History
Brockville General Hospital has a proud history of innovation and community service since 1885.
The hospital's beginnings can be traced back to March 16, 1881, when Dr. J.E. Brouse wrote a letter to the editor of the Evening Recorder about the need for a medical facility in Brockville. Dr. Brouse was inspired by the many dispensaries and clinics he found during a visit to New York City. He thought that similar services in Brockville could provide the foundation for a future hospital.
Moments in time
Explore the pivotal moments, places and pictures in the hospital's history.
Church Street dispensary |
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Church Street Nurses' Residence |
Their duties included bringing in the coal, filling kerosene lamps, cleaning chimneys and attending to vessels or utensils as often as necessary—in addition to actual nursing work. This building, along with that of the dispensary, has since been demolished. |
Original three-storey Charles Street building |
For several years after, the dispensary continued as it had under its new name, though the facilities were inadequate and outdated. A 1.5-acre parcel of land was purchased from the Ford family in 1887, and construction began in the fall of 1888 for a new location. In a brick building with four floors including the basement and 42 in-patient beds, the Brockville General Hospital opened its doors at the present Charles Street site on March 7, 1889. |
North and south wings added |
This would triple the size and accommodation of the building. Now it had the capacity for 82 patient beds, new nurses' quarters with a private entrance and a new children's ward. |
Services expand to three hospitals |
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Surgery in 1915 |
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School of Nursing |
For more than 80 years, the school was an integral part of the hospital community, producing 1,189 graduates before nursing programs became part of community college curriculums in 1974. Pictured: a graduating class from the Brockville General Hospital School of Nursing, circa 1916 |
Brockville General Hospital on Ormond Street |
Pictured: Brockville General Hospital on Ormond Street facing south, circa 1930 |
Front entrance of Brockville General Hospital in 1935 |
At the same time, the roof was raised to create a large attic, housing a new public ward for men, a diet kitchen and two smaller rooms. At this point in time, BGH accommodated more than 90 patients. |
Comstock Memorial Home for Nurses |
Pictured: the Comstock home, circa 1971 |
Hospital nursing alumnae |
Pictured: nursing students take a tea break in the Comstock Residence, circa 1940 |
South wing sod turning |
The construction contract was awarded to M. Sullivan & Son from Arnprior, Canada's oldest family-owned construction business that still exists today. Pictured from left: Miss Gertrude Gibson, assistant director of Nursing and Miss Geneva Purcell, director of Nursing. Making a speech is Brockville Mayor W. F. Reynolds, in office from 1947 to 1953. Holding the microphone is Jack Radford, owner of CFJM-AM Brockville at the time. The station became CFJR-AM in 1950. |
Brockville General Volunteer Association |
The Association started as the BGH Women's Auxiliary on November 11, 1889. On this date, the first annual meeting was held and the first executive was elected. As the first president, Mrs. Thomas Gilmour oversaw the philanthropic activities organized by the auxiliary's 59 original members. One of the first tasks taken on by the auxiliary (only the fourth in Ontario at that time) was sewing extra linens and fundraising for sewing materials for the newly opened hospital in Brockville. To raise money for the hospital, the auxiliary accepted donations from townspeople and held numerous teas, luncheons and concerts. Pictured: the volunteer-run Wagon Gift Shop, circa 1950s |
New south wing, 1951 |
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Brockville General Hospital and Brockville Collegiate Institute, 1964 |
Behind the hospital, to the north, was the Comstock Nurses' Residence—expanded at the same time to 71 rooms in order to house the extra student nurses that Brockville General Hospital could now accommodate and needed for its extra patients and services. In the lower left is Brockville Collegiate Institute. Pictured: an aerial shot of the hospital in 1964 |
New west wing opens in 1961 |
The event was well attended by public and staff. By this time, both the east and west wings were in full use and all patient services moved to the new buildings. The old turn-of the-century operating rooms were replaced with a modern operating room suite with four rooms and a recovery room. The X-ray Department in the old building had been so small that its equipment had to stay in crates until the new west wing provided the larger space. The ground floor of the West Wing became the new Radiology Department. It is now the hospital's Orthopedics Department. |
New north wing opens in 1970 |
