Daniel McIntyre inducted into Hall of Fame

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This article was published 14/09/2016 (3306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DANIEL McIntyre, the former long-time superintendent of Winnipeg schools, has become the 43rd inductee into the Winnipeg Realtors Citizens Hall of Fame.

McIntyre may be remembered because of a Winnipeg high school in his name, but the entire school system in Winnipeg might rightfully be named after him. In fact, a city ward is named after him.

He was superintendent of Winnipeg schools for an incredible 43 years, from 1885 to his retirement in 1928. He oversaw the growth of the school system from the very beginnings of the then-rapidly growing city when there were only eight facilities. When he retired, there were more than 80 schools and tens of thousands of students.

The Winnipeg Realtors Citizens Hall of Fame program, founded in 1986, honours outstanding citizens who have brought recognition to the city or have made outstanding contributions to Winnipeg’s quality of life. They are selected from the fields of professional, public affairs and voluntary service.

Each inductee has a likeness sculpted and displayed at the Citizens Hall of Fame site in Assiniboine Park.

Rick Preston, chairman of the association’s Citizens Hall of Fame program, said, “We have always felt education is one of those undeniable and essential underpinnings of our Citizens Hall of Fame inductees’ drive to succeed and to enable them to attain their goals.

“Daniel McIntyre was indirectly responsible for 10 of the inductees’ early education.”

McIntyre started his career as a teacher in New Brunswick and then went on to graduate in law from Dalhousie University in 1882.

When he settled in Winnipeg, he briefly articled in criminal law but quickly went back to his roots in education.

As an engaged professional educator in the formative years of the city, McIntyre was at the forefront of many of the city’s fledgling institutions.

He was co-founder and first president of the Children’s Aid Society and a co-founder of the School for the Blind in Manitoba and was an active volunteer, especially helping those underprivileged and challenged.

He was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Manitoba in 1912 and in 1924 Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute was opened and named in his honour.

In 1935, he received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contribution to education.

Gordon Davies and David Rich, descendants of the McIntyre family, will accept the Citizens Hall of Fame bronze medallion at an induction ceremony at the school named after him on Thursday. It will be permanently installed in the school’s library.

On Friday, McIntyre’s bronze portraiture created by local sculptor Erin Senko will be installed at the Citizens Hall of Fame site at the southeast corner of Assiniboine Park.

McIntyre joins other members of the Citizens Hall of Fame who helped build the city, including Ashdown, Dafoe, Nanton and McClung as well as more recent civic leaders such as Israel Asper, Robert Chipman, Samuel Freedman, John Hirsch, Duff Roblin and Steven Juba, the first recipient.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca