Women's College Hospital and Dispensary Commemorative plaque, 2023.
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Resource ID
10415
Access
Open
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2023
Historical Themes
Education, Health Care, Women's History
Program Category
Historical Plaques
Rights
Heritage Toronto
Time Period
1900-1953, 1954-1998, 1999-today
Caption
Women's College Hospital and Dispensary Commemorative plaque, 2023.
Description
On November 10, 1911, the Women’s College Hospital and Dispensary opened in a house near here, at 18 Seaton Street. The building allowed graduates of the Ontario Medical College for Women to treat patients. Before 1905, universities rarely allowed women into their medical departments. Dr. Emily Stowe, one of the first women to practice professional medicine in Canada, helped to establish the Woman’s Medical College in 1883 to give women equal access to medical education. The hospital run by women, for women, was a success. In its first year, the hospital admitted 114 patients and served over 2,000 in the dispensary. In 1898, Dr. Susanna Boyle, Dr. Jennie Gray, and Dr. Ida Lynd, three graduates from the school, established a dispensary. The medical college closed in 1905 when the University of Toronto began accepting women into its Faculty of Medicine, but the hospital remained active. The two institutions later merged and incorporated in 1913 to become the Women’s College Hospital and Dispensary. The hospital moved to 125 Rusholme Road in 1915. It outgrew that space by 1935 and relocated to 76 Grenville Street. The 18 Seaton Street house was torn down in 1960.