| |
 |
| |
House of Providence, ca. 1890s, Archives, Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul 211.1.1, Providence Care Archives. |
Providence Manor
On December 13th, 1861, four of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul came to Kingston from Montreal to build a community that would care both physically and spiritually for the elderly, the poor, and orphaned children. Their first home was at the corner of Ordnance Street and Montreal Street, a site believed to have been an officer’s mess.
At the Core of the Sisters' work was the motto “Cor Caritati Sacrum” or “A Heart Dedicated to Charity.” Within days of their arrival in Kingston, the Sisters had taken orphans into their care and began to visit with women convicts in the penitentiary.
By 1871, due to the enormous success of their initial project, the Sisters of Providence built the “House of Providence” on Montreal Street as a new home for the ill and the elderly.
In the years that followed many additions were made to Providence Manor: in 1892, the St. James’ wing was completed; in 1894 the St. Joseph’s wing was built; in 1898 the Our Mother of Sorrows chapel was constructed; and by 1911 the Jublilee wing was completed.
In 1893, the Sisters of Providence opened a printing office where they later published a magazine called The Guardian.
Originally owned by Emanuel Ellerbeck, St. Mary’s of the Lake was passed from Richard Ellerbeck to Francis Archibald Harper and then to Daniel Rourk, who sold the property to Les Soeurs de la Congregation de Notre Dame de Montreal. Les Soeurs de la Congregation de Notre Dame de Montreal turned the property into a boarding school and renamed the site St. Mary’s of the Lake.
In 1904 the Sisters of Providence purchased St. Mary’s of the Lake from Les Soeurs de la Congregation de Notre Dame. In 1910, orphans from Providence Manor were moved to St. Mary’s of the Lake which remained an orphanage until the 1940s.
Mental Health Services
In 1829 John Howard proposed founding an asylum for the mentally ill in Kingston. Before the widespread use of asylums, people with psychiatric conditions were placed in jail—
 |
| Rockwood Asylum, ca. 1910s. 1021.45-1, on loan to the Providence Care Archives from the Archives of Ontario. |
in Kingston, they were placed in the basement of the penitentiary. In 1839, the House of Assembly allotted 3000 pounds for the construction of an asylum; however, Toronto, with a larger population, was given priority in receiving the money.
In 1859, Rockwood Villa, which was built for J.S. Cartwright in 1841, became Rockwood Asylum. In 1894, Charles Kirk Clarke assumed the position of Rockwood’s superintendent. Although he was not Rockwood’s first superintendent, he initiated some remarkable changes in the asylum, including the publication of “The Rockwood Review”, a monthly newsletter, as well building a gymnasium to encourage exercise among patients.
|
