Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital

Description

The Hamilton Asylum for the Insane also called the Ontario Hospital and later the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital was initially intended to be an asylum for inebriates However there was more need for beds for the mentally disturbed and this became its sole concern The Hamilton Asylum for the Insane began operation in 1876 on 529 acres of land with 202 patients Patients came from the counties of Wentworth Halton Peel Simcoe Wellington Waterloo Norfolk Haldimand Welland Lincoln and the City of Hamilton The two closest asylums were Toronto and London

Until well into the 20th century it was accessible only by a dirt road and was therefore quite isolated However it was largely selfsufficient with the farm on which the hospital stood providing all the necessary food Cattle chickens and pigs as well as fruits and vegetables all came from the farm It had its own bakery butchers shop greenhouse root cellar milkprocessing house tailors shop sewing room upholstery shop fire hall power house a fleet of vehicles skating and curling rinks a bowling green tennis courts and chapel In 1890 it housed 915 patients and employed 119 people The Asylum Ball was an annual event in the Hamilton community for many years Its guest list was a whos who of Hamilton society

Around 1902 it established a training school for psychiatric nursing which was accredited in 1924 It graduated over 240 nurses before it closed in 1956 The facility also provided training in psychiatric nursing to nurses from the other city hospitals

The Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital was owned and operated for more than 124 years by the Ontario government In November 2000 it was transferred to the authority of the St Josephs HealthcareHamilton and has been renamed the Centre for Mountain Health Services