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Cemetery
History
of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Cemetery
by
Ed Janiszewski
Asylum
by the Lake acknowledges
the kind permission of the author for the reprint of his work.
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Introduction
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This
all-but-abandoned, century-old gravesite is located at the northeast
corner of Evans and Horner Avenues, bordered by the QEW (Gardiner
Expressway) on the north, Horner Avenue on the west, Evans Avenue on
the south and a commercial property, Islington Nurseries, on the
east. In 2000, the property was sold through the Ontario Realty
Corporation to George Damiani, Numbered Co: 1385521 Ontario Ltd.,
who proposed to build a crematorium. It must be noted that the
former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital has not only been designated a
heritage property, but restored, to much acclaim and serves further
as a community college. The burial grounds were an integral part of
the functioning of the hospital, its history and more importantly
should serve to recognize the lives and labours of the inmates for
posterity. Since the first burial in1890 the grounds have been the
resting place for 1511 indigent people, primarily patients of the
LSPH, including 10 infants. I have recently voluntarily taken up the
task of memorializing those buried at this site by compiling a
database enumerating them, to be used for genealogical purposes. I
feel that these pioneers of the city deserve acknowledgement, since
many laboured without remuneration on the hospital farms and in the
trade and maintenance sections, contributing to the upkeep, and
indeed the construction, of the institution. Greater awareness of
their contributions will reduce negative perceptions. Their lives
advanced the history of care for the mentally ill as much as the
work of their "custodians."
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The
Burial Grounds of the Former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital
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The
"Mimico Branch Asylum" opened its doors on January 21st,
1890 as an annex to the Provincial Lunatic Asylum (PLA), later
called Ontario Hospital, Toronto and then Queen Street Mental Health
Centre and today the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Construction began in 1881, and as early as spring 1888, patients
from the PLA were transported to the 125-acre "North Farm"
of the Mimico Branch Asylum grounds located about 1.5 miles north of
the Lake, to farm the lands (1). In 1976, Dr. Ian Bond stated that
"(Mimico Asylum) in fact had been largely built by patient
labour brought in from '999'" (2). In May of 1890,
correspondence from Dr. Daniel Clark, PLA Medical Superintendent, to
Provincial Inspector R. Christie, recommends "…twenty five
(later revised to 11 16/100) acres owned by the Government north of
its farm in Mimico be set apart as a burying ground for the pauper
dead of Toronto and Mimico Asylums." As late as June 27, 1891,
despite government approval for the use of "a certain portion
of the 11 acre lot and North of the concession at Mimico" be
used for burials, Dr. Christie urges haste from Kivas Tully, the
Department of Public Works Chief architect, to establish the grounds
(3). The enumeration of those buried at this site, now at the
northeast corner of Evans and Horner Avenues, shows plot and grave
assignment to the first patient death at Mimico on March 10, 1890
and subsequently twenty-nine further interments before the
referenced dates of "Establishment" on December 5, 1891,
and the "First Burial" of February 2, 1892 (4), (5). These
people show up on the death records for both PLA and Mimico. Whether
these first thirty individuals were initially buried at Mount
Pleasant Cemetery, as was the practice at PLA, and later re-interred
at the Mimico burial grounds needs further research. Apparently, no
one from the PLA was interred at the Mimico grounds despite the
initial proposal's scope. From its inception, it is clear from
Mimico’s death and burial records, that there are 1516 individuals
buried in Roman Catholic and Protestant sections, including ten
infants born to inmates who were stillborn or lived only a few
weeks, as well as one of their mothers. Evidence of several
Aboriginal individuals, two "unknown" persons and one
woman incorrectly documented as to her plot and gravesite have been
determined. Finally, it appears that one grave is shared by an
infant and an unrelated adult, their burials separated by many
years. The last burial occurred on March 26, 1974. The Mimico Branch
Asylum, later the Ontario Hospital: New Toronto, then Lakeshore
Psychiatric Hospital, closed and partially "re-merged"
with Queen Street Mental Health Centre in 1979, formally closing the
burial grounds to further interments. A publication by the Ontario
Genealogical Society (1992) lists the 154 flat grave markers for the
period between 1957 and 1973 (6). It was stated even then that the
majority of markers were sod-covered. While under the management of
the Ontario Realty Corporation the property was sold in 2000 to the
numbered company 1385521 Ontario Limited, owned by George Damiani,
for $300,000, who intended to build a crematorium with provisions to
restore the existing burial grounds, and demonstrate the historic
significance of the property (7). Unfortunately, the property has
been left unmarked, untended and in need of renewal. Markers for
individual graves and plot location markers need to be uncovered,
made level or replaced. The overgrown shrubs, trees and grasses need
attention including removing one felled tree which rests on
gravesites. Sunken graves need to be leveled, gopher and fox
holes make walking hazardous, and generally a new landscape design
is required. This site will be 115 years old next year. We should
strive to respect the resting places of those who preceded us and
set an example for future generations as to how to acknowledge each
person’s contribution to society regardless of perceived
limitations.
References:
1.
Mr. John Court, Archivist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health,
Personal correspondence.
2.
"History of Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital" Dr. Ian K.
Bond, unpublished article, July 1976.
3.
"Selected Sources for the Burying Grounds north of the Mimico
Asylum (aka Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital: Humber College,
Lakeshore Campus)" prepared by: Pleasance Crawford, Landscape
Design Historian, 28 January 2000.
4.
"Cemetery Record-Ontario Hospital: New Toronto, no date,
register of burials 1890- 1974." From the Archives of the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
5.
Ontario Archives microfilm Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, RG 10,
Series 20 H-3 "Registers, Rolls and Books, 1890-1963. Vol
1-33." MS 3559 and MS 3560.
6.
"Ontario Hospital Cemetery (Mimico), City of Etobicoke,
Ontario", Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch, 1992.
7.
Ontario Municipal Board Decision /Order #0106 issued; Jan 23, 2001,
OMB File number M00046.
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