West Campus

Queen's west campus holds the university's Faculty of Education, Richardson Memorial Stadium, and two residence complexes, Jean Royce Hall and John Orr Tower, and a Water Tower

It is located about two kilometres west of main campus.

Prior to Queen's purchase of the 61-acre area, it held a prison farm and a quarry worked by inmates from Kingston Penitentiary.

In the 1960s, Queen’s grew dramatically. Enrolment tripled. New buildings sprouted across campus. New faculties – business and graduate studies – were created. The net effect of this was to push Queen’s to the physical limits of its century-old precinct. The Board of Trustees agonized over where the next student residence might be squeezed into a campus with green space now at a premium.

Before it came to a decision, the provincial government intervened. As the Baby Boom generation streamed into primary and secondary schools, Ontario discovered that teachers were in short supply. In 1961, the government of Premier John Robarts announced that two new teachers’ colleges would be opened outside Toronto and called on universities to embrace the offer. Queen’s and Western answered the request. The terms were unusual: the province would have direct control over the projects, with each university acting as its agent. Principal Corry was wary of the arrangement, fearing a loss of academic autonomy, but a deal was struck in 1965 and planning started for an education faculty capable of taking in 600 students a year.

For Queen’s, it was an opportunity to expand. The trustees approved the purchase of 15 acres at the intersection of Union Street and Palace Road (now Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard), about two kilometres west of the main campus. Provisional planning was initiated for a new football stadium, a graduate residence, research labs and more parking lots.

Progress was slow. Queen’s Park’s control of the project held back construction on the faculty building, library, and residences for the new education faculty. When it became apparent that construction would fail to meet the proposed opening of the Duncan McArthur College of Education, the college welcomed its first class in 1968 at temporary quarters on the main campus. Finally, McArthur Hall officially opened in 1972. Other elements of the 1960s vision soon materialized. Richardson Stadium migrated west to the new campus. John Orr Tower, a residence for graduate and married students, opened in 1973, followed by a cluster of residences and an engineering lab behind the McArthur buildings.

Across Palace Road on Union Street, Queen’s acquired and refurbished Roselawn House, a magnificent 19th-century residence that became the Donald Gordon Conference Centre. With the purchase of adjacent land in 2008, West Campus’ size grew to a total of 69 acres.