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The Montreal High School for Girls began in 1875 as a division of the all-male High School of Montreal. The latter had been founded in 1843 to provide a classical education (with plenty of Latin and Greek) for Protestant English-speaking boys in grades 1 to 12. McGill University controlled the boys' school (known at that time as the High School of McGill College) prior to its transfer to the Protestant Board of School Commissioners in 1870. In the years preceding the transfer, McGill University principal, J. W. Dawson, had advocated for women’s education; his idea was advanced with the opening of the girls section five years after the transfer.
One of the early graduates of the girls’ school, suffragette and physician, Olivia Ritchie, was the first female valedictorian at McGill and the first woman to earn a medical degree in Quebec. Another noteworthy student was the actress Norma Shearer.
In 1965 the boys’ and girls’ schools officially merged, although the two sexes continued to be segregated in separate wings of the neo-classical building at 3449 University Street. In 1979, the school closed its door, owing to the decline in the city’s Anglophone population; the site is now occupied by the mainly French-speaking F.A.C.E. (Fine Arts Core Education) school.

Founded on the Scottish model, the High School of Montreal replaced the Royal Grammar School in 1843, with the Rev. George F. Simpson as its first Rector. The direction of the High School was transferred to McGill in 1853, when it was renamed the High School of McGill College, but in 1870 the School passed under the jurisdiction of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners. The High School for Girls formed a separate division from 1875 to 1965.

The Montreal Graduate Nurses Association originally evolved from the Canadian Nurses Association, which was founded in 1895 with 25 nurses. The organization was incorporated in 1907 with the objectives of "the mutual instruction of Trained Nurses, the establishment of a sick benefit fund, to make the same provision for Nurses in case of sickness or death, and other analogous objects." In 1924, the Canadian Nurses Association changed their name to the Montreal Graduate Nurses Association due to frequent confusion between the local and national-level organizations.

The Montreal Fire Club was formed by a group of prominent merchants and businessmen for the mutual protection of its members from fire. Isaac Todd, Thomas McCord, James McGill and Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher were among the founding members of the club. The club held its first meeting in April 1763. The members of the club were provided with firefighting equipment and were expected to familiarize themselves with the other members houses and warehouses to provide assistance if needed.

The Montreal Elgar Choir was incorporated in 1924 through the amalgamation of the Elgar Women's Choir (founded in 1921) and the Apollo Glee Club, directed by Berkeley E. Chadwick. Chadwick, organist at the Erskine-American Church and music teacher at a number of private schools, became the new choir's first director. He was succeeded in 1951 by Gifford Mitchell, lecturer (1957, 1963-1965) and Assistant Professor (1966-1969) of music at McGill and music supervisor for the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal. Since 1969, the choir has been directed by Graham Knott (1969-1972) and Brock McElheran (1972-). Maureen Forrester made her professional debut in 1951 with the Choir, performing Elgar's "The Music Makers".

The Montreal Council of Social Agencies, a coordinating organization for English-speaking, non-Roman Catholic social agencies, was formed in 1921 by John Howard Toynbee Falk, head of McGill's Department of Social Studies, later the McGill University School of Social Workers. Although details of the organization of the MCSA have been modified over the years, the basic structure remained constant: a Board of Directors, elected from the member agencies, directed the MCSA through administrative standing committees and, more importantly, set up numerous special committees to study specific social problems under the aegis of area advisory groups for health, aging, urban renewal, recreation, etc. The overwhelming emphasis of the MCSA on planning and research reflects its role as animator, information exchange and coordinator of a great variety of social agencies and groups, from major hospitals and fund-raising organizations to church groups and boys' clubs. In 1968, the MCSA merged with its French homologue, the Conseil de Développement Social; it ceased operations in 1976.