Kingston, Ontario, in the 1840s, was in need of a hospital to care for its' growing population. The City had a large Loyalist settlement and was the site of a military garrison. During the early quarter of the nineteenth century, a large population of immigrant labourers had settled the area. By the 1840s, Kingston was a busy port town and the population had swelled. With the population growth came an increasing need for a hospital. 3
Bishop Remigius Gaulin saw the need for a Catholic hospital in Kingston and, in 1841, urged Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal to send a group of Sisters to this city to found a hospital. 4 Following in the tradition of Jeanne Mance, Foundress of the Hotel Dieu of Montreal, Mother Amable Bourbonniere and Sisters Louise Davignon, Huguette Claire Latour and Emilie Barbari arrived from Montreal in 1845 to help care for the poor and sick by founding the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston. On September 12, 1845, the first patient was brought to the small quarters of the newly opened Hotel Dieu Hospital, located at 229 Brock Street.
Hotel Dieu Hospital soon grew out of its original space on Brock Street and the Sisters needed additional rooms in which to care for the sick. In 1847, the first part of a new three story building at 231 Brock Street was erected. Construction had not yet been completed when a typhus epidemic struck the city. 5 During the epidemic, the Sisters established themselves as a vital part of the community. Most striking of all, the Sisters and the civic authorities had worked in concert in providing both health care and relief, an outstanding achievement for a small cloistered group of nuns who had arrived only two years earlier. 6
During the epidemic, more than 100 children, left orphaned when their parents succumbed to the disease, were cared for in the now crowded hospital by the Religious Hospitallers. Children slept two and three to a bed and took turns eating because of a shortage of both tables and cutlery. 7
By the late 1880s, it had become apparent that Hotel Dieu's physical structures were inadequate. In 1892, the hospital was moved to the renovated Regiopolis College Building on Sydenham Street. This building provided room for a Sisters' dormitory, community room and infirmary. 8 Soon, a surgical theatre was added. In 1912, the St. Joseph's School of Nursing opened on hospital grounds in an effort to increase the number of nursing staff available to work at Hotel Dieu.
Hotel Dieu Hospital has undergone many renovations and additions since its move to the current site. The Saint Joseph's wing added much needed space when it was opened in 1931. Expansion continued when the Centenary Wing opened in 1950. The Monastery, which originally sat on Hospital grounds, was demolished in 1958 to make room for the Johnson wing.
The 1970s saw many changes for Hotel Dieu Hospital. In 1973, Obstetrics moved to Kingston General Hospital. That same year, the Saint Joseph School of Nursing closed when nursing programs were transferred to community colleges. The Jeanne Mance residence, originally built to house students attending St. Joseph's School of Nursing, was torn down in 1979 to make room for the new Jeanne Mance tower which would house the emergency department, ambulatory care areas, the operating suite and critical care units, paediatrics, and diagnostic imaging.
Over the years, the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph and other staff at Hotel Dieu have cared for victims of epidemics, orphans, soldiers home from war, and sick and injured members of the community. More than one hundred and fifty years later, the caring, compassionate tradition of Hotel Dieu Hospital continues.
Thank you for your interest in the Hotel Dieu Hospital. The information provided is general in nature. Specific health care questions are best discussed with your family physician who is aware of your personal health.
