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Canada Post Celebrates UBC's 100th Anniversary |
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Canada Post will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the University of British Columbia with the release of a commemorative stamp to be released March 7, 2008. The stamp features the stunning Walter C. Koerner Library on the Main Mall. The idea of establishing a provincial university in B.C. first came in 1877 from John Jessop, superintendent of education. He was concerned that local students would be forced to travel to other provinces and countries to get a university education. But other considerations occupied the attention of those responsible for building a new province and the matter of a provincial university lay dormant until the 1890s. |
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At that time, Vancouver High Schools were allowed to affiliate themselves with established Canadian Universities and thus become "Colleges" of those Universities. Under these enactments Vancouver High School affiliated with McGill University in 1899 and offered first year Arts courses under the name Vancouver College. Although the success of the program prompted an expansion in course offerings to include second year Arts courses in 1902, students were still required to travel to McGill University to complete their degrees. The establishment of McGill University College of B.C. did little to discourage the efforts of those wanting to build a Provincial University. In 1908, their efforts resulted in the passage of "An Act to Establish and Incorporate a University for the Province of British Columbia". |
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| Land at Point Grey and funds were designated and construction actually began, but the First World War interrupted the plan. In fact, the unfinished girders of the science building stood as a stark reminder of inaction for more than a decade.
In 1915, the university opened in temporary quarters at the Fairview site of Vancouver General Hospital. Conditions were not good. Classes for 1,176 students spilled over into tents, church basements and nearby homes. |
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In the summer of 1922, students circulated a petition to convince the government to resume construction on the university. They took them home for the summer to round up signatures from all over the province. Students gathered 56,000 signatures, an impressive total considering only 500,000 people were living in the province. On Oct. 28, 1922, a parade of trucks, floats and almost 1,200 students walked through downtown Vancouver to the cheers of onlookers. After a streetcar ride from Davie and Granville to 10th and Sasamat, the marchers continued on foot to the UBC site. The half-constructed Science building, now the Chemistry building, provided a dramatic photo-op, as students perched themselves on its steel girders, waving banners and chanting slogans. |
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| UBC Aquatic Centre | They then positioned themselves on a field to form a giant U-B-C. Students ended the trek by depositing stones collected along the route in a cairn commemorating the occasion. The cairn still stands between the Chemistry Building and Trekkers restaurant.
President-elect of the Alma Mater Society at the time, Ab Richards dedicated the cairn as "a milestone in the history of the university and a landmark for the future. It also marks one of the greatest efforts ever put forward by an undergraduate student body in support of its university." Richards and a student committee presented the petition at the legislature in Victoria and met with Premier John Oliver. The government responded to the widespread public support by agreeing to a loan of $1.5 million to resume construction of the campus. The first classes were held on the Point Grey UBC campus three years later on Sept. 22, 1925. |
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| Today, of course, UBC is a city within the city. With a daytime student population in excess of 35,000, staff and faculty mean that 50,000 people arrive on campus every day.
There are 26 eateries including 4 Starbucks. The Museum of Anthropology, Chan Centre for the Arts, Nitobe Memorial Garden and UBC Botanical Garden and store are all reasons for non-students to also visit the campus. Major renovations are underway on many of the buildings and plans are underway to build extensive market housing and a community centre south of 16th Ave. |
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| Condos overlooking Georgia Straight and Vancouver Island | |||
 And of course, UBC has a brand new, 7,200 seat hockey arena as part of the Winter Sports Centre that will be used for the round-robin hockey games for both the men's and women's Olympic teams. It will also be used for the men's sledge hockey in the Paralympic Games.
Beside the main rink, the original Father Bauer Memorial rink has been renovated and a new practice rink has been built and turned over to UBC for the upcoming summer hockey school. The legacy will give the UBC Thunderbirds one of the best winter sports complexes in the country. It will also be used for other public events and concerts and will be a valued addition to the Vancouver scene.
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| So if you haven't been out to the campus in a while, plan a visit to take in one of the UBC Centennial events. More in formation can be found on their web site.
Happy Birthday UBC! |
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| Other Olympic-related pages. | |||
Coins: The Vancouver 2010 Olympic coins are available in our store. They are not available for shipment outside North America at this time. According to a page 4 article in the June 25, 2007 issue of Coin World , the Royal Canadian Mint now has an agreement, with the United States Olympic Committee, to allow sales of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic coins to the United States. It appears the coins are not yet available for delivery outside North America. The Vancouver 2010 Olympics 50-coin program, the largest yet for any country, started in February, but stalled in April, when Vanoc, the Vancouver Olympic organizers, and the Mint started enforcing a ban on sales outside Canada, as they had no distribution agreement in place with individual nations' Olympic Committees. Canadian and U.S. residents can now order the coins, and get information about them, by calling Brian Grant Duff at (604)684 4613. By order of Vanoc, we are not allowed to display, describe, or sell the coins on our website, on radio, or on television. No terms of the agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee were available at the time the Coin World article was written. The Canadian Numismatic Society email newsletter has been hinting for some weeks that a distribution deal with the States was imminent. It appears we can now ship Vancouver 2010 Olympic coins and souvenir holders to clients in Canada and the United States. 2006 Proof Olympic Lucky Loony in a Bookmark |
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Newsletters: Royal Canadian Mint releases Freestyle Skiing quarter |
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Stamps: 2003 2010 Olympic Overprint attached stamp booklet trio |
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Newsletter #134 |
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