Portal:Featured Article Of The Week
Featured Article Of The Week
Orillia Asylum
The history of the Huronia Regional Centre dates back to the purchase of an almost completed hotel building situated on approximately 13 acres of land at today’s Couchiching Beach Park and the opening of the “Convalescent Lunatic Asylum” in 1861. This became home to people both with mental illness or developmental handicaps as the third branch of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum (today the Centre For Addiction And Mental Health at 1001 Queen Street West in Toronto) for 9 years. It was closed in 1870 and reopened again in 1876 at the same site due to overcrowding of the other facilities. Within 6 months there were over 100 residents. In early 1877, Dr. Alexander Beaton was appointed as the new superintendent. He was a dynamic pioneer who was twice elected president of what was later known as the American Association on Mental Retardation (.A.A.M.R.). Dr. Beaton was interested in the training of developmentally handicapped people rather than custodial care and, by 1888 a school was formally started.
To alleviate the overcrowding, 151 acres of land at the edge of Lake Simcoe were purchased in 1885, complete with a stone farmhouse and some outbuildings. Initial construction included a female residence (opened in November 1887), a male residence (opened in February 1888), a central building serving as a water tower, boiler house and kitchen and, about a quarter mile distant, a small plant to create coal gas for lighting located near the railway tracks. The present Administration Building, added to the front of the existing complex, was opened in April 1891, at which time both the remaining resident group and the school was moved to the new site and the building at the Park closed. The park site was later sold to the Town of Orillia. Dr. Beaton continued to fight for the rights of the residents by attempting to dispel the ignorance and apathy directed toward them throughout his 33 year career. This included his request to rename the facility to “Hospital For The Feebleminded” from “Asylum For Idiots”. In his time (1908) the resident population stood at 775 with a staff of 80. Click here for more...
