weyburn mental hospital

Seems now would be a good time to post the notorious Weyburn Mental Hospital, also known as Souris Valley and Saskatchewan Hospital. This building is now completely demolished thanks to our government. I am very thankful i was able to document this building - inside & out.

I will start by giving a bit of history on the building and posting some exterior pictures of the building from the past & present.

A bit of history:

Built in 1920, Weyburn Mental hospital was the largest building in the commonwealth at the time. The hospital opened its doors December 29, 1921 and had room for 900 patients and 120 staff. An addition was made a few years later to make space for over 2000 patients. The Weyburn Mental Hospital was almost always over capacity.

Weyburn Mental Hospital was one of the most notorious and is rich in history. This hospital was known for its research, treatments and drug therapy. Most of the stories you here about the hospital are about the LSD testing. The treatments used in the hospital include insulin therapy, hydrotherapy, lobotomy and electroshock.

Today the building is completely demolished. The plan is to turn the property into a residential area with a park. A memoriam is supposed to be constructed to remember the Weyburn Mental Hospital. They are not sure what will be set up to remember the building but there are discussions.

Having this building be demolished and nothing saved except a few pallets of bricks is just another example of Saskatchewan destroying our heritage buildings. This is why we try to document as many historic buildings we can before they are demolished.

The above 2 pictures are from virtual museum

Please visit the following link to view a large collection of weyburn hospital pictures
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm_v2.php?id=exhibit_home&fl=0&lg=English&ex=00000363