WHITOY FREE PRESSt WEDNESDAY9 JULY 13,1977, PAGE 7 Brian Winter's H i stori*cal Whîýtby ONTARIO HOSPITAL (Part One) Wjth the announcement last week of the commencement of a major role study for the Whitby Psychiatrie Hospital, we take an opportunity to look back to the time when the hospital was established in Whitby. The first announcement that a hospital would be built by the provincial government was made in February 1912. To be known as the Whitby Asylum, it was to be located on 650 acres of land and built at a cost of $700,000, a considerable sum at that time. The initial reason for locating in Whitby was that the Queen Street Hospital in Toronto liad been sold for railway yards and a new asylum was needed. In addition, the goverrnment had pliüns to close the mental hospitals a4t Mimico and Hamilton and move the patients frorn ail three hospitals to Whitby. However, Queen Street neyer did close, and was rebuilt only a couple of years ago. Reeve Albert Jackson of Whitby is credited with having conduicted negotiations on behaîf of tl4e town to convince provi ic'al officials that Whitby xvas the appropriate site for the new hospital. The Whitby "Asylun"' was built by prison labor, employing inmnates fromn the provincial prison fart- at Guelph, where aIl the precast concrete blocks for the buildings were made. The fprms on the lakeshore west of Whitby harbor were purchased by the governmrrent in 1912, but construction of bîVildings did not begin until May 1913. In the meantime, some patients from Queen Street were brought to Whitby to keep the farms operating. Twenty- seven of them were at work*by ie middle of July 1912, and work commenced on extending the town water works fromn Brock Street to the asylumn site. in August 1912, the site was visited by W. J. Hanna, the provincial secretary, who was responsible for its purchase. He was accompanied by the daughter and granddaughter of James P. Whitney, who was the Premier of,,Ontario at the time . This was one of many inspection tours taken during the summer of 1912, as plans for the buildings were laid outi.and a route plotted for a railway siding from the Whitby Junction station to the hospital. Also, during the sumrmer, the farms on the site were put to good use, with 35 cattie moved from the Queen Street Hospital to initiate a dairy operation. There were also 50 beef cattle on the site, tended by patients brought from Queen Street. The government intended to keep the cattle on the site al winter and houise the 25 patients who tended themr, in temporary buildings. Outdoor farming was considered good therapy for the patients, and it was reported that one former Queen Street patient be gan to talk for the first time in six months, after he was taken to Witby. The Town of Whitby passed a bylaw agrecing to supply water and electricity to the new hospital at a fixed rate, after several months of negotiations.aieswreprhsd Eleven properties owned by eigh t faierwreprla(, but it was not done xitbout soi-e difficuilty. One fariner refused octrighit twselI his property, and it xvas îîot unitil bis, sudden deýath during thc negotiations that the goverumiieni could get an option on bis land. 't was said. hiowever, tha the land-was expropriated. FARM BUILDINGSI I / BEEF HORSE BARNS I CONSTRUCTION TEAM AT HOSPITAL SITE, 1913 There were other problems too. A group of prisoners brought to the site to commence the clearing of the grotunds in 1913 went on strike because they did flot receive a ration of their favourite brand of tobacco. The supply hiad run out. and another brand was substituted. Thiose who participated were taken back to prison, put into soliî2ry confinement, and given the lash. (continued next week) Whitby p'ost mark will soon be gone As predicted in correspon- dence printed in the Free Press May 1Il, the Whitby postmiark will soon bc a thing of the past. For that miatter, so will the Oshawa post mark. The post office departnment bas inforrned the tuwn counicil tluît it intends to use a "C(anada Post Die"' in canceîl- ing staniped letters orîiînatting in Wiîby andl Osbawva vbe n thie mail processing plant ini Osbiawa is fullv nieccbanicd. l'le wbî t k' na nie lias appeared on post mazrks silice 181-4. a îud tdie Osia waa mle silice I18421. The first post office in the Durham Region was established at the corner of Dundas and Anderson Streets in I1824, and was known as "Whitby". At that ti me i t served a large territory along the shore of Lake Ontario. In tiiose days, ini fact until the early I1900s, letters were band staniped with the die hidicatiîîg the post office tlîey' originated froni. I t a ppears thla t thbe Wilit bý an d Oshawa post marks Mill 'ie'as 'a resuili of, îîîecbani- za t ni, andi no 01newiî I Knu1o thla t any le tter urigilna ted lrumi tliese I \o comnîlun it jes. ~~~Âskus about you Corne and tel us whait you're Iooking for in a job. Tell us what you are Iode,,. and wvhat you wvant Io be tomorrow. Ask us if wve cari offer opportunities and challenges to match youîr needs. Nowobliqations on etiher side. WVe'I be glad ta îatk. And wve may have just what you're tooking for. But you'll never knowv until you ask. Visit Our Mobile Recruiting Unit Canada Manpower Centre OSHAWA WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 20, 27, 1977 10:00 arn. - 3:.00 p.m. THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES. BROOKLI N RENTALS E quipment Rentai For Construction, Farm & Homeowner Anderson. St. south of Winchester St. BROOKLIN, ONT. 655m3381 PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT 0F THE TOWN 0F WHITBY PRESENTATION The Parl<s & Recreation Departm3nt of the Town of Whitby wishes to invite those citizens who live near Centennial Park to the presentation of a new park plan. This is the plan being proposed f -ir Centennial Park by the Rotary Club of Whitby and the Town of Whitby. The presentation will tal<e place at the Senior Citizens Centre (corner of Pitt & Brocl< Streets) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2Oth, 1977. 44