1926 - 1950
  • 1932

    Ontario Institute of Radio Therapy (Kingston Division) - 1932

    In 1932 Kingston was selected by the Provincial Health Ministry to be one of three Ontario sites for a radio therapy institute for the diagnosis...
  • 1927

    Further expansion and renovations - 1927

    The Laundry building was added to the grounds near the Isolation hospital and power plant in 1927. Major renovations were also undertaken on the Main...
1900 - 1925
  • 1925

    Two new buildings added to KGH - 1925

    In 1925 KGH saw the addition of two new buildings - Richardson Labs and the Douglas Wing which opened in October of that year. The...
  • 1921

    Hospital expansion - 1921

    As two of the priorities of the 15-year plan, the Central Heating Plant was completed in 1921 and a City-funded but hospital-run isolation hospital building...
  • 1917

    The Fifteen Year Plan - 1917

    In 1917, Dr. James Douglas, Chancellor of Queen's University, donated $100,000 towards a fund for the redevelopment of KGH’s teaching and research facilities. An ambitious...
  • 1914

    The Empire Wing - 1914

    Before the late 19th century, only those who could not afford to be cared for in their homes sought charitable medical care in hospitals; but,...
  • 1912

    An early fundraising event - 1912

    The KGH Women's Aid was founded in 1906 and within one year had 110 members. They held their first fundraising event, "Made in Canada", in...
  • 1906

    Nursing school graduations - 1906

    In 1905 the hospital's School of Nursing graduated 15 nurses with 14 more graduating in 1906. By the turn of the century, nursing school graduations...
  • 1904

    A dedicated Nurses' Home is built - 1904

    In the late 1880's the KGH nurses-in-training were originally given accommodation in the Watkins Wing, but the expansion of the program quickly necessitated new quarters...
  • 1901

    Modernization of the Main building - 1901

    In 1901, the hospital had its first elevator installed in the Main building.
1876 - 1899
  • 1899

    Celebrating the reopening of the Watkins wing - 1899

    To celebrate the rebuilding and reopening of the Watkins wing in 1899 the board hired a photographer. While taking exterior shots for the hospital’s annual...
  • 1897

    Hospital faces a devastating fire - 1897

    On the morning of Christmas Eve in 1897, fire broke out in the St. George’s Ward of the Watkins wing. One of the orderlies, preparing...
  • 1896

    The arrival of X-ray technology - 1896

    X-rays first made their appearance in Kingston on February 17, 1896, when the Weekly Whig reported that Captain John Bray Cochrane (1860-1946), Professor of Physics...
  • 1895

    The Fenwick Operating Theatre - 1895

    Formally opened in October 1895, the Fenwick Operating Theatre was added to the main hospital building and cost $4,000 to build. Dr. Kenneth N. Fenwick,...
  • 1892

    Construction of a Women and Children’s Hospital - 1892

    In 1892 the hospital publishes its first newsletter containing an appeal to the community for funds to construct a women’s hospital, laundry and surgical theatre...
  • 1891

    Nickle wing - 1891

    The Nickle wing opened in April 1891. It was named after William Nickle, a local businessman, who died in 1890 and left $10,000 in his...
  • 1890

    Hospital Sundays - 1890

    1890 was the starting year for Kingston’s churches to hold annual "Hospital Sundays" whereby churchgoers were asked to donate funds to the hospital. This tradition...
  • 1886

    KGH School of Nursing - 1886

    By the 1880’s antiseptic practices had been adopted and the surgical field was expanding. As medical care became more specialized and complex, its practitioners began...
1851 - 1875
  • 1863

    Watkins wing opens - 1863

    The Watkins wing opened in January 1863 to treat 36 patients including those afflicted with smallpox. It was named after John Watkins, a local business...
  • 1854

    The hospital's affiliation with Queen's begins - 1854

    A medical faculty was established by Queen’s College in 1854 with a close relationship to the hospital. Improved standards in the medical profession and the...
1826 - 1850
  • 1845

    Seasonal hospital - 1845

    In 1845 the building returned to its original purpose and began seasonal operation as a hospital. A housekeeper-nurse had one helper, the Female Benevolent Society...
  • 1841

    Canada's first Parliamentary building - 1841

    On June 14, 1841 the first meeting of the Parliament of the Province of Canada was held in the Kingston Hospital Building (what is now...
  • 1838

    Battle of the Windmill - 1838

    In November of 1838 the hospital cared for its first patients: 20 wounded American soldiers taken prisoner in the Battle of the Windmill near Prescott...
  • 1835

    The Main - 1835

    In 1835, the original building was completed and became known as the Main. Designed by architect Thomas Rogers, the hospital building was a three-storey limestone...
  • 1832

    Hospital commissioners purchase land - 1832

    In 1832, an Act of Parliament named a commission to "superintend and manage the erection and completion of a hospital in or near the town...
  • 1831

    Kingston citizen's consider building a public hospital - 1831

    In 1831, spurred by epidemics of malaria and cholera in the late 1820s and early 1830s, which saw the Female Benevolent Society run off its...
1800 - 1825
  • 1812

    Early beginnings - 1812

    As the population of Kingston grew rapidly after the War of 1812, physicians expressed concern that greater care be given to the sick poor. A...