Saint John General Hospital

The Saint John General Hospital was a public hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick.^[1]

Saint John General Hospital
Saint John General Hospital in 1995
Geography
Location	Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Coordinates	45.280969°N 66.055394°W / 45.280969; -66.055394 (approximate)
History
Opened	November 1931
Closed	October 31, 1982
Demolished	December 10, 1995
Links
Lists	Hospitals in Canada

The hospital was completed in November 1931 and cost $1.6 million to construct.^[2] Built on a hill near the center of the city, the 12-storey building, topped with a gleaming metal dome, was a prominent landmark in Saint John's skyline.^[2][3]

The hospital boasted state-of-the-art facilities for its time: in 1932 its new cancer clinic was treating patients with radiation therapy, in 1952 it introduced a neurosurgery department, and in the 1960s it became the first hospital in the region to offer renal dialysis.^[2]

The hospital also housed the Bureau of Laboratories that would later become the Provincial Laboratory Service.^[4]

The building was expanded in 1959 with the addition of a new wing, but by the late 1970s the facility was dated and many services formerly provided at the General Hospital had moved to newer hospitals.^[2] On October 31, 1982, the last patients were moved to other facilities and the hospital officially closed.^[2] It remained empty and condemned until December 10, 1995 at 1:30 p.m. (originally scheduled at 8:30 a.m. but it was delayed due to a low cloud cover), when the building was demolished by a controlled implosion.^[3][5][6]

The hospital's dome survived the demolition intact and was pulled from the rubble. It now forms the roof of a gazebo in a small Saint John park, located near Garden Street.^[7]