With Henry Marshall Tory as its first president, the University of Alberta started operation in 1908. Forty-five students attended classes in English, mathematics and modern languages, on the top floor of the Queen Alexandra Elementary School in Strathcona, while the first campus building, Athabasca Hall, was under construction. In a letter to Alexander Cameron Rutherford in early 1906, while he was in the process of setting up McGill University College in Vancouver, Tory wrote, ""If you take any steps in the direction of a working University and wish to avoid the mistakes of the past, mistakes which have fearfully handicapped other institutions, you should start on a teaching basis.""