HISTORY BUFF: Nelson\u2019s first hospital was built in 1894, and more followed<\/p>\n
Published 5:40 am Thursday, May 7, 2026<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s first settler healthcare providers arrived during the city\u2019s very beginnings: nurse and midwife Alice Foster (also the first Black woman to settle here) came in 1888, and doctors David Labau and Edward C. Arthur arrived in 1889 and 1890 respectively. Future doctor Isabel Arthur joined her husband in 1892 and graduated from medical school in 1897.<\/p>\n
However, house calls could only go so far. The Kootenay Lake General Hospital Society was incorporated on April 1, 1893. Construction soon began on Nelson\u2019s first hospital, located on High Street, with the first patients accepted in January 1894. The 12-bed, two-storey general hospital was primarily intended for miners (local mining companies collected subscriptions from employees to cover hospital fees), and it expanded to 35 beds in 1901. A small operating room on the second floor meant patients had to be carried to their surgeries. From the beginning, the hospital was supported by the Ladies Hospital Aid (renamed the Women\u2019s Hospital Aid in 1918). This auxiliary would play a constant, crucial role of fundraising and supporting the hospital\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n
The general hospital was supported by a combination of government funding, public subscriptions, and revenue from patients. This raised the question of whether a public hospital could exclude certain patients: William E. (Boss) Smith was a Black resident of Nelson who in 1898 fell ill, attempted to seek treatment at the hospital and was barred by hospital board director Austin H. Clements on the basis of his race. Clements\u2019 decision was criticized sharply by other community members, but Smith still ended up finding alternate care outside the hospital.<\/p>\n
Alongside the general hospital, several private institutions came and went. The Crickmay Hospital\/Cottage Hospital operated between 1898 and 1901 on the corner of Latimer and Kootenay Streets. Run by sisters Elizabeth and Florence Crickmay, it treated mining accidents and illnesses like typhoid and pneumonia. The Home Hospital (1902-1909) was operated by Ella DesBrisay, Ethel Ferris, and Ira Morris at 1008 Front\/37 High St. Due to contracts with CP Rail, the Home Hospital treated many of the region\u2019s grisly railway accidents. It also functioned as possibly Nelson\u2019s first maternity hospital, with over 135 babies born there over seven years (the general hospital didn\u2019t open a maternity branch until 1908). The Home Hospital was absorbed by the general hospital in 1909. Finally, the Home Private Hospital (different from the Home Hospital) was a maternity home owned and operated by Esther Moore. From 1914 to 1927, women came from across the area to access its services, first at 414 Falls St. and then at 917 Edgewood Ave.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a more unique hospital operated outside city limits. One of the city\u2019s first isolation hospitals was used by smallpox patients and their medical attendants during 1900-1901 outbreaks. It consisted of two buildings located on Hall Mines Road (in upper Rosemont) and maintained by city funds. Other buildings in town were occasionally used for isolating diphtheria and scarlet fever patients. In 1911, one of the Hall Mines buildings was torn down and replaced, but citizens and doctors still called for better isolation facilities in case of a future pandemic.<\/p>\n
The need for a better general hospital was also growing. Concept plans for a replacement hospital were drawn up in 1910 but never realized. Construction for a new building, designed by Will Haldane, finally began in 1916, funded through the provincial government and vigorous public fundraising. The three-storey, 69-bed building was completed on Oct. 14, 1918, right next door to the original hospital (38 High St.). Structural improvements included an elevator, dumbwaiter and electrical plugs for vacuum cleaning. By tremendous luck, the new hospital opened just in time for the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. The old building served as an isolation hospital for influenza cases, while all other patients were transferred to the new hospital.<\/p>\n
After the pandemic, a new site (305 Ward St.) was used to isolate scarlet fever cases throughout the 1920s, though it was often criticized as inadequate. Finally, in 1927, a new nurses residence was constructed beside the main hospital (60 High St. apartments today) and the old nurses residence was converted to an isolation hospital.<\/p>\n
The tenacity of hospitals and health-care providers in Nelson\u2019s first decades are a testament to the value of accessible health care in rural communities. A part two continuing our hospitals feature will be published in June.<\/p>\n
With files from historian Greg Nesteroff.<\/p>\n
Tressa Ford is archives assistant at the Nelson Museum, Archives and Gallery. History Buff appears monthly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HISTORY BUFF: Nelson\u2019s first hospital was built in 1894, and more followed Published 5:40 am Thursday, May 7,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-655452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}