Once the all-important hospital of a small village in Ontario, the Red Cross Hospital now stands lifeless and gutted. Located in the center of the town's residences, the hospital officially opened it's doors in 1937; it's 8 beds serving the needs of the community. That all ended in 1964, when it had outlived it's usefulness in a world of consolidating health service into regional medical centres.
| Location | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algoma District, Ontario, Canada | ||||||
| Built :: Closed | Status | Difficulty | ||||
| 1937 :: 1970's | Partially Demolished | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ||||
| Hazards Risk | Security Risk | AUE Rating | ||||
| ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ||||
| Hazard Observations | Security Observations | |||||
| Water Damage | Vigilant Neighbours | |||||
While information on the hospital isn't hard to come by if you know where it is (although there isn't a whole lot of it), I'm purposely being vague on where it is, given the fact that it is surrounded by occupied homes. While we certainly didn't encounter any issues in any sort of legal sense, we did get questioned by one of the neighbours about what we were up to when we were exiting the building. It's a quiet little village, and I got the impression they value that peace and quiet, so I'm not about to put up a neon billboard of details on the internet.
Since it's closure in 1964, the building has changed hands several times and served several purposes, but never for long periods at a time. Even a newspaper article from 1977, found online, laments the fortunes of the building even then, as "alone, unwanted, and somewhat neglected". That sums up the feeling I got of the building while I was visiting perfectly.
Our visit revealed a building that seemed mostly untouched at the basement level, but nearly gutted at the upper level, right down to the studs in many places. Only a solitary bathroom on the upper level seems to have escaped the demolition work; work that never transitioned back to renovation work.
While the drop-down staircase into the attic was in place, the stairs themselves didn't feel particularly sound. I could also see holes in the roof, exposing daylight... which also meant that water infiltration was going to be an issue up there. Maybe in my younger days I might've gone up there for the sake of thoroughness, but on this visit I opted for the safer option of remaining on the lower floors.
While I certainly wouldn't go out of my way for this one, it did make a nice break from the mines and other industrial sites we were encountering on our trip through Algoma District.
