St. Paul’s College

St. Paul’s College was founded in 1926 by Archbishop Alfred A. Sinnott to serve Winnipeg’s English-speaking Catholic population. Amid a national economic depression, the college’s first years were marked by debt and risks of bankruptcy. In late 1931, the lieutenant governor of Manitoba fully qualified St. Paul’s as a liberal arts college of the University of Manitoba. Originally located on Selkirk Avenue, the college was relocated in 1931 to the site of the former Manitoba College on Ellice and Vaughan Streets in downtown Winnipeg. To keep pace with growing enrollment, an additional unit, the Paul Shea Hall, was built in 1932. St. Paul’s became a Jesuit college in 1933 once the Jesuits, pressured by Rome, accepted responsibility for its administration. John S. Holland, S.J. was appointed as the first Jesuit rector. St. Paul’s was principally a high school with a small offer of classes at the university level. Its student body was almost exclusively composed of male Catholic students. University enrollment increased drastically after World War II, and the college separated academically from the high school in 1948.

St. Paul’s College relocated to the Fort Garry Campus of the University of Manitoba in 1958 and became the first co-educational Jesuit institution of higher education in Canada. St. Paul’s High School relocated to 2200 Grant Avenue, Tuxedo in June 1964. That same year, the college and the high school were reorganized under two distinct Jesuit jurisdictions and in 1966, both institutions had civil incorporation. St. Paul’s College remained under Jesuit direction until 1984, when the first non-Jesuit rector, Dr. David J. Lawless, was appointed.