There have been numerous additions, modifications, and demolitions of buildings at Mount Allison and an equally frequent rate of landscape changes during the school's history, but one thing that has changed very little on campus is the view looking east over the Swan Pond. This view offers a rare glimpse of the way an important part of the campus has looked for over 100 years. The shape of the pond, the fountain, and St. Paul's Anglican Church across the street appear practically the same today as they did in 1905. Little has altered the landscape aside from changes in vegetation and the sinking of the second island in 1963.
The Ladies' College pond was first excavated in autumn 1901 with funding from Josiah Wood then Sackville mayor, senator, and one of Mount Allison University's first two graduates. [1] On 22 November 1901 [2] the pond was filled with water for the first time with the intention of providing a skating surface for the students of the Ladies' College. By mid-December students were skating on the pond. Mount Allison Classics Professor A.D. Smith wrote in the Saint John Globe newspaper (16 December 1901) that they sang as they skated, "'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,' or words to that effect." [3]
A fountain installed in time for the school's 1902 closing ceremonies [4] did not take its present shape until summer 1905 when substitute Ladies' College Principal Raymond Clare Archibald initiated its construction. Ladies' College Art Teacher John Hammond designed the signature fountain which was hewn from two stones from nearby Pickard's Quarry, each weighing over one ton. [5] A brass nozzle which would project a fine spray was purchased in New York. [6]
View looking east. Behind the skating pond is St. Paul's Anglican Church.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/57 (cropped). May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Photograph courtesy Kip Jackson.
View looking west. Buildings in background, left-right: Conservatory of Music, Allison Hall, Lingley Hall, President's Cottage.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/58. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
View looking northwest. Buildings in background, left-right: Allison Hall, Lingley Hall, President's Cottage.
Mount Allison University Archives, Picture Collection, accession 2007.07/59. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
[1] [Saint John] Globe, Sep. 23, 1901, "Sackville News," [by A.D. Smith,] Sep. 21, 1901
[2] [Saint John] Globe, Nov. 25, 1901, "Sackville News," [by A.D. Smith,] Nov. 23, 1901
[3] [Saint John] Globe, Dec. 16, 1901, "Sackville News," [by A.D. Smith,] Dec. 14, 1901
[4] [Saint John] Globe, Jun. 2, 1902, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/6/1/5, p. 67
[5] "Notes About the Fountain in the Ladies' College Park,” by R.C. Archibald, Mar. 1941, located in Mount Allison University Archives, R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/5/1, pp. 108-9
[6] "Notes About the Fountain in the Ladies' College Park,” by R.C. Archibald, Mar. 1941, located in R.C. Archibald fonds, accession 5501/5/1, pp. 108-9. (Note: [Saint John] Globe, Oct. 19, 1904, "Sackville News," says fountain in the lake of Ladies' College park fitted with a new nozzle for a "more splendid volume of spray." Does not specify where nozzle came from, and it could have been purchased before the New York one.)