Thunder Bay Unseen

McKellar Hospital

The site of the former McKellar General Hospital in Fort William still resonates with history and unique venues.  The following page is comprised mostly of images from the single block upon which the hospital sits, of course, focusing on buildings that are linked to the hospital and the medical profession. McKellar General Hospital was originally named the John McKellar Memorial Hospital in honour of who many people consider to be the founding father of the City of Fort William.

Update - November 8th, 2005. The Ontario Government has cut funding to the Long Term Care Beds currently housed at the former McKellar Hospital. The patients will be moved to new accommodations by or before March 2006. The City of Thunder Bay has received a bid for the property which the hospital now sits. Should the land be sold the hospital most certainly will be torn down to make way for some new structure.

Update - April 14th, 2006. The Long Term Care Beds at McKellar Hospital have been moved to the former Pinewood Court Seniors Home on James Street. The hospital sits unoccupied for the first time in its history. The bid for purchase of the hospital fell through and the city is now looking for a new buyer.

Update - Summer 2006. All of the main floor windows and some of the second floor windows have been boarded over as the hospital is decommissioned.

Update - Spring and Summer 2008. The older half of McKellar Hospital, Patterson Hall, and 900 Arthur Street have all been demolished to make way for a new Shopper's Drug Mart as well as some office spaces and possibly a bank. The newer part of the hospital still stands and will converted into a Seniors Facility.

The front entrance of the former McKellar Hospital is contained in the newest wing.  The new wing shows no really unique architecture on the exterior.  The wing is quite nondescript, following typical 1960s institutional architecture. The lot upon which the hospital sits is a single block on the city's south side. It is surrounded by old Victorian style homes which will be a subject of another page.

The rear of the same wing features the entrance to the Emergency Ward.  Again, there are no really unique architectural features that capture the eye.  The whole building, however, is another story. Prior to the building of the new Health Science Centre this hospital was home to the only 24-hour, 365 day-a-year emergency room in the city of Thunder Bay. This was due to cost-cutting measures over many years. Note the covered driveway, atop the approach ramps, protecting the entrance to Emergency in the lower half of the picture.

As you move around the hospital building the styles of each wing vary wildly.  One can also observe that the purpose of each wing changes over time - it is most readily visible in the bricked over windows and doors.  This part of the hospital is the oldest of the surviving hospital structures, although it is not the oldest hospital building on the site. The original hospital occupied a corner lot to the left of the area in this photograph. The area in the lower left of the picture is the hospital laundry - Note that the original loading door has been boarded up, and the driveway has been re-sodded.

Looking in through the windows to the old laundry room at McKellar Hospital treats one to a glimpse of a true industrial laundromat.  The giant washing machines are clearly visible, as are various lifts and presses for hospital linens. Other windows nearby reveal workshops storage areas for the former hospital staff.

Another view of an older wing of the hospital, again with clear evidence of changing purpose with a large number of bricked over windows and new windows in new places. The windows of the old laundry are adorned with long outdated certification and union membership stickers.

Along Arthur Street lies a clinical building that married to the hospital after it had been built.  900 Arthur Street was once home to many specialized practices that were better served by being close to the hospital as the specialists may have had to make frequent trips back and forth.  The clinic itself is an example of mid-century professional building architecture. Originally symmetrical, a rebuilding of the stairway and an addition of an elevator have let to the current, lopsided look Since the hospital was closed many of these specialists have relocated to the new Medical Clinic adjacent to the Thunder Bay Health Science Centre.

Patterson Hall was a former learning centre, in addition to housing various clinics and medical services.  It is also still adorned by many signs proclaiming the former Thunder Bay Regional Hospital - McKellar Site. Some of the signs on the doors are older still, being hand painted and making use of the initials MGH - McKellar General Hospital.

The front lawn of the hospital is home to a Ontario Heritage Foundation Plaque, this one commemorates Col. Elizabeth Smellie.  The text of the plaque is as follows: Col. Elizabeth Smellie  1884 - 1968 This celebrated Canadian army nurse and public health authority was born in Port Arthur.  In 1909 "Beth" Smellie became night supervisor at McKellar General Hospital.  Joining the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1915, she served in France and England.  Elizabeth Smellie was demobilized in 1920 and three years later because Chief Superintendent of the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada.  She re-rentered the army in 1940 and a year later supervised the organization of the Canadian Women's Army Corps.  The first woman to attain the rank of Colonel in Canada'a Armed Forces, Col. Smellie achieved many honours, including Commander of the British Empire and the Royal Red Cross Medal.  After World War II she returned to the V.O.N. and retired in 1947.

Update - Summer 2007 This plaque was moved to a new home across from the Armoury in Port Arthur, in Waverly Park

With the hospital now closed the fate of the physical plant's smokestack seems all but certain.  Like all industrial-level institutions McKellar Hospital features a brick chimney adjacent to its boilers which allowed for the venting of the large amounts of smoke generated higher into the atmosphere to ease air quality for those in the immediate area.

Love it or hate it McKellar Variety has been a fixture at the eastern end of Arthur Street for decades.  Popular for its burgers with coney sauce and its milkshakes, McKellar Variety still features a lunch counter, old push button cash register, and a style reminiscent of corner store coffee shops of the 20s and 30s. The house in which you find McKellar Variety is a classic duplex-style from the late 1800s and turn-of-the-century. It, like many identical houses to it, were built to provide homes for incoming immigrants to Fort William.

Across Vickers Street from the hospital sits this quite unremarkable house. Unremarkable except for the simple brick pattern at the centre of the four windows on the eastern side. Sporting a date stone this house must have held some sort of importance at some point. I will endevour to uncover its past and share it here.