Abandoned Freeport Hospital Kitchener
This is the Freeport Hospital Abandoned Men’s Residence and was a part of the Freeport Sanitorium and was added to the complex in 1926 as a student residence. It was the first Georgian styled building constructed on the campus.
The Freeport Sanitorium originally opened as a military hospital treating tuberculosis patients during the Great War in 1916. By 1920, the facility had returned to civilian use. Subsequent expansion from 1926 through 1953 saw the construction of nurses residences, doctor’s residence, treatment center, men’s and women’s residences, and other support buildings. In 1957 with declining patient admissions, Freeport became the first sanatorium in Ontario to initiate chronic-rehabilitative care for non-tubercular patients. In 1970 the tuberculosis division was closed, however the site remained to provide ongoing health services the the nearby community.
This very small abandoned building has been around for local Ontario explorers for many years. Back in 2012 it saw it’s peak popularity, being explored by many curious explorers and photographers.
Eventually, as things go, the workers of the hospital on the property caught on and sealed off the entry points. Here are there, people would show up and remove a board to gain access and then it would very quickly get sealed up again.
This happened again this summer and a hole was ripped in a board allowing for a handful of people to climb in and explore her again.
I made the trip to visit this old nurses residence a few weeks back, stayed inside and photographed for about an hour and then I left. While I was inside my car in a nearby parking lot a truck pulled up to the building with 3 maintenance workers and sheets of plywood, they were going to seal up the hole.
Had I stayed in the building another 15 minutes I would have been sealed inside!!!
