McMaster University is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on 121 hectares of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens. McMaster University operates six academic faculties: Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Science, Science, and Business. It is a member of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities.
The university was established in 1887 as Toronto Baptist College; it became a degree-granting institution in 1957 after it merged with Hamilton College. McMaster’s medical school opened in 1965; it became Canada’s fourth faculty of medicine at a secular institution. The school was incorporated into the new Faculty of Health Sciences in 1972. In 1968, the college introduced an Honours Bachelor of Arts program, followed by graduate programs leading to Master’s degrees and Doctorates. An Institute for Applied Health Sciences was established in 1974, providing education for health professionals such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Several other graduate programs were also established during this time period.
In 1782 James McQueen emigrated from Scotland to Nova Scotia with his wife Margaret Scott and their children Andrew and Elizabeth; he eventually settled on land near what would become Hamilton. “Scotch” (or Ulster) Scots like James McQueen had been migrating to North America since 1680, but most had gone to New England or Pennsylvania rather than Nova Scotia or Upper Canada (now Ontario). By 1791 there were 4500 Scottish settlers in Nova Scotia, although many subsequently left due to poor economic conditions there.
A number of these Ulsters Scots later migrated to upper New York state and Michigan, while others went south to Kentucky, Tennessee, or even further west.:35–36 Many others remained in Nova Scotia where they integrated into society there over succeeding generations – becoming known variously as “Planters”, “Foreign Protestants”, or simply “Scots”