By Devonna Edwards, Columnist
In 1870, a small hospital was built by E.H. Keating about 350 yards (325 meters) to the west of Rockhead Prison in the north end of Halifax. It was situated on the north- slope, close to the shores of the Bedford Basin and near Africville. It was first called The Smallpox Hospital, but it was also known as The Infectious Disease Hospital, then as The Rockhead Fever Hospital. The original building was a small wooden structure, but two wings were added in later years. In April 1869, several patients with typhoid fever were transferred from the City and Provincial Hospital (V.G. Hospital) to the Infectious Disease Hospital. The hospital was originally built to accommodate smallpox patients, but soon the hospital was accepting patients suffering from other infectious diseases. It was used for coping with Scarlet Fever in 1893 and later it was used for general cases of infectious and contagious diseases. In 1915, the Health Officer filed a report warning against the unsuitability of the building’s use for controlling infectious disease.
The Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917, destroyed much of the hospital, only two rooms remained standing which could not be used safely for nearly a year as it was open to the weather. Unfortunately, very little could be repaired due to the heavy storms that followed the Explosion itself. As a result, the site was abandoned and the City Health Board decided to take over the Oxford Street School for use as a temporary hospital until January 21, 1918. However, the Halifax School Board wanted the Oxford Street School back for teaching purposes and threatened to act against the Health Board unless the school building was vacated, prompting the Health Board to request that the Board of Control erect a temporary hospital on Morris Street. That portion of the street today is known as University Avenue.
On September 11, 1918, the City Health Board vacated the Oxford Street School as a hospital and moved patients into the new hospital on Morris.
On June 24, 1918, the Health Board chose to repair and reopen the old Infectious Hospital on the shores of the Bedford Basin. On August 3, 1919, the City Engineer, Mr. Doane estimated the cost of $10,000 to restore the hospital. On November 14, 1919, the contract for repairs was awarded to Ralph Ward at a cost of $6,625 to install heating and $3,867 to repair the hospital structure. Two years later in the summer of 1920, the repairs were complete, and the building was deemed weatherproof.
The location in the north end was not convenient, for the winter snow drifted onto the road approaching the hospital and was literally impossible to keep clear. One of the jobs of the inmates of the Rockhead Prison was to shovel a passage through the snow to the hospital, but this often took days. The hospital was often cut off from the outside world for days during portions of the winter, resulting in patients being unable to be transported in such conditions. During February 1926, the hospital was shut off for four days from all traffic and had a fire broken out, the results would have been disastrous. One report shows that a patient admitted to the hospital with diphtheria also suffered from appendicitis, prompting a decision to send the patient immediately to the Victoria General Hospital for surgery. Fortunately, that occurred in the fall rather than the winter when the patient might not have been able to leave the hospital and could have died. In later years it became a ‘fire trap’ and therefore, completely unsuitable as a hospital.
In 1927, the Board of Health officials found that the conditions had become unsanitary at the hospital and reported that it would be necessary to close it. In addition, there was a Fish Meal Plant operating in the old Abattoir situated close to the front of the hospital, with the resulting odor permeating the hospital, making both staff and the patients ill.
One winter they could only admit four patients because the heating system was out of commission due to freezing of the hot water heating system and patients would have frozen to death if placed in many of the rooms, hence applications for admission had to be refused. If the city had a new infectious disease building the winter prior, it would have been filled because of the epidemic of scarlet fever.
In the winter of 1926-27, many children were out of school for months, either from having the disease themselves, or because of others in the family having had it, resulting in everyone in the house being placed under quarantine. Dr. W.D. Forrest, Chairman of the Halifax Health Board, stated that in many homes there were eight to ten children living in one or two rooms which created serious problems, because it was impossible to prevent infection from being passed on to one another. Public Health Officers went around the community and nailed quarantine signs on the front doors of houses where an infectious disease was found within, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the premises. These signs could be red, yellow or orange in colour and stated “Quarantine, do not enter!” They also indicated what infectious disease existed within the house. Any home deliveries such as milk, groceries or medicine had to be left on the doorstep. Infectious Disease Hospitals are no longer needed today due to world- wide vaccination. The hospital was demolished in early 1929.
