies to accept new members, and most of the members allowed into the organizations were rich white men, save for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows who created a women’s organization in the mid-1800s. Some of their practices were so ritualistic, churches condemned association with them, such as the Catholic Church did with the Freemasons. Real human skeletons have been found in Odd Fellows lodges in the United States, that appear to have been dug up for ritualistic purposes. There are even claims that Odd Fellows took part in witchcraft and worshipped Satan. To say the least, while these fraternities helped their community, they were secret societies for the male elites. One almost wonders if their ‘charity’ organizations didn’t start as a way of flaunting power. In the 20th century, these organizations did change to be more inclusive, and today most fraternities focus on charity with minimal rituals. In Clark’s time, though, these were the realities of the organizations he associated himself with.
Moving back to the history of these two buildings, Clark Hall and the Original Building underwent massive renovations in the late 1990s. They were completely gutted and reconstructed, save for the brick exterior. They expanded the fourth floor, created more space in the basement, and added an expansion with a skywalk connecting to the George T. Richardson Centre. Although the architects tried to blend the expansion into the original design of the two brick buildings, if you look closely, or even from a considerable distance, you can very easily tell where the expansion starts and the old exteriors of Clark Hall and the Original Building end. The two buildings now house the Faculty of the Arts with classrooms, study spaces, offices, and Financial and Registration Services.
Now that you know the history of the Original Building and Clark Hall, here are a few questions to leave you contemplating the history of our campus. Considering Clark’s association with the controversial fraternal organizations, is it right for Clark Hall to bear his name? Or is it right for his generous donation and advocacy for women’s education to be immortalized through Clark Hall? Could the Original Building’s name be changed? Would, say, Mrs. Emily Davies be a good candidate, since Brandon University only has two buildings on campus named after women? Or should the Indigenous peoples who were the first peoples on this land be acknowledged in the name of the first building on Brandon University’s campus? After all, why must we keep the names of buildings for hundreds of years, when we as a society and school have changed so drastically?
(Sources used in researching this article include the Manitoba Historical Society, the Brandon University Archives, the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation, history.com, and the blog messynessychic.com.)