Since at least 1871, Canadian students have been attending the University of Illinois. Early Canadian Illini have included accountants, aeronautical engineers, agriculturalists, ceramic engineers, chemists, dentists, electrical engineers, entomologists, farmers, home economists, landscape architects, mechanical engineers, sociologists, soldiers, and transfer students too.

Read on to learn about early Canadian Illini!

Students

For at least the first fifty years of University history, many Canadian Illini were immigrants (or the descendants of immigrants) from Ontario and Quebec. However, that was not always the case. There have also been Canadian students who studied at Illinois and returned to Canada, and their numbers have been growing steadily ever since. Since 2004, today’s Illinois campus has hosted over one hundred Canadian Illini annually making Canadian students both a large and old population of University of Illinois. Interested researchers are invited to read The Semi-Centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois (and use both search queries “Canada” and “Can.” for best results). Included below are just a few vignettes (of a great many) of some early Canadian students.

The first Canadian undergraduate might have been Mr. Milo B. Burwash (Agriculture 1872), of Rough River, who came with his family (at the age of eleven) from Quebec to Illinois in 1860 and settled in Champaign Township in 1867. [1] In 1871, he was one of the original members of the student newspaper Illini where he was a co-editor of natural science and agriculture (then found on the Page 2). Then in 1872, he completed his studies in agriculture. After graduation, Mr. Burwash grew his farm in Savoy and remained active as an alumni member of the Class of 1872 including serving as Class Secretary. Following Mr. Burwash, the University would become home to multiple members and generations of the Burwash family.

The first Canadian PhD graduate might have been Mr. Stuart Jeffry Bates (PhD Chemistry, 1912), of Toronto, who came to Illinois after completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at McMaster University. [2] For one year after graduation, Dr. Bates worked as a Research Associate in Physical Chemistry until he joined the faculty at Throop University (now California Institute of Technology).

Mr. Herbert E. Smith (A.B. Liberal Arts and Sciences, 1916), of Cobourg, came to Illinois for his bachelor’s degree, before returning for graduate study in Canada and serving as a professor (as well as an administrator) at the University of Alberta. [3] In December of 1914, during fighting in World War I, Mr. Smith temporarily withdrew from his studies to enlist in the Canadian military. But by February, Mr. Smith returned to campus as a waiting member of the third contingent of the Canadian reserves. After graduation, Mr. Smith served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (1916-1917) and as a wireless operator in the Canadian Naval Service (1917). Following his war service, Dr. Smith taught across Saskatchewan and Alberta, before joining the University of Alberta faculty in 1929. By 1949 he was granted full professorship and from 1950 until 1959 he was even Dean of Education.

By the 1960s, Canadian student enrollment has gradually increased to annual averages of over one hundred students per year. The 1960s Canadian student population was composed of mostly graduate students, while the current campus is evenly split between graduate and undergraduate Canadian Illini. After almost 150 years of Canadian students, the first student newspaper mentions of student-organized Canadian cultural events do not appear until the 1950s.

Student Organizations

Prior to the founding the student club, as early as the 1952, Canadian Illini participated in off-campus international culture events, including organizing an annual Canada Night throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

From 1960 until at least 1964, Canadian Students Club (sometimes “Canada Club”) was organized as a social resource for Canadian students to participate in international events on campus. In 1963, one Campus Scout column featured a review of a Canadian Students Club picnic–joking that the group should have included Canadian Club alcohol. The following week, the author joked that three club members scolded him for writing the article–in English and in French.

Are you a Canadian Illini? Do you know someone who is? We’d like to hear from you! Please send us a message or leave a comment below. We want to include you and your story, as we celebrate the first 150 years of the University of Illinois.

Happy First 150 everyone!

References

[1] “Milo B. Burwash”, Bateman, Newton, Selby, Paul, and Cunningham, Joseph O. (1905) Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. Chicago: Munsell Publisher Company. Page 882; “Milo Benedict Burwash”, The Semi-Centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, Edited by Franklin W. Scott, page 1.

[2] “Stuart Jeffrey Bates”, The Semi-Centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, Edited by Franklin W. Scott, page 746. Be sure to check-out the Caltech University Archives for a publicity file and photographs.

[3] “Herbert Edgar Smith”, page 647. For a history of the education administration which Dr. Smith was a part of, then please see: Clarke, S. C. T. (Stanley Charles Tremayne). The development of the Department of Educational Psychology: The University of Alberta, 1950-51 to 1980-81. Edmonton: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, 1982. Also, please the University Archives of the University of Alberta for even more information.