Today we head over to the abandoned Grace Hospital site. Many Windsorites came into the world at Grace Hospital, my Mother included back in 1946.
The photo above dates to 1920 and comes from the collection of John Stefani. Many thanks to John for scanning and sending along the photo.
Now to the former Hospital grounds. The house above caught fire and burned to the ground around 1920 IN 1960. In 1921 a new wing to Grace Hospital was built, and that is the old portion still visible. Additions were made in 1953 and 1964. Grace Hospital merged with Hotel-Dieu in the late 1990’s 2000, and closed around 1999-2000 (if someone has the correct dates, please let me know) in 1994 (thanks Lilly!). The building sits vacant with little hope of reuse, and slightly vandalized. The broken windows/exposure to the elements must be doing wonders for the structure of the 1921 building.
Another of Windsor’s Historic Buildings, completely disregarded and discarded.
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While looking online at a house for rent on Crawford, I went to a satellite view of the area and was eventually able to determine that this must be the old Grace Site. The satellite views are fairly recent, and there were a few cars in the parking lot - I'm assuming those cars must belong to the workers doing whatever inside. As I'm from the Detroit area and not familiar with that neigbourhood (other than the bingo hall at Wyandotte, lol), what is your opinion - those of you who know the area - of living on that block? Is there more vandalism or disturbance because of this old abandoned building, or would you say, "Don't worry about it, we're hoping for a new project soon" ?
Funny thing, it was my birthday just yesterday, and I drove by on my way to school thinking "I was born somewhere in there." As for what needs to be done with it, since it clearly won't ever be a functioning hospital again, I've always dreamed of it becoming a mixed-use centre. You could have condos and offices in the tower, studios for artists and musicians on the lower levels, a community center (I'm sure there's room to construct a gym in there) and the old cafeteria could be converted into a commercial diner or luncheonette for the people living or working there. But, well, dreams like that all too often only stay dreams. In response to Kathi, my grandparents made their first home across from Grace hospital when they came to Canada in '55, they moved a year later because the neighbourhood was so bad; apparantly it hasn't improved since then either.
i have fond memories of there , because i had nearly died there when i was 7 from complications. im 43 now lol. but remember clearly when my father and mother had to leave for the night when i was up in childrens ward. they would always park where i could see them out from the second story hallway window, they would wave back up at me. did that for 6 months . a dr. Gadowski was my doctor there and was always taking good care of me. drove by it alot when i lived in detroit area and remember it fondly. wish they woulld do soemthing with it , seems like a waste to see it sit empty and vacant.
My mother graduated from the Nursing program at Grace, and worked there for 35 years. She was one of the original nurses who set up the NICU at the hospital. (Which is now at Met.)
I and all my siblings were born there as well. The hospital was almost like a second home. I can still remember having Thanksgiving dinner with whole family in the Cafeteria because mom was working.
Grace will always be a part of our lives.
I thought they were turning this building into a federal run nursing home?
Ashley that was my understanding as well. My wife is a PSW in Essex and they're usually "in the know" about projects like this. she was hoping to apply so i sure hope it's still a go.
I'm a former resident, I moved out of town a few months ago.. My friends and I used to visit the building all the time.. For those of you looking for the correct shut-down date, I believe it was February of 2004. My friends and I visited during the day, the night, any day, any time. We've ran into some pretty creepy people in there, but that's about it.. There's not a whole lot in there nowadays, it's pretty empty and dormant. We've probably visited at least 30 or 40 times and have never been caught. It seems the city has forgotten about Grace. It's a beautiful place, still a lot of asbestos in there. I probably won't live past 60, but it was worth it to visit such a beautiful venue. Grace will always live on, even after it's gone.
I live right across the street of this place as well, went in there a few times. Very creepy.
Quote form Mike- "There’s not a whole lot in there nowadays, it’s pretty empty and dormant"
BS!! Tons of old equipment just piled and plied in vacant rooms. Beds, incubators, desks, heart monitors and ETC,ETC,ETC!! (all mostly in the basement) Nothing was as creepy as going in there recently (on Halloween night) and locating these underground (maintenance?) tunnels, more than one level down. The access points to these tunnels are only found in certain closet floors. The wood cellar-like doors have been lifted off and I stuck my head (and flashlight) down in one and man, Creepy. The tunnels are only about 3 1/2- 4 feet high and they stretch across the whole Grounds it seems.
Didn't have the "gusto" to go down there that night. I'd love to get some history on what they were used for. We were in the actual maintenance corridors that went through underground, across the courtyard and so on, But these lower level tunnels are pretty intriguing.
Does anyone know the name of the company that will be taking of the old Grace Hospital Site? or does anyone have any updates or even a name or website? I looking at trying to contact about applying for possible future employment.
Hey everyone, I'm very intrigued by all the comments posted on here. I am not from the Windsor area so I'm wondering if anyone can give me the address to this place? I'm a photographer and would love to have a chance to explore and take some memorable photos to share.
Thanks.