FORMER ISOLATION HOSPITALS
Highland Road’s history of health care
Highland Road’s history of health care
89 Highland Road East was part of the group of buildings that formed the Berlin Isolation Hospital in the early 1900s.
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by Helen Hall
Kitchener Citizen
March 10, 2016
They look like other homes in Kitchener that were built over 100 years ago, but they have a more intriguing past.
Four properties on Highland Road East are listed as former Isolation Hospital buildings in a recently released Waterloo Region Public Building Inventory compiled by the Region of Waterloo’s Heritage Planning Advisory Committee (HPAC).
The four buildings, now privately-owned, were built around 1910 to isolate patients who were suffering from diphtheria, scarlet fever, consumption and smallpox. They were constructed prior to Freeport Hospital, Grand River Hospital or St. Marys Hospital.
According to the building inventory, Berlin first shared an Isolation Hospital with Waterloo that was located near Grand River Hospital on the corner of Green and Park Streets.
It was decided a permanent location was needed in Berlin (Kitchener), so land was obtained “on the outskirts of town. At that time, there was no road, only a rough laneway, making it quite remote.”
They were also used during the war, when soldiers stationed for training at the Knollwood Park Armoury in Kitchener would be sent there when they contracted infectious diseases like measles or mumps.
HPAC inventoried all public buildings in Waterloo Region constructed pre-1951 and compiled them into a two-part Public Building Inventory.
The first document includes public buildings, and the second is for educational buildings.
Region of Waterloo Cultural Heritage Specialist Kate Hageman said the inventories were released in February, which is Heritage month.
Hagerman said documenting the public buildings “helps people better understand the history of the community.”
All of the buildings in the inventory were constructed as public buildings, but many are now privately owned.
She said the inventory had been on the HPAC radar for a few years, but it got completed last summer with the help of James Arteaga, a university summer student.
The general building inventory divides the collection into categories, such as Health, Safety and Security, or Culture and Recreation.
Buildings in all of the municipalities in Waterloo Region are included, and a searchable pdf of the document can be downloaded from the Heritage page on the Region of Waterloo’s website.
Copies are also available at local libraries.
Kitchener Citizen
March 10, 2016
They look like other homes in Kitchener that were built over 100 years ago, but they have a more intriguing past.
Four properties on Highland Road East are listed as former Isolation Hospital buildings in a recently released Waterloo Region Public Building Inventory compiled by the Region of Waterloo’s Heritage Planning Advisory Committee (HPAC).
The four buildings, now privately-owned, were built around 1910 to isolate patients who were suffering from diphtheria, scarlet fever, consumption and smallpox. They were constructed prior to Freeport Hospital, Grand River Hospital or St. Marys Hospital.
According to the building inventory, Berlin first shared an Isolation Hospital with Waterloo that was located near Grand River Hospital on the corner of Green and Park Streets.
It was decided a permanent location was needed in Berlin (Kitchener), so land was obtained “on the outskirts of town. At that time, there was no road, only a rough laneway, making it quite remote.”
They were also used during the war, when soldiers stationed for training at the Knollwood Park Armoury in Kitchener would be sent there when they contracted infectious diseases like measles or mumps.
HPAC inventoried all public buildings in Waterloo Region constructed pre-1951 and compiled them into a two-part Public Building Inventory.
The first document includes public buildings, and the second is for educational buildings.
Region of Waterloo Cultural Heritage Specialist Kate Hageman said the inventories were released in February, which is Heritage month.
Hagerman said documenting the public buildings “helps people better understand the history of the community.”
All of the buildings in the inventory were constructed as public buildings, but many are now privately owned.
She said the inventory had been on the HPAC radar for a few years, but it got completed last summer with the help of James Arteaga, a university summer student.
The general building inventory divides the collection into categories, such as Health, Safety and Security, or Culture and Recreation.
Buildings in all of the municipalities in Waterloo Region are included, and a searchable pdf of the document can be downloaded from the Heritage page on the Region of Waterloo’s website.
Copies are also available at local libraries.
69 Highland Road East was part of the group of buildings that formed the Berlin Isolation Hospital in the early 1900s.
77 Highland Road East was called the Smallpox Pavilion at the Berlin Isolation Hospital.
79 Highland Road East was the Caretaker’s Residence at the former Berlin Isolation Hospital.