Muskoka Centre
| Muskoka Centre | |
|---|---|
| Construction Began | 1897 |
| Opened | 1963 (Mental Facility) |
| Closed | 1994 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Single Building |
| Location | Gravenhurst, ON |
| Alternate Names |
|
History
Construction in 1897 of the Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium, started with a 35-bed tuberculosis hospital, the first of its kind in Canada. expansions to the Sanatorium took place in the 1920’s at which time the facility could house 444 patients - a sizeable institution at the time. Additional buildings such as surgical facilities, a laboratory, several service buildings and private dwellings for the resident professionals were also completed shortly after.
As more modern treatment and prevention of tuberculosis became more prevalent, therequirements for traditional isolation sanatoriums lessened. The Muskoka hospital experienced decreased occupancy during the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s. Meanwhile, a counterbalancing phenomenon in the field of mental retardation began demanding increased care and treatment space.
In 1960, the 62-acre site, on a rocky peninsula jutting out into Lake Muskoka and the existing structures, were acquired by the Ontario Department of Health as an extension of the Ontario Hospital School at Orillia which came to be known as Huronia Regional Centre. In 1973, the facility, now known as Muskoka Regional Centre administered to 305 female patients between the ages of 16 to 80 years with the total staff of about 300. There were also several male adolescent resents. Approximately 275 of these residents occupied the large Gage complex, originally constructed in 1922, with the remainder housed in the Barbara Heyden Residence, constructed in 1936.
The Muskoka Centre was finally closed in 1994.
