Genealogy
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Care Facilities

Brant Sanatorium

At a meeting in 1909 the Brant Anti-Tuberculosis Association decided that Brantford should build its own sanatorium instead of sending local residents out of town for treatment. The Brant Sanatorium, located on Strawberry Hill (now 25 Bell Lane), opened on August 3, 1913 with space for ten tuberculosis patients. Edmund Cockshutt had donated five acres of land for the facility. The building housed staff and administrative departments with two wings for patients. A pavilion for men was opened in 1916 and a separate nurses’ residence opened in 1921, making additional room for patients on the second floor of the main building. Money raised by the Brantford Shriners helped to build a children’s preventorium which opened in 1923. The Brant Chapter I.O.D.E. raised a lot of money for the Sanatorium through the years, including its annual “San Sundays”. In 1953 the “Katherine M. Bowen Residence”, named after the Superintendent of Nurses, 1914-1946, was opened to provide housing for 16 nursing staff. The following year the Edmund L. Cockshutt Rehabilitation Centre opened. The last tuberculosis patient was discharged from the facility in 1964 when it was converted into a residential centre for children with developmental and physical handicaps. In 1981 the chronic care division closed and the centre became a residential facility for disabled children and young adults. The name was changed to the Brantwood Residential Development Centre in 1980. By 2000 all of the residents had been moved to community group homes in Brantford. The building is now a recreation centre for the physically and mentally challenged adults who live in group homes or are affiliated with other agencies such as the Lansdowne Children’s Centre and Community Living Brant.

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House of Refuge

Opened in 1888, the House of Refuge, a home for indigent citizens from both Brantford and Brant County, was built on a hill overlooking Mount Pleasant Street. Ignatius Cockshutt donated 45 acres of land while Humphrey Davis gave $5,000 in cash towards the building of this facility. The Board of Management was made up of both City and County representatives. A new wing was built in 1900 and by the following year there were enough rooms for 55 people. By the early 1920s the number of available rooms had grown to 75. In 1922 the name was changed to the Home for the Aged and Infirm (Brantford Expositor, August 25, 1922, p. 18). It became the Pleasant View Lodge in October 1952. The Lodge was later demolished to make room for the 1961 addition to the John Noble Home.

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Jane Laycock Children's Home

Jane Laycock was the daughter of James Cockshutt and the sister of Ignatius Cockshutt. A widow for many years, she started teaching students in a building on her farm in 1851. A new building for her school was later erected on the Mount Pleasant road near Farringdon Church with money donated by her brother, Ignatius. She taught subjects such as Bible study, needlework, cooking, and home management to young ladies. However, when the Brantford Young Ladies’ College opened, Mrs. Laycock’s school became redundant and it closed circa 1875. Her school then became a home which educated and cared for children between the ages of 5 and 12 who had lost one or both parents. When Jane Laycock died in 1890 she left much of her estate to provide for the upkeep of the home (Brantford Weekly Expositor, May 2, 1890, p. 8 and June 13, 1890, p. 8). Ignatius Cockshutt took over the management of the home after the death of his sister. When he died in 1901 his family took over the running of the home. This facility closed in August 1955 with the building being demolished and the land becoming part of Farringdon Church burial grounds.

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John H. Stratford Hospital

John H. Stratford was born in Oswego, New York in 1840 but moved to Brantford as a child. After finishing his education at a wholesale druggist’s firm in Montreal, he returned to Brantford to run the retail drug business started by his father. He was also a partner with Henry Yates in a lumber and oil business which supplied materials to many of the railways and large corporations across Canada. In 1883 Mr. Stratford told Brantford City Council that he would be willing to pay for a hospital to be built and contribute to its upkeep if certain conditions were met. The John H. Stratford Hospital, located at 200 Terrace Hill Street, officially opened on February 10, 1885 (Brantford Expositor, February 11, 1885, p. 1). John H. Stratford died suddenly on February 12, 1888 (Brantford Expositor, February 13, 1888, p. 1). In June 1900 local citizens voted to pay $12,000 for an addition to the original building. The name of the hospital was officially changed to the Brantford General Hospital in March 1912 (Brantford Expositor, March 6, 1912, p. 8). The original hospital building was demolished in 1959 to make way for further additions. The John H. Stratford Pavilion, which opened on August 29, 1959, honours the man who provided the first hospital for Brantford. The book, The Brantford General Hospital 1885-1985, by Irene E. Feely and Helen B. Mulligan provides more detail about the first one hundred years of this hospital.

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John H. Stratford Hospital (Courtesy of the Brant County Museum and Archives)

John Noble Home

Located at 97 Mount Pleasant Street on approximately 25 acres of land, this facility was named after John Noble, a Brantford alderman in Ward 2 for fourteen years (1937-1941 and 1950-1958). He was a member of the board of governors of the nearby Pleasant View Home for the Aged (formerly the House of Refuge) and played a key role in the decision to build a new care facility for seniors. The John Noble Home, owned and operated by the City of Brantford and the County of Brant, opened in November 1954 with room for 78 residents. Pleasant View Lodge remained open until it was demolished to make room for the 1961 addition to the Home. John Noble died on October 23, 1971 (Brantford Expositor, October 25, 1971). In 1999 the John Noble Home became partners with the St. Joseph’s Healthcare System paving the way for the transfer of 205 beds to the new St. Joseph’s Lifecare Centre in fall 2004.

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Returned Soldiers' Home

The Women’s Patriotic League first suggested building a home for soldiers returning to Brantford during World War I. Lieutenant J. R. Cornelius, an officer with the 58th Battalion who was invalided home, was for a time the secretary of the Great War Veterans’ Association and played a major role in setting up the Returned Soldiers’ Home. Located at 20 Dalhousie Street, the Home had previously been a hotel. It was officially opened on October 24, 1917 by His Excellency the Duke of Devonshire, Governor-General of Canada (Brantford Expositor, October 24, 1917, p. 16 and October 25, 1917, p. 1). Four oak panels in the reception hall listed the names of the men who had lost their lives during the war. The facility included a billiards room, a canteen, a large assembly room, a den on the second floor furnished as a trench dugout, and eleven bedrooms on the second and third floors. Many different organizations helped to furnish the various rooms. The Home was also the headquarters of the Great War Veterans’ Association and the A. R. Club. The Returned Soldiers’ Home was listed in the Brantford City Directory until 1920 after which the property was vacant for several years. Needing more space the Great War Veterans’ Association had moved to 20 Colborne Street.

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Widows' Home

In 1868 the Ladies’ Benevolent Society wanted to provide accommodations for the aged and homeless widows of Brantford and Brant County. One of the first places used for this purpose was a house owned by Mr. Kippax on William Street. Ignatius Cockshutt bought the house at 6 Sheridan Street for $3,000 in 1873 and donated it to the Benevolent Society for use as a Widows’ Home. For many years the home had an annual Donation Day where people would visit and bring food or take the residents out. The house has undergone many renovations throughout the years, including the addition of a new wing in the 1950s. Starting in 1915 Dr. J. A. Marquis volunteered at the home for many years and his son, Dr. J. A. D. Marquis, continued the tradition. The Board of Management was made up of women from the community, many of whom were one of several generations of their family to be on the board. In 1975 a provincial charter of incorporation was issued authorizing the Board of Management of the Widows’ Home to change the name to Sheridan Place. Sheridan Lodge Retirement Home is still in existence today as a home for the aged.

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