Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Winnipeg's First Children's Hospital

Typhoid, cholera, and dysentery spread among the poor in Winnipeg in the early 1900s because of crowded housing and lack of public sanitation. These epidemics claimed many lives, especially those of children. Mrs. Annie Bond, a former British Army nurse, asked the Winnipeg Council of Women to provide a house for the care of sick children. In December 1908, the Council rented a house at 4 Beaconsfield Street, close to the families the hospital was to serve.

The hospital opened on 6 February 1909. The Council of Women supported the hospital through fund-raising drives and the City of Winnipeg contributed 25 cents a day for each patient. In 1910 the hospital opened a nursing school. A larger facility was soon needed. In November 1911 the hospital was relocated to Aberdeen Avenue. A new children's hospital was built on the Health Sciences Centre site in 1956.