Anderson Lectures

Soon after the Second World War the College established a set of lectures known as the Anderson Lectures. The lectures were started by Principal Robert Lennox in 1949. The Anderson Lectures aimed at educating students, clergy and laypeople about topics in Reformed Christianity. His aim was to attract leaders in the Christian community to come to the College and give a series of lectures to anyone who was interested. They were named the Anderson Lectures in 1954 when Mr. L.W Anderson decided to set up an endowment for them.

New Building

It would be in the post war period that problems with the building structure would begin to pose frequent problems regarding upkeep. Eventually the need for many renovations on the building would result in discussions about a new College building.

In 1955 discussions about the need for a new building were started. Morrice Hall was in desperate need of repairs and they would be expensive ones. In 1957 McGill expressed interest in buying the old building from them, but a decision on the fate of Morrice Hall had not been made yet by the Board of Management. In 1960 the Board decided it would be best to sell the property to the University instead of undertaking expensive repairs.

The new building would open on April 28^th, 1963 and cost $864,000. The Church was able to secure $600,000 from the sale of the MacTavish St. property, which left them with $264,000. The next four years would be dedicated to raising funds to pay the $264,000 off. In 1967 they reached a total of $271,000. An appeal was made to all congregations to donate, and with R.R Merrifield as the treasurer they reached their goal. The campaign allowed for the College to reconnect with The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s many congregations and made people more familiar with the College.

The building was dedicated on April 28^th, 1963. In attendance was Principal Robert Lennox, Moderator of the 88^th General Assembly, Reverend Ross K. Cameron, Moderator of the Presbytery of Montreal, William Brown, and several other prominent Church figures, as well as many of the people responsible for the construction of the building.