Former Shriner’s hospital being flattened

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2022 (1321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Wellington Crescent’s most eye-catching buildings is being demolished.

The former Rehabilitation Centre for Children (611-633 Wellington Cres.) has a long and storied history. Opened by local members of Masonic society the Khartum Shriners in 1949, designed by local architect George Teeter, it was part of a network of Shriner-owned hospitals across North America meant to provide inexpensive treatment for ill and disabled children.

The hospital had space for 40 children, hydrotherapy for polio patients, a home on the property that was turned into a nurse’s residence, and classrooms. Its opening ceremony was a large affair, that included a parade of 4,000 Shriners fraternity members from across the country and multiple bands.

It was a different time in Canada: Masonic bodies had more pull and Medicare did not yet exist.

“The notion that the Shriners, the ones that arranged to have this hospital built, were building a facility that was going to be open to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay — that was a pretty remarkable thing for that time,” Manitoba Historical Society head researcher Gordon Goldsborough explained Monday.

As Manitoba joined the list of provinces offering medical care to all, regardless of income level, the need for a hospital specifically for low-income families dropped. By the 1970s, the provincial government had taken over operation costs, with the Shriners agreeing to chip in for research costs. That deal slowly came to an end.

“The Shriners kind of backed away from it. They initially built it, they initially paid to run it, essentially at no cost to the province. And of course, therefore, it was seen as sort of a no-brainer for the province,” Goldsborough said.

“But gradually, as these things tend to happen, the Shriners sort of decided over time that they had other commitments… I think the Shriners, to be frank, were declining as well, they aren’t experiencing the kind of membership they used to have back in the day when they built this facility.”

In 1977, the Shriners sold the hospital to the province for $1.

The province operated the hospital until 2016 — 39 years — but it never lost the colloquial moniker of “Shriner’s hospital.” It sat vacant for the next six years, periodically used as a set piece for movies.

It was sold to Peguis First Nation in July, through treaty land entitlement acquisition. It is now being torn down.

“I don’t think anyone was really thinking it wasn’t going to happen, I think it was just a matter of when it was going to happen,” Goldsborough said.

“The building has been empty since 2016, and it’s in a bad location — it’s in the middle of a residential neighborhood — so I don’t think that anyone was seriously entertaining the prospect of repurposing it in some way.”

A spokesperson from the province confirmed the sale, but said they could not elaborate on what the First Nation would be doing with the property.

Peguis representatives did not comment by deadline on what the future use of the land would be.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca