decayed dreams

[Axle]

In 1903 a small pox epidemic swept through the eastern Ontario town of Smiths Falls, the sisters of Divine Providence came in from Kingston to assist the town, and in 1904 the mayor was presented an offer for the sisters to setup a hospital in the town. St. Francis Hospital was established in 1904. In 1910 a second hospital was setup when various community churches and organizations received a letter of incorporation from the government. Named the Public Hospital at first, the name was changed when Mrs. Mary E. Chambers bequeathed the Chambers family homestead, the hospital was named the Chambers Memorial Hospital in honor of her husband and brother-in-law. The hospital was expanded in 1958 increasing the number of beds to 94 then again in 1968 to 100 beds. In 1975 the Ontario Government purchased St. Francis from the Sisters of Divine Providence and amalgamated it with Chambers Memorial. St. Francis became Smiths Falls Community Hospital North Unit, while Chambers became Smiths Falls Community Hospital South Unit. The South Unit being smaller was used for long term chronic care and rehabilitation services. In 1995 Smiths Falls Community Hospital was merged again with the Great War Memorial Hospital 20KM north in the town of Perth. With the Common Sense Revolution in full swing in the province, the government saw no need to have three hospitals, so South Unit was shut down and sold off in 1995.

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Nikon D300, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm 1:2.8G/AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4D

[WesternGuy]

Axle, interesting pictures - you seem to have this thing for old decaying buildings and I think it is great that these get recorded for posterity - how do you find these things? My thing is old and dilapidated farmsteads and buildings, but I don't get out enough to find that many of them - maybe this summer.

My main question is what do they do with all these old buildings - just let them decay(?), or will the buildings be removed and the land re-used for something else, as I doubt it would be cost effective to restore this structure - probably cheaper to tear it down and rebuild something, or...sell the land off to a private company.

Where I live, the last time the province decomissioned an old hospital, it was stripped down to the bare walls and imploded, and the remains carted away to a dump site. Its location is currently a park site, while the City and the Province make up their collective minds about what they are going to do with the site.

Regards,

WesternGuy

[Axle]

I keep an eye on the news, news papers ect...and of course I'm a member of a community of people who also like abandoned buildings so we often will share information about such buildings.

In many cases the buildings are sold off to private owners who will attempt to do something run out of money and then let the building sit. Demolition by neglect has killed many such buildings, some of a historical nature (Lyric Theater in Downtown Hamilton, and Empress Hotel in Toronto were two recent victims).

The view in Ontario is to reuse government buildings first. For example the Rideau Regional Centre houses an OPP HQ in one of the buildings while the others remain empty.