Tobacco Business Builded a School

William C. Macdonald's upbringing didn't include much in the way of formal schooling, which might explain his later devotion to education. And his ambivalence about the way he'd made his fortune contributed at least in part to his generosity. "I am not proud of my business," he once said, "and that feeling, perhaps, has been the reason for my donations."

Macdonald's business was tobacco, and he did very well at it even though he considered smoking or chewing the stuff a "filthy habit." In the 19th century, Montreal was a major manufacturer of tobacco products and Macdonald was one of the industry's leading lights, and a very wealthy man.


His plant on Water St. employed more than 500 people, most of them women and adolescents, in the curing and processing of tobacco for pipes, cigars and chewing plugs. Much of the company's success seems to have been based on its recipe for chewing tobacco. It included molasses and was a favourite of farmers, fishermen, miners, lumberjacks and railway men - and maybe even baseball players.

In the 1880s, Macdonald became interested in rural education. Inspired by James W. Robertson's successes at the Central Experimental Farm outside Ottawa, Macdonald created the Macdonald Rural Schools Fund. It helped Quebec's school boards to move from the use of small schools of limited scope to consoli-dated schools that could offer a more diverse and practical education.

He then envisioned founding a college to offer young anglophones instruction in agriculture, teacher education and home economics. He intended to build it in Ormstown, a farm community, but logistical difficulties led him to choose Ste. Anne de Bellevue instead.

Macdonald funded the erection of all the buildings (beautifully designed by Alexander Hutchison and George W. Wood) and he endowed the college with a capital fund of $2 million. James Robertson became its first president.

The college opened in 1907 with 115 students in teacher training, 62 in household science and 32 in agriculture. It was part of McGill University, which granted its degrees.

When it opened, Macdonald, who was rather small in stature, pointed out the new buildings that he had funded and said, "Not so bad for a little fellow, is it?"

The Macdonald campus is still home to McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. The facilities also house John Abbott CEGEP .