The University of Manitoba, founded by Alexander Morris, was established under the University of Manitoba Act as a “Provincial University” on 28 February 1877, becoming the first institution of higher education—thus also the first university—to be established in all of western Canada.
The first U of M Chancellor (1877–1904) was Most Reverend John Machray, who was Bishop and later Archbishop of Rupert's Land; the first Vice-Chancellor (1877–89) was Manitoba Attorney-General Joseph Royal, who was also the one to introduce the bill for the University of Manitoba Act; the first registrar was Major E. W. Jarvis, an engineer who served with Sir Sanford Fleming in surveying the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Officially opening on June 20, 1877, the university was formed by the federation of three existing denominational colleges and only conferred degrees on students graduating from these colleges: Collège de Saint-Boniface (Roman Catholic), St John's College (Anglican), and Manitoba College (Presbyterian).
The university would add a number of colleges to its corporate and associative body since. In 1882, the Manitoba Medical College, privately founded by physicians and surgeons, became a part of the university. Six years later, in 1888, Wesley College (Methodist) became affiliated with the university as well. The Bacteriological Research Building of the Manitoba Medical College would be designed by architect Charles Henry Wheeler in 1897, while the Science Building, between 1899 and 1900 by architect George Creeford Browne.
In 1895, the University of Manitoba Act was amended to give the denominational colleges the power to confer degrees in divinity. It would be amended again two years later in order to allow the Manitoba government to grant up to $60,000 for the university and a normal school (i.e., a teaching college).
In 1900, the university became a teaching institution by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Soon after, other colleges also received affiliated status:
In 1938, Wesley College and Manitoba College merged to form United College. Three decades later, in 1967, United College became the University of Winnipeg, and Brandon College became Brandon University.
In contrast, Collège universitaire de St. Boniface has retained its affiliation with the U of Manitoba, though operating independently on its own campus in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg. Moreover, St. John's, St. Paul's, and St. Andrew's College have continued their affiliated relationship with the U of M into the present day, and are housed on the university's Fort Garry campus.
The university would hold its first exams on 27 May 1878, taken by a total of seven students, all from Manitoba College. Two years later, the U of M conferred its first degree, the recipient being Reginald William Gunn, a Métis student of Manitoba College who graduated with honours in Natural Sciences.
In 1885, the university is approved by the federal government for up to 150,000 acres (610 km2) of crown land in Manitoba as an endowment.
In 1886, the U of M admitted its first woman student, Jessie Holmes, and in 1889, Holmes also became the university's first female graduate. In 1892, the Manitoba Medical College saw its first female graduate, Hattie Foxton, who passed her exams with first-class standing for Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery.
In 1897, the University of Manitoba Act was amended in order to allow the Manitoba government to grant up to $60,000 for the university and a normal school (i.e., a teaching college).
In the early part of the 20th century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law, and medicine. Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced.
As the university recognized its need to be a teaching university in addition to its degree-granting responsibilities, the science building was built in 1901 on Broadway in downtown Winnipeg, becoming the university's first teaching facility. The university's first dedicated staff was subsequently hired in 1904 to teach in the newly created Faculty of Science. This staff of science professors is regarded as the university's "original six," and included A.H.R. Buller (botany and geology), Frank Allen (physics and mineralogy), M.A. Parker (chemistry), R. R. Cochrane (mathematics), Swale Vincent (physiology), and Gordon Bell (bacteriology).
In 1908 the university established its library and Florence Davy Thompson became the first librarian.
The Broadway location—as well as the current site of the Canadian Mennonite University near Assiniboine Park—was considered as a possible main campus. However, the university ultimately decided on its current site at Fort Garry in order to be near the Manitoba Agricultural College, which, in 1911, began constructing the campus’ first buildings: Tache Hall, the Administration Building, and the Home Economics Building (now the Human Ecology Building), all completed in 1912.
Between 1911 and 1912, the university conferred its first honorary degrees, received by President of the University of Toronto Robert Alexander Falconer and by Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba Daniel Hunter Macmillan. On 1 January 1913, James Alexander Maclean became the first President of the university. Also in 1913, the university officially moved to the site, where it began constructing some of its own buildings, including the Engineering building. That year, the Departments of Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, French, and of German were established as well.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Manitoba
Official Website: https://umanitoba.ca/