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Duncan McArthur Hall
Duncan McArthur Hall is one of the few buildings located on the West
Campus of Queen's University. The Campus is located about two
kilometres west of the main campus, and was purchased by Queen's in
1969. Before Queen's bought the 61 acre area, it held a farm and a
stone quarry, both of which were worked by inmates of the Kingston
Penitentiary.
Duncan McArthur Hall was built between 1969 and 1971 and funded by the
Ontario government. McArthur Hall is a very large building which houses
Queen's Faculty of Education, made up of administrative offices,
classrooms, labs, technical shops, and the large education library.
Duncan McArthur (1885-1943)
Duncan McArthur graduated from Queen's in 1908 with a
Master's Degree, and won medals in history, philosophy and political
science. After graduation, Mr. McArthur held many different jobs and
excelled at them all.
Mr. McArthur worked with famed Queen's professor Adam Shortt at the
Canadian Archives, working on the publication of documents relating to
constitutional history, and helping with Queen's summer school as well.
He obtained his LL.D. and was admitted to the bar in 1915. He then
served as the general manager of a trust company from 1919-1922, after
which he returned to Queen's and held the Douglas Chair in Canadian and
Colonial History, and then later became the head of the history
department. He remained at Queen's for 12 years and was considered an
excellent teacher.
In 1934 Mr. McArthur was made Deputy Minister of Education for Ontario,
and the entire Queen's community mourned the loss of his presence on
campus even as they celebrated his good fortune. Six years later, in
1940, he was promoted to Minister of Education. Mr. McArthur wanted to
completely redefine education in Ontario, and did research on schools
in Britain and Scandinavia to determine what needed to be done. He then
set about streamlining the system and placed a new emphasis on music
and art. In addition to his many other accomplishments, Mr. McArthur
published a book for high school students on Canadian history, and also
contributed to the Cambridge History of the British Empire.
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