Where it all began with some Haunting along the way!
By Devonna Edwards, Columnist
The first Archbishop of Halifax, the Most Reverend William Walsh, D.D., established the Sisters of Charity within the Halifax Diocese. The Sisters of Charity opened a home for aged women called “Our Lady of All Souls.” This building was formerly known as the Old Waverley Hotel, located on the southwest corner of Barrington and Blower Streets. Originally the structure had been the former three-story family home of Chief-Justice Sampson Salter Blowers, a loyalist who had moved to Halifax in 1783. The Sisters had to raise money to pay the rent, so they held many bazaars.
The First Halifax Infirmary
The Infirmary was established in 1884 when a Halifax surgeon, Edward Farrell, MD, approached the Archbishop and the Sisters of Charity to investigate the possibilities of establishing a medical ward in a section of the “Our Lady of All Souls” building, and soon, the Sisters began to admit people who required medical care. In 1886, Sister Mary Vincent, the Superior of the Sisters of Charity, took possession of the ward and the Halifax Infirmary, as it would be later known, thus began. The Ward was initially called the Victoria Infirmary as it was opened in the year of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, but when the name of the Provincial Hospital was changed to the Victoria General Hospital, they changed the name to the Halifax Infirmary.
The Second Halifax Infirmary
In 1895 the second Infirmary opened at 50 Barrington Street next door to the original building. The 50-bed hospital was larger than the first hospital because it was required to facilitate the huge number of patients coming to the Infirmary from Halifax, Glace Bay, Antigonish, Amherst, Yarmouth, Sydney and many surrounding regions. The building was described as a four story building, with the front made of a pressed brick and granite facing. The architect was J.C. Dumaresq, and the hospital was fitted and equipped with the most modern scientific equipment at the time including Electric Sterilizers. On the western end of the top floor, there was a specially designed operating theatre with a spectator’s gallery for surgical students. There were parlors on the first floor and patients’ rooms on the second and third. The building later became Saint Mary’s Convent, which was demolished in 1906.
The Third Halifax Infirmary
On January 9, 1933, the third Infirmary opened on the east side of Queen Street. The structure was described as a modern six-story building, which was fireproof, containing 228 beds and sixty bassinets. The outer walls were made of granite up to the second floor, with solid bronze main doors and a vestibule lined with St. Genevieve marble and inlaid with gold tracery. The Architect was S.B. Dumaresq, and the Master Builder was A.A. MacDonald. Sister Mary Baldwin was the Administrator. In 1958 a new wing was added which featured an outpatient department, operating suite, recovery suite, expanded kitchen, laundry and administrative facilities as well as other adjunct units. The new wing had a total of 338 beds, and there was a new communication system between the patient and the nursing station on the floor; with this feature the patients were able to make their requests by intercom. The hospital admitted all types of medical and surgical cases and had a large obstetrics department. By 1962, they had new departments such as Psychiatry; Ear, Nose, Throat (E.N.T.); Pediatrics; Radiotherapy; Physical Medicine and Social Services. During the Centennial year in 1967, a new brick building was added on Morris Street. This structure was called Gerard Hall, named after Sister Catherine Gerard, who was a Superintendent of the Infirmary. The new addition featured a residence for students, recreation facilities which included a gymnasium and swimming pool, education wing and laboratories. Belle MacDonald RN was the Head Nurse in charge of the Premature Birth Nursery (Neo-Natal Unit) in the 1960s. I trained at the Infirmary in the late 1960s and remember the first day our class went to the unit for our nursery training. I already knew Belle because she was the mother of my best friend Annie, but I never knew what an important position she held. She was responsible for the care of these tiny ‘preemies’ and her love for these babies was evident as she rocked and cuddled them. This kind and gentle women will always be remembered for her knowledge and dedication to the nursing profession.
The Infirmary transferred its ownership to the Provincial Government (Department of Health) on January 24, 1973, when it was classified as a Regional Hospital, as well as a General Hospital. In 1979 a proposal was put forth for a new hospital to be built on Summer Street, to replace the Camp Hill Hospital on Robie Street, the Halifax Infirmary on Queen Street, the Grace Maternity Hospital on University Avenue and the Halifax Civic Hospital on University Ave. Early in 1997 the patients of the Infirmary were transferred to the new Halifax Infirmary on Summer Street and later that same year the old hospital on Queen Street was left unoccupied.
Haunting within the Infirmary on Queen Street
Before the last clinic was transferred to the new location on Summer Street, many tales were told of haunting in the nearly vacant hospital. A popular story told by the staff at the time was that the elevators, from time-to-time, ran on their own and were said to be operated by deceased nurses and nuns. One such story was related to me by my brother Shaun O’Brien, who worked in the laboratory there. His co-worker was working one night in the almost deserted hospital, he was using the stairs on his way to the E.N.T. Clinic, which was the only remaining department left in the building. It was a stormy night with high winds and horrendous rain, which made his trip through the hospital even more unsettling. He noticed that many windows on the empty floor in the ICU Unit were open, and the rain was beating furiously against the window panes as streams of water gushed in, accompanied by a howling wind, blowing the curtains wildly about. He decided to stop and close the windows, while in the process of doing this the lights suddenly went out and the rooms were cast in total darkness. At that precise moment he heard the dreadful sound; the elevator was coming up! All he could think of was the deceased nurses and nuns were coming for him! Just at that moment the lights flashed on and he hurried to the staircase very shaken, but also very relieved. There would be no more helpful deeds to be performed by him in that spooky hospital.
The old Infirmary was demolished in 2005 and by 2016, it was simply a parking lot, next to the new Central Library located to its immediate north.
The Fourth Infirmary Hospital
The hospital became part of the Queen Elizabeth 11 Health Science Centre and is the largest hospital in Nova Scotia and the Maritime Provinces. Located on Summer Street, the hospital was completed in 1996 and was ready for patients in 1997. The final cost of construction was more than $130 Million, plus a last-minute renovation costing $12 Million. It had an Emergency Department designed to handle 35,000 but soon it was handling over 58,000, so a new expanded Department opened in 2009 called the Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre. A Helipad was built on the roof of the Halifax Infirmary Site, allowing for the landing of Air Ambulances transporting some of Nova Scotia’s most critically ill and injured patients.
Today work has started on the QE11 Halifax Infirmary Expansion Project, a partnership between the Government of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Health and Build Nova Scotia.
