The condition of the Rockefeller Foundation grant to McGill was to have it matched by $900,000 to put up buildings for physiology, pathology and psychiatry. The newly appointed Principal of McGill, General Sir Arthur Currie, had already succeeded in leading a widespread fund raising campaign for the University's centennial of over $6 million dollars. Thus the Rockefeller - McGill agreement was quickly completed.

General Sir Arthur Currie,
Prinicipal of McGill, 1921-1933
(McGill Archives)

        In 1928, Edward Archibald, who had been neurosurgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital since 1905, invited Wilder Penfield to move from New York to Montreal to take over neurosurgery. The excellent track record of McGill's developments set the stage for negotiations between the Rockefeller Foundation and McGill to establish The Montreal Neurological Institute. Currie and Martin strongly supported Wilder Penfield's idea combining neurology, neurosurgery and neurological research in the same structure. After an initial refusal, a concerted effort resulted in a grant of $1,232,652 in 1932, to create a million dollar research endowment, with the remainder to cover half the cost of the new building.
The cornerstone was laid on October 6, 1933. The Institute was officially opened on September 27^th, 1934.

Dr. Edward Archibald,
McGill's Professor of Surgery, and Canada's first neurosurgeon
(Penfield Archive)

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