Mining the past

It was a fight for provincial funding that forged the beginnings of the Technical College of Nova Scotia 100 years ago.

It began in the late 1890s when the University of King’s College, Dalhousie University and St. Francis Xavier University were all petitioning the government for money to support mining engineering programs, says Dr. Allan Marble, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Dalhousie University.

Dr. Marble has researched the history of engineering studies in Nova Scotia for a book, The House that Sexton Built: A Century Of Outstanding Graduates. The book will be launched during centenary celebrations.

The need for mining engineers also drove the decision to set up Tech, he says, because 45 per cent of the province’s revenue came from the sale of minerals in 1900. Coal mining was a thriving industry.

Book launch WHAT: Book launch for Dr. Allan Marble's The House that Sexton Built: A Century of Outstanding Graduates. WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 4, 6 to 8 p.m. WHERE: Sexton Campus, 1360 Barrington St., Halifax

“You can plot the origin of Tech to that figure,” Dr. Marble says. “Once the government realized that, and there was no place for training mining engineers in Nova Scotia, they decided, ‘OK, we really have to do something about this.’”

George Murray, the Liberal premier at the time, tabled legislation in 1906 to set up the special college devoted to mining, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

Construction began in 1907 on Tech’s original building on Spring Garden Road. It is now occupied by Dalhousie’s Faculty of Architecture and Planning. The first class of engineers arrived in 1909.

In 1980, Tech became the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) and in 1997, TUNS amalgamated with Dalhousie University. About 12,000 engineers have graduated since 1907.

Some other nuggets mined from Dr. Marble’s research:

• C.D. Howe, perhaps best known as the federal minister of munitions and supply during the Second World War, moved to Halifax in 1908 to become the first professor of civil engineering at Tech.
• The original designer of the Canso Causeway was Charles Fowler, PEng, a 1914 graduate in civil engineering, and an architect. Although he passed away prior to construction, his legacy continues to this day.
• The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, Queen Elizabeth High School and the Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building in Halifax were all built with the help of engineering graduates.
• James Kinley, PEng, a 1948 graduate of mechanical engineering, served as Nova Scotia’s lieutenant-governor from 1994 to 2000. The first woman to graduate was
• Norma Eddy in 1958, with a degree in chemical engineering. Today, about 28 per cent of engineering students are female.