Saint John General Hospital
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saint John General Hospital | |
|---|---|
 Saint John General Hospital in 1995 | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°16′51″N 66°03′19″W / 45.280969°N 66.055394°W (approximate) |
| History | |
| Opened | October 16, 1931 |
| Closed | October 31, 1982 |
| Demolished | December 10, 1995 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in Canada |
The Saint John General Hospital was a public hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick.[1]
The hospital was completed in 1931 and cost $1.6 million to construct.[2] Its first patients were admitted to the hospital on October 16, 1931.[3] Built on a hill near the center of the city, the 12-storey building, topped with a gleaming metal dome, was a prominent landmark in Saint John's skyline.[2][4]
The hospital boasted state-of-the-art facilities for its time: in 1932 its new cancer clinic was treating patients with radiation therapy, in 1952 it introduced a neurosurgery department, and in the 1960s it became the first hospital in the region to offer renal dialysis.[2]
The hospital also housed the Bureau of Laboratories that would later become the Provincial Laboratory Service.[5]
The building was expanded in 1959 with the addition of a new wing, but by the late 1970s the facility was dated and many services formerly provided at the General Hospital had moved to newer hospitals.[2] On October 31, 1982, the last patients were moved to other facilities and the hospital officially closed.[2] It remained empty and condemned until December 10, 1995 at 1:30 p.m. (originally scheduled at 8:30 a.m. but it was delayed due to a low cloud cover), when the building was demolished by a controlled implosion.[4][6][7]
The hospital's dome survived the demolition intact and was pulled from the rubble. It now forms the roof of a gazebo in a small Saint John park, located near Garden Street.[8]