Tearing down the old hospital and housing the services and storage elsewhere until completion of construction was a trying task. At the 1969 Annual General Meeting for Brockville General Hospital, Board Chair Dean Seaton described conditions as “cramped quarters, with absolutely no storage space and stairs that didn't go anywhere.” |
Solarium |
The solarium was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Ross McNeil, a “friend and former patient” of the hospital, and partially funded by his widow, Mrs. J. Latta. The solarium offered patients an attractive outdoor space and its basement offered needed storage space for X-ray film. |
New hospital expansion, 2003 |
In March 2000, the City of Brockville sold part of Emma Street to the hospital for $1.00. The street was officially closed and absorbed by the expansion in June of the following year. The beginning of the Comstock Nurses' Residence demolition occurred in May 2000. It was attended by many nursing alumnae, including the legendary Vera Preston, who served as the director of Nursing at the Brockville General Hospital School of Nursing for more than 30 years. Sod was turned on March 10, 2001 to begin construction of the 75,000 square foot expansion to the site that would house new operating rooms, Diagnostic Imaging, Emergency and ICU. This latest addition to BGH was officially opened on October 3, 2003. |
Program transfer, 2006 |
For 19 months, preparations were carried out between the two hospitals, with the main focus on patient well-being. It was the end of an era in this community. After 119 years of service from the Sisters of Providence facility, St. Vincent de Paul Hospital (pictured here circa 1970) became the BGH Garden Street Site on the stroke of midnight October 1, 2006. Pictured: St. Vincent de Paul Hospital, circa 1970 |
Brockville General Hospital assumes governance of acute care mental health services, 2012 |
These services include the hospital's Elmgrove Site (formerly Elmgrove Unit) on the grounds of the Brockville Mental Health Centre, the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team of Leeds, Grenville & South Lanark and the Mental Health Crisis Team of Leeds & Grenville. Pictured: George Weber (left), president & CEO of The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, handing the keys for Elmgrove over to Ray Marshall, former president & CEO of Brockville General Hospital |
Hospital reinstates MacLean name at maternity centennial, 2012 |
The hospital's maternity unit was created in 1912 as the MacLean Memorial Maternity Ward by a generous donation from then-mayor of Brockville Charles MacLean in memory of his wife Martha Fulford MacLean, who had died in childbirth in 1910. Since then, the maternity unit has provided decades of quality obstetrical care and support to generations of Leeds and Grenville families. The new signage was sponsored by the descendants of Charles MacLean, and was unveiled on August 17 by one of his grandchildren—Charles MacLean Cochand of Salisbury, England. After the official unveiling of the new name, the Brockville General Volunteer Association sponsored and hosted a Centennial Tea. Both the unveiling and the tea were attended by representatives from across Leeds and Grenville, the Maternal Child department, and many partners within the hospital organization. Pictured left to right: Ray Marshall, Brockville General Hospital president and CEO; Jennifer Torode, unit director; Charles Cochand, grandson of Charles MacLean; Mel Campbell, warden of Leeds/ Grenville; Maggie Wheeler, hospital communications officer; and David Henderson, Mayor of Brockville
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Patients welcomed to the Donald B. Green Tower, 2020 |
The Project consolidated all inpatient programs and services, including those offered at the Garden Street site, under one roof. Our Inpatient Rehabilitation, Integrated Stoke Unit, Complex Medical Management, and Palliative Care programs were all relocated to the new tower. The tower was designed with the latest in hospital design and environmentally-friendly building materials. 80% of patient rooms in the tower are single-occupancy to allow for more comfort and better infection control measures. Pictured: The Donald B. Green Tower, circa 2020 |
Brockville General unveils new modular MRI department, 2024 |
The prefabricated modular building houses the hospital’s new Siemens Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner and supporting spaces, as part of the hospital's diagnostic imaging department. This marked SDI's third installation in Canada using this groundbreaking solution that enables hospitals to expand their treatment capacity while minimizing disruption to existing operations. The advanced technology allows hospitals to create the secure environment necessary for operating medical equipment, like an MRI, without affecting other hospital activities. Additionally, the prefabricated modular design accelerates the installation process compared to traditional construction methods. Built in a controlled environment, the modular building ensures superior quality control, resulting in a faster, more reliable implementation. |
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