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26. 708 Buxton:
The Town’s First Hospital
The brick building at 708 Buxton was built at the
initiative of 25-year-old Anna Maud Crawford. Maud
and her sister Mary had come to Indian Head to live
with their uncle Robert Crawford after the death of their
mother in Ottawa. Maud Crawford decided to build
an institution to provide care for new mothers, and the
Crawford Maternity Hospital became Indian Head’s first
hospital.
An article in the Vidette of May 13, 1895 reads,
“A new hospital is the project now uppermost. Lord
Brassey, when here last summer, promised to build a
hospital. The names connected with the building of the
hospital are those of Miss Maud Crawford and J. W.
Kemp M.D. In connection with the foregoing, it may be
stated that Miss Crawford has just gone east to Kingston,
Ontario to take a course of training as hospital nurse to
fit her for filling an important position in the hospital
when completed.”
William Dale was given the contract to build the
hospital. The Crawford Maternity Hospital operated for
only a year and a half, when it was sold to Ed Sample,
who became the town constable in 1902. In 1904, the
building became the Methodist Church Manse and,
after church union in 1925, the United Church Manse,
serving as such until 1980. A total of 17 ministers and
their families lived here over a 75-year period. In 1980,
it passed to private owners, John and Kathy Wadsworth,
and then, in 1997, to John and Linda Kort. LK
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