Hidden just outside Palmerston, Ontario, the former Midwestern Regional Centre is one of the province’s more intriguing abandoned institutional sites. Today, its empty buildings and overgrown grounds tell the story of a place that served very different purposes over the course of more than half a century.
Originally known as the Midwestern Regional Children’s Centre, the facility was established in the early 1960s as part of Ontario’s network of large institutions for people with developmental disabilities. Government records identify its operating period as September 1, 1963, to March 31, 1998, although contemporary records commonly identify 1965 as the year the children’s centre formally opened.
The large rural property was designed to function almost as a self-contained community. It included residential areas, classrooms, recreation facilities, dining spaces, a swimming pool, extensive grounds and various support buildings and infrastructure. Although it began primarily as a facility for children, its population increasingly consisted of adults, and at its peak the centre housed approximately 225 residents.
Life at Midwestern reflected the institutional approach to developmental disabilities that was common in Ontario during the middle of the 20th century. Residents often spent years or even decades living within large government-run facilities, separated from ordinary community life. While many former employees remember their work and relationships with residents positively, Ontario’s institutional system was later criticized for systemic problems involving neglect, inadequate staffing and failures to adequately protect residents from abuse.
As attitudes toward developmental disabilities changed, Ontario began moving away from large institutions and toward community-based living. Midwestern Regional Centre eventually closed its doors on March 31, 1998, and its residents were relocated to community-based homes and other supported living arrangements.
The closure marked the beginning of a very different chapter for the property.
For several years, the enormous complex sat largely vacant. A redevelopment project known as Village Green Lifestyle Community attempted to transform the former institution into a retirement community, with plans that reportedly included residential facilities, a hotel and conference centre and a golf course. The project ultimately failed, leaving much of the property unused once again.
Cham Shan Temple
Around 2010, the site entered perhaps its most unusual chapter when it was purchased by Cham Shan Temple, a Buddhist organization from the Greater Toronto Area. The organization planned to convert the former institution into a Buddhist retreat and temple complex. Buddhist statues and other religious elements appeared throughout parts of the old building, creating an unusual contrast with its institutional architecture.
The Buddhist redevelopment, however, never fully materialized. Financial and structural problems, including significant deterioration of the aging buildings, contributed to the project eventually stalling. The property was put up for sale again in 2019.
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Midwestern Regional Children's Centre
The history of Midwestern also became part of a much larger reckoning with Ontario’s former developmental institutions. In 2016, Ontario approved a $36-million class-action settlement involving former residents of 12 developmental institutions, including Midwestern Regional Centre. The lawsuit alleged systemic neglect, abuse and failures in the care and protection of residents.
In 2021, the former Midwestern property was purchased by Eden Grove Village, a not-for-profit organization. The organization indicated that it was exploring future uses for the property, but the former institutional complex has not, based on publicly available information, undergone a major redevelopment into a fully functioning facility.
Today, Midwestern Regional Centre remains a remarkable physical reminder of a very different era in Ontario’s history. Its abandoned corridors, institutional rooms and deteriorating buildings are more than simply an interesting location for urban explorers and photographers. They are remnants of a system that once shaped the lives of hundreds of people with developmental disabilities.
From government institution, to abandoned complex, to proposed retirement community, to Buddhist retreat, and now a property with an uncertain future, Midwestern Regional Centre has had several lives since the first residents arrived more than six decades ago.
