{"id":77765,"date":"2025-03-10T16:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T22:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=77765"},"modified":"2025-03-10T16:00:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T22:00:39","slug":"one-of-the-most-beautiful-landscaped-post-secondaries-the-story-of-saits-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2025\/03\/10\/one-of-the-most-beautiful-landscaped-post-secondaries-the-story-of-saits-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"‘One of the most beautiful landscaped post-secondaries’ – the story of SAIT’s trees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iconic view:<\/strong> Heritage Hall flanked by trees at SAIT. This landmark building is over 100 years old. (Photo by Meghan Lett\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

O<\/span>n a crisp autumn morning, as you stroll through the coloured leaves beside SAIT’s Heritage Hall, it is easy to note the history of Canada’s first technical institute in the century-old bricks.<\/p>\n

But what about the history of the landscaping along the Hall?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis row of trees here, with all the benches for people to go and sit \u2014 I think it’s wonderful,\u201d said Lisa Miller, director of operations and maintenance at SAIT.<\/p>\n

Miller is in charge of making sure the facilities and grounds around campus are properly maintained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a destination spot, for sure. And it’s iconic, right? When you look at Heritage Hall, you always have those trees there. It’s like [they\u2019re] part of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this was not always the case.<\/p>\n

Although SAIT officially opened at Inglewood’s Colonel Walker School in 1916, work on the modern-day main campus\u00a0 \u2013 now known as Heritage Hall \u2013 did not begin until Jan. 18, 1921. In Oct. 1922, classes finally started at the hall on the hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bleak location at the time, for it stood all alone, just two buildings, on the edge of the treeless bluff,\u201d wrote Roy E. Smith, author of S.A.I.T.: The First Sixty Years.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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A bleak sight:<\/strong> A postcard image that shows the southeast face of Heritage Hall and “A” Block as they existed in the 1920’s. The photo shows the barren state of the SAIT grounds before they were landscaped. (Photo by W. J. Oliver)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first mention of trees (besides the lack thereof) in any historical information about SAIT comes from an article in the Emery Weal<\/a> \u2013 the student newspaper \u2013 published on May 26, 1927. The article, titled \u201cTrees and Shrubs Planted at Tech\u201d reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cA step is being made this year towards beautifying the grounds around the institute. For a long time, it has been proposed to plant trees around the buildings in order to relieve the barren appearance of the grounds. The students have taken an active part in planting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1927-28 yearbook (author unknown), also noted that: \u201cThe work was done during class hours, the students being excused from their work\u201d and \u201cA careful record is being kept, so that the trees planted by each class will be known in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be beyond excited to find that \u2018careful record,\u2019\u201d said Karly Sawatzky, SAIT\u2019s archivist<\/a>, in an email to The Press. \u201cI have looked for years \u2026 I\u2019ve had no luck!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the loss of this record, there are a few more clues to be gleamed about the early years of SAIT\u2019s trees, thanks to Smith\u2019s history book.<\/p>\n

In the 1928-29 school year, the beautification of the campus continued, with more trees being added, and the lawns in front of Heritage Hall were laid out and planted. In 1933 \u2013 during the Great Depression \u2013 provincial relief crews planted 12,000 trees on campus.<\/p>\n

But students and staff, already struggling with the consequences of the Depression, were unable to maintain the grounds<\/a>. In 1939, the principal of the school, W.G. Carpenter, reported that they were in a \u201cdisgraceful condition, and badly in need of attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, WWII hit.<\/p>\n

On June 30, 1940, the federal government took over SAIT, and converted it into the No. 2 Wireless Training School for the Royal Canadian Air Force. During this time of war, there were many modifications to the grounds. Trees were chopped down, and temporary buildings were set up. Much of the landscaping progress was lost.<\/p>\n

In post-war 1950, plans were made to clean up and beautify the grounds once more. And with the Great Depression and WWII in the past, the campus slowly began to blossom into the beautifully landscaped landmark it is today.<\/p>\n

Since 1950, the landscaping at SAIT has been heavily influenced by the continual addition of buildings. When a building is planned, the landscaping around it is planned in tandem. For example, the trees Miller spoke of as being a part of Heritage Hall were added in the early 2000s, when the hall got a $15 million facelift. As the campus grows, so do its trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s so many benefits of trees, I could go on for days,\u201d said Beverly Sandalack, professor of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Calgary. \u201cThere are a lot of studies \u2026 that say when people are exposed to nature, their blood pressure goes down, their mood is elevated, they feel more at peace with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whether or not this knowledge was present at the beginning of SAIT, it is clear that the trees were always desired for the campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hoped that in the future, the Technical Institute grounds will become one of the beauty spots of the city,\u201d wrote an unknown author in the 1928-29 yearbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the landscaping on SAIT campus is one of the most beautiful landscaped post-secondaries that I’ve been on,\u201d said Miller, almost 100 years after the publication of that yearbook.<\/p>\n

The grounds of the institute are in good, caring hands. And the trees are finally here to stay.<\/p>\n

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Enjoying autumn:<\/strong> Lisa Miller poses with the trees beside Heritage Hall at SAIT. Miller is the director of operations and maintenance at SAIT, and is in charge of making sure the facilities and grounds around campus are properly maintained. (Photo by Meghan Lett\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning in 1916, SAIT was Canada\u2019s first technical institute. On a crisp autumn morning, as you stroll through the colored leaves beside Heritage Hall, it is easy to note the history of the school in the century-old bricks. But what about the history of the trees along the Hall? [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":934,"featured_media":77772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"Trees, ML","footnotes":""},"categories":[1808,1725,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-77765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-history","8":"category-nature","9":"category-campus-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/934"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77765"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79426,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77765\/revisions\/79426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}