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Remember When: When they built Ponoka’s mental hospital

A brick three story building was the first step for then Ponoka mental hospital in 1910.
Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
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Remember When? This amazing photo was taken in 1910 and shows the near completion of the initial building of the Provincial Mental Hospital near Ponoka, which opened on July 4, 1911. The general design of the huge three story, basically brick structure, was that of a cross, and included a central administration building flanked on each side by separate wings for men and women patients, as well as a full basement for other offices and services, and were all connected by long corridors and stairways. All that remains now of this first structure at the present Centennial Centre is the administration building. Photo submitted

By Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye

A brick three story building was the first step for then Ponoka mental hospital in 1910.