History and Milestones

Early beginnings -

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...

Kingston citizen's consider building a public hospital -

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...
Initial supporters list

Hospital commissioners purchase land -

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...
List of initial pledges

The Main -

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...
Kingston Hospital - The Main

Battle of the Windmill -

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...
1838

Canada's first Parliamentary building -

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...
The historic Watkins Wing at Kingston General Hospital.

Seasonal hospital -

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...

The hospital's affiliation with Queen's begins -

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...
Medical students

Watkins wing opens -

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...
Watkins & Main

KGH School of Nursing -

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...
Nursing graduates

Hospital Sundays -

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...
Hospital Sundays

Nickle wing -

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...
Nickle wing

Construction of a Women and Children’s Hospital -

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...
Doran wing - Women and Children’s Hospital

The Fenwick Operating Theatre -

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...
Fenwick Operating Theatre

The arrival of X-ray technology -

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...
X-ray

Hospital faces a devastating fire -

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...
Watkins wing on fire 1897

Celebrating the reopening of the Watkins wing -

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...
early staff photo

Modernization of the Main building -

In 1901, the hospital had its first elevator installed in the Main building.

A dedicated Nurses' Home is built -

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...
A commemorative postcard representing Kingston General Hospital Nurses’ Home, 1908

Nursing school graduations -

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...
Nursing graduates from 1905 and 1906

An early fundraising event -

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...
A copy of the Festival of Empire brochure from 1912

The Empire Wing -

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...
Photo of the Empire Wing circa 1914-1919

The Fifteen Year Plan -

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...

Hospital expansion -

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...
photo of the isolation hospital built at KGH in 1923

Two new buildings added to KGH -

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

Further expansion and renovations -

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...
Photo showing the Laundry, Isolation Hospital and Power Plant at KGH - 1930's

Ontario Institute of Radio Therapy (Kingston Division) -

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...