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Like all major cities, Ottawa has seen its share of contagious diseases and epidemics. Many of these outbreaks helped shape the city’s health care system as various hospitals were constructed to isolate the patients from the general population. One such disease was smallpox with outbreaks occurring more than once in Ottawa’s history. From the 1890s on, anyone unfortunate enough to catch the disease was most likely sent for isolation to the dreaded Porter Island.

During a smallpox outbreak in 1893, the city scrambled to find a suitable location to isolate patients with the disease^[1]. Provincial law at the time stated that a smallpox isolation hospital had to be 450 yards, or about 410 metres, away from inhabited areas. For this outbreak, the city chose Porter Island on the Rideau River as the site to construct such a facility. The island had been named after an early settler, John Porter^[2].

Even while the city was choosing a place, concerns regarding Porter Island were raised. The city was warned by the Ottawa Clinical Society that the island was prone to spring flooding saying that 1/3 to ½ of the island could be submerged. They also advised that the heat, moisture and organic matter on the island would help multiply germs^[3].

By November, the city awarded contracts to build an administration building along with 3 cottages on the island and an iron truss bridge to provide access^[4]. Construction began even before the city purchased the island through arbitration^[5].

By March 1894, doctors were already recommending that the buildings be abandoned. They reported that water and ice were reaching the front door of the administration building, as for some unknown reason the building was built on the lowest part of the island and the foundation was built on rounded boulders and developed large cracks^[6][7].

One comment from the Sheriff at the time, Dr. John Sweetland, said the island should be abandoned and the buildings left as a monument to the incompetence of the health committee of 1893^[8].

A letter was also submitted to the city council by Dr. Peter Bryce, secretary of the Ontario Board of Health, saying the island was unfit for a hospital due to the dampness and flooding and that the site should be considered for temporary use only^[9].

However, according to news reports of the day, these objections were ignored by the city. In fact, one Alderman approved of the island and its buildings saying “Of course, there were a few blemishes in the buildings” but the work was still very good^[10].

Over the next decade, the number of smallpox cases diminished and the island began being used as a dry garbage dump and a place to store animal carcasses^[11]. The city looked at other options for the island such as Sister Demers of the Water Street Hospital taking over care on the island^[12], building an incinerator for garbage, and, the most popular one, converting the island into a park^[13]. It was even suggested that a dog cemetery be placed on the island^[14].

During this time, the island was still used for a few cases of smallpox. The terrible conditions on the island were infamous during this period. In 1902, one smallpox sufferer fled the city when authorities informed him he would be isolated on Porter Island. After he fled, the authorities could not determine his whereabouts^[15].

In the same year, the city voted to build a contagious disease hospital along the Rideau River just south of the former Dominion Rifle Range, now Strathcona Park, instead of Porter Island. However, the new hospital would only be for typhoid and diphtheria patients, not smallpox^[16]. The derelict administration building was demolished in 1904 as it was on the verge of collapsing^[17].

Between late 1910 to 1912, the city was hit with a severe smallpox outbreak. By this time, the only building on the island was a wooden shack for the caretaker. Tents were set up to accommodate the large influx of patients. The tents were frigid in the winter having only Quebec heaters that heated just a small radius in each tent^[18].

Conditions on the island were horrendous. For starters, the city continued to use the island as a garbage dump^[19]. At times, patients slept 3 to a bed. One patient who arrived early in the outbreak, reported that the shack had cracks that allowed the bitter cold winds to enter the building. To add to her misery, the building was infested with mice and rats with some trying to get under her bed sheets for warmth while she tried to sleep. A group of patients ended up taking turns each night to keep the rats away from the rest of the occupants.

The smell of garbage was present over the whole island, being especially strong at the front door. Some reported never receiving a change of clothing despite having arrived 3 weeks earlier. Other reports included dirty bedding, dishes half-washed, ashes found in food, rancid meat found in the butter, one bathroom and bathtub for the entire island and no available running water^[20]. One woman gave birth on the island and the nurses took the baby back to their tent to keep it warm despite the baby having the disease^[21].

In one instance, a father and his children were isolated on the island, with his 8-year-old daughter in serious condition with smallpox before getting to the island. Although their family doctor said it would be too dangerous to move her, she was taken to the hospital where she later succumbed to the disease. Before she died, she reported that she had been beaten by one of the nurses. The nurse was later withdrawn^[20].

The mayor at the time, Charles Hopewell, decided to take action. He pressed Council to approve the construction of a hospital on Porter Island^[22]. By mid-1912, construction was started on what Council christened Hopewell Hospital^[23]. The hospital was designed by Francis Sullivan, a student of well-known architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Sullivan designed a number of buildings and residences in the Ottawa area^[24].

When it was completed in early 1913, it was a state-of-the-art building^[25]. However, not long after it opened, cases of smallpox began to drop and the new hospital remained idle for years only opening for the odd case of smallpox. Another outbreak in 1920-1921 saw the hospital being used to its full capacity as was the case with another small outbreak in 1930-1931. After that, with the population getting vaccinated, the hospital was rarely in use as an isolation hospital. In 1939, the Federal Government chose the hospital for their militia during the war^[26]. After the war, the city used it for public housing.

For the next 2 decades, the hospital continued to be used periodically for public housing. By this time, the flooding problem had been solved by the city cutting up the ice in February to ensure a good flow of water with the spring high water in the river. In 1964, the Island Lodge retirement home opened on the opposite end of the island. The Hopewell Hospital was eventually demolished in 1967 and along with it, any trace of the island’s infamous past... except for the iron truss bridge built to bring the first patients to Porter Island.

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