A History of the Bridgepoint Hospital Site
Since its earliest days, the facilities on this site have addressed the most pressing public issues of the time. In the 1860s, planning and construction begin for a new, more progressive jail. A House of Refuge was built to shelter Toronto's "poor, needy, and disabled." This was converted to serve as an isolation hospital when a smallpox epidemic began in the 1870s. Over the years, the hospital grew. Today it has evolved into the campus of Bridgepoint Active Healthcare.
The Bridgepoint Site: A Timeline
1793 - Toronto's founder, Governor General John Graves Simcoe, grants 98 ha of land to his estate manager, John Scadding.
1856 - Scadding's family sells 47 ha to the City of Toronto.
1860 - The House of Refuge is built for Toronto's "poor, needy, and disabled."
1864 - The Toronto Jail, which came to be known as the Don Jail, is built as a more
humane and orderly alternative to Toronto's previous three jails.
1865 - A gate house is built for the jail's Gatekeeper.
1872 - The House of Refuge is converted to the Smallpox Hospital.
1888 - The Governor's house is built when the south centre block of the Don Jail is
converted to cells and other facilities.
1891 - The Smallpox Hospital is renamed the Isolation Hospital. This was in response to new epidemics, such as scarlet fever and diphtheria.
1893 - A new Isolation Hospital is built.
1904 - The Isolation Hospital is renamed Riverdale Isolation Hospital.
1910 - Riverdale Public Library is built.
1957 - The Riverdale Isolation Hospital is renamed Riverdale Hospital.
1958 - The new east wing of the Don Jail is built.
1963 - The new Riverdale Hospital opens.
1964 - The Don Valley Parkway opens.
1977 - The Don Jail closes.
2002 - Riverdale Hospital is renamed Bridgepoint Hospital.
2013 - The new Bridgepoint Hospital and the children's hospice Emily's House open.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.