In this week’s look back at the history of Cochrane, something that came to town amid the ashes of the Great Fire of 1911.
Cochrane Public Library archivist Ardis Proulx-Chedore says that the Toronto Board of Trade set up a relief fund to help anyone in Cochrane who was affected by the fire.
“After meeting legitimate needs, there remained a surplus of $16,000 in the Northern Relief Fund,” she relates. “It was decided the surplus would go to a 20-room hospital to be called Cochrane General Hospital. Eventually, Cochrane Hospital Board received $9,200 from the fund. Wrangling over the site and the payment of the funds delayed everything for several years.”
Next week: The hospital finally opens.