Image of participants in the Gasoline Traction Engine Course, standing in front of two tractors parked in front of the Engineering Building.

Bio/Historical Note: This was the first class ever conducted on campus; classes began in the new College Building that fall.

A large crowd of engineering alumni facing a stage watching a man speak at a podium. The engineering crest is hanging on the wall behind the speaker.

Numbered concrete bricks or blocks sitting in a pile in front of the Engineering Building. Information from A-4756: "Original blocks put in at site 1st Ave - 22nd-23rd taken out in 1928 when Massey Harris Bldg put up."

Bio/Historical Note: A three-storey concrete Massey Ferguson farm machinery warehouse operated in Saskatoon from 1929-1959 at 105 1st Avenue North. The building served a number of other uses until it was demolished in 1973. The Hilton Garden Inn Hotel now stands (2020) on the site.

Internal framing being erected for the new Engineering Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The original Engineering Building was designed to house the Agricultural Engineering Department, though it would eventually be home to the Department of Field Husbandry as well. The redbrick exterior was largely constructed during the summer of 1911 while the interior work was completed during the winter of 1911-12. The Engineering Building was designed by the original campus architects, David Brown and Hugh Vallance, and made allowances for the great variety of work within the field of agricultural engineering: the lower floor was designed for use in blacksmithing, cement work, engine construction and heavy farm machinery. The second floor contained a lecture room as well as room for woodwork, carpentry, pumps and farm-barn equipment. The third floor was devoted to a draughting room and light farm equipment. The main entrance to the building opened into the blacksmith’s forge. In 1913 a second wing was built with Brown and Vallance again serving as chief architects, as they would again in 1920. By December 1923 a final addition, designed by Saskatoon architect J. K. Verbeke, was completed by Bennett & White Construction for $8,800. At approximately 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 13 March 1925, a fire broke out in the north end of the building's Tractor Laboratory. In less than three hours everything but the Ceramic Lab had been completely destroyed. The fire came as a shock to many, as the entire building had been subjected to a rigorous fire inspection only a day prior to the blaze. Plans for a new Engineering Building to be constructed on the original foundation were promptly issued, and other building projects, including the long-anticipated Arts Building, were postponed.

Group of men standing in front of Engineering Building before a formal photograph has been taken; first class ever held on the campus.

Looking east at Engineering Building at left and Livestock Pavilion at right. At centre in background is the University farm foreman’s residence at left and the boarding house for farm workers at right.

View of construction of Engineering Building addition.

Bio/historical note: The original Engineering Building was destroyed by fire on Friday, 13 Mar. 1925.

Looking south at St. Thomas More College Building at centre. Engineering Building at left; Emmanuel College and Observatory at right. Two men stand on roof of Health Sciences Building; one man close to edge of roof [holding a camera].

Bio/Historical Note: Saint Thomas More College (STM) has the distinction of being the first and only federated college at the University of Saskatchewan. It was established as a Catholic college in 1936 following negotiations between Fr. Henry Carr of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and President Walter Murray of the University of Saskatchewan, and was named for Thomas More, who had been canonized in 1935. Yet the pre-history of the college and its buildings goes back more than a decade earlier. For several years, Saskatoon Catholics had been asking for a Catholic college at the newly established University of Saskatchewan. The first step was taken in 1926, when a group of Catholic laymen established the Newman Society, with the long term goal of establishing a Catholic college at the university. By September of that year, "arrangements were in place for Fr. Dr. Basil Markle from the Archdiocese of Toronto to teach Scholastic Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan and to serve as chaplain for the Catholic students." The first facility for the Catholic chaplain, with chapel and clubrooms for the use of the Catholic students, was Newman Hall (usually called "the white house"), built in 1927 on land on the south side of the campus at the corner of College Drive and Bottomley Avenue. This building later became St. Thomas More College in 1936 and in 1943 it was enlarged in anticipation of an expected large influx of students when the war would end. The first section of the present greystone building was constructed in 1954-1956 at a cost of $600,000; it was designed by architects Webster and Gilbert and built by Shannon Brothers of Saskatoon, for whom the college's Shannon Library is named. The new building was officially opened on 7 February 1957. Subsequent additions to the college building were completed in two phases, one in 1963 and another in 1969. This three-stage period of construction on the building translated into well over a decade of constant construction between 1954 and 1969, and included a chapel, library, cafeteria, auditorium, faculty offices, classrooms, and an art gallery. Living quarters on the third and fourth floors, used by the Basilian Fathers for many years, have been converted to offices and classroom space in recent years. Renovations since 2000 have involved changes to the auditorium, cafeteria, student and faculty lounges, library, art gallery and the rededication of some areas to use as classrooms.

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925.

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925. Two unidentified men standing among ruins.

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925.

View of twisted metal after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925.

View of construction of Engineering Building addition; winter scene.

Bio/Historical Note: The modern day Engineering Building was built on the foundations of the original Engineering Building which was destroyed by fire 13 March 1925. Construction began the following June with an expected completion date of 1 November 1926. Gentil J.K. Verbeke of Saskatoon designed the new building, which was initially budgeted at $277,150. In reality the project would run well into February 1926 and eventually cost $304,169.65. The still uncompleted Engineering Building was occupied by the college in January 1926. Similar in design to its predecessor, the new Engineering Building featured a few noteworthy improvements. These included skylights for the top floor and individual lights for the draughting tables, a smoking lounge for students, and a new library and reading room. The new building contained 89,000 gross square feet of space, and also housed the dean and assistant dean’s offices, about 15 staff offices, drafting rooms, several lecture rooms, laboratories and postgraduate student offices. In 1939 the west wing of the new building was extended northward to house the Mechanical Engineering laboratories and the welding shop. An extension of the tractor lab was completed on 7 February 1941 for $33,188.60. The extension was designed by Gentil J.K. Verbeke and was built by Shannon Bros. Construction. A full addition to the west wing also designed by Verbeke was completed in 1946 by W. C. Wells Contractors for $31,890. The official opening of the west wing took place on 10 February 1948. In 1949 a World War II Air Force hangar was adjoined to the building to provide “temporary” space for the college. In the fall of 1961 the Evan A. Hardy Laboratory was completed as part of greater construction on the building. The laboratory project included extensive space for the Department of Agricultural Engineering, the Agricultural Engineering Research and Development Section and the Divisions of Hydrology and Control Systems. The project was completed in 1963 for $611,761; it was constructed by W.C. Wells Construction. The lab was designed by architect J. K. Verbeke while the further addition was designed by the architectural firm of Webster, Forrester and Scott. In the late 1970s the Engineering Building would undergo drastic renovations.

View looking northeast of first Engineering Building. Road and landscaping in foreground.

Image of Engineering students seated in Room 130 during a lecture in the Engineering Building. W.B. Baker, Director, School of Agriculture, seated in foreground.