Peel Memorial Hospital, part three

Despite five expansions to Peel Memorial in a span of 31 years, planners were facing a hard time of keeping up with overwhelming demand. Thankfully the South Peel Hospital (now Trillium Health Centre) opened in 1952, to serve those in the towns that eventually became Mississauga. A two-stage expansion, including a 10-storey wing, added 439 beds at a cost of $10.5 million. Grown from 12 to 700 beds, the hospital hosted 8,755 people annually by 1965, and 16,919 by Brampton’s Centennial in 1973. By that year, plans were underway to build a 200-bed hospital in Bramalea by 1980, by Chinguasousy Township.

Peel Memorial Hospital, part two

Now that Brampton's shoe industry-family, the Hewetsons, had built a residence for twelve nurses, Peel Memorial needed to deal with its overcrowding. In 1932, the hospital was extended, and an elevator and second set of stair installed. The facilities were expanded again in 1938, with a multi-storey addition, doubling the original bed capacity. As the town and surrounding villages continued to grow, another wing was opened in December 1949. The extension, which again doubled the hospital size, cost $310,000 with its “furnishings”. Further extensions added 153 beds in 1960, and 100 more in 1963, for a cost of $3.7 million.

Peel Memorial Hospital, part one

When The Great War (now known as World War One) ended in 1915, the Peel County Women's Institute began fundraising for a hospital in Brampton. By 1921, some 99 years after the first settlers moved to the area, the organization had raised $2600. After the Veterans Association leant its support, the Institute and Red Cross purchased the William Elliott estate. Further grants and donations later, the hospital opened in February 1925 with 12 beds. The hospital served 156 within its first year, and immediately faced overcrowding. Expansion would continue in 1932, two years after a donation funded construction of a nurse’s residence.