Cabbagetown was quite a hub of medical activity in years gone by. A nursing school as well as 3 medical schools, including one dedicated to teaching medicine to women (which later developed into Women’s College Hospital) were located in the neighbourhood. The central hub for these locations however, was the Toronto General Hospital which stood in Cabbagetown from 1856 to 1913.

The hospital grounds were south of Spruce St., west of Sumach St., north of Gerrard St. East and east of Sackville St. The hospital had 250 beds and was considered very modern for its time. In 1913, the hospital ceased operating at this location and moved to its College St. location (interesting fact: the building the hospital began occupying in 1913 is now known as the MARS building).

Picture of Toronto General Hospital – Taken From Gerrard St. East and Sackville St. (facing North East)

Although the hospital’s closure in 1913 and move had been planned for some time, the building was not immediately torn down. The final years of the building saw soldiers from the 48th Highlanders and Queen’s Own Rifles returning from the First World War, quartered and trained there and local residents had to become accustomed to the sound of bugles and marching.

As late as June of 1920, a bill was being considered to turn the empty building into an isolation hospital. The city’s Local Board Of Health had campaigned to have the city repair or replace the existing structures and convert them to a hospital for contagious diseases (Measles, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Chicken Pox and ahem…sexually transmitted infections as they are now called). However, by September of 1920, the building had been found to be unsuitable for continued use as a hospital and the council and Medical Officer of Health, Charles Hastings, decided to sell the property for residential development. The hospital buildings were torn down in 1922.

An interesting note – early plans had only one street bisecting the former hospital property, and an alternate plan had three streets running through the hospital grounds, but in the end it was decided that two streets would be appropriate and those streets were Nasmith Avenue and Gifford Street. Another interesting fact is that Gifford St. – although now located south of Spruce St., at one time was located *north* of Spruce St. where the driveway in to Sprucecourt Public School is now (click on the map above to zoom in and you’ll see it there in 1893).

More about the Toronto General Hospital (wikipedia.org)