The first psychiatric hospital in Hamilton stood on the current St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton site and officially opened its doors in March, 1876. In the late 1920’s, the hospital changed its name from the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane to the Ontario Hospital, and then later to the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital, the name it retained until it was transferred to the authority of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
Until well into the 20th century, the hospital was accessible only by a dirt road and was fairly isolated.
It was largely self-sufficient with the farm, on which the hospital stood, providing all the necessary food. Cattle, chickens and pigs as well as fruits and vegetables all came from the farm. It had its own bakery, butcher shop, greenhouse, root cellar, milk-processing house, tailor shop, sewing room, upholstery shop, fire hall, power house, a fleet of vehicles, skating and curling rinks, tennis courts and chapel.
In 1890, the hospital housed 915 patients and employed 119 people. The Asylum Ball was an annual event in the Hamilton community for many years. Its guest list was a who’s who of Hamilton society.
Around 1902, the hospital established a training school for psychiatric nursing which was accredited in 1924. The school graduated over 240 nurses before it closed in 1956. The facility also provided training in psychiatric nursing to nurses from the other city hospitals.
The cornerstone for the current Auchmar building, where services are currently provided, building was laid in 1958, and the building opened in 1960. The decision to demolish the old Barton Building, pictured above, was made in 1974.
The Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital was owned and operated for more than 124 years by the Ontario government.
In November, 2000 it was transferred to the authority of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.
