The London Asylum – History in East London by Joshua Klar In the late 1800s, if you were to travel east down Dundas Street, Dorinda would be the last city street until you hit the countryside and just outside of East London was a peaceful rural setting. It was a perfect location for a psychiatric hospital, or as it was called then, an Asylum for the Insane. First opened in 1870, the London Asylum for the Insane was one of Canada’s pioneering psychiatric hospitals. When first established, the hospital was in the countryside, at Highbury and Dundas Street, on a 160-acre lot. When it opened, the London Asylum was the fourth institution to open in the province. By 1877, there were five provincial asylums in Toronto, London, Hamilton, Kingston, and Orillia, and by this time, London was already the largest. The London Insane Asylum served a large portion of Southwestern Ontario, accepting patients from Windsor, Elgin County, Norfolk County and all the way up to Bruce County. An 1879 report of the Inspector of Asylums, Prisons and Public Charities for Ontario reported that London was the largest asylum in Ontario with 742 patients. Over 32% of the patients in Ontario resided at the London Asylum. By 1883, that number grew to over 900 patients. The first superintendent was Dr. Henry Landor. In 1877, Landor was succeeded by Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke. Bucke was unconventional in his therapeutic approach compared to other institutions in the province. He abandoned the medicinal use of alcohol and discontinued most forms of physical restraint. He promoted better food, exercise and work, and initiated an open- door policy allowing most patients free access to the hospital grounds. At the time, his approach was referred to as “moral treatment”, and involved recreational activities for the patients. The London Advertiser reported a concert at the grounds of the Asylum on February 4, 1881: “The programme presented last night was one of the best ever produced for the benefit of the patients. The overture was played by the 7th Fausileers Band in their usual excellent style, under the leadership of Bandmaster Hiscot… the performance concluded with an excellent operetta to the entire satisfaction of the audience”. By 1968, the main building of the former asylum was vacated. It remained unused for seven years until it was torn down in 1975. In 2014, the site ended its 144-year-long stint in psychiatric care when Regional Mental Health Care London relocated to a different facility. In January 2017, the Provincial government sold the property to Old Oak Properties. Of the many buildings that came and went throughout the 144 years of this property, three buildings remain on the property as they are considered important heritage assets, are protected through an easement with Ontario Heritage Trust and are designated heritage
Patients playing croquet on hospital grounds, circa 1890. Courtesy of the London Room, LPL.
properties. These three buildings are the infirmary building built in 1902, the Chapel built in 1884, and the horse stable built in 1894. It is wonderful to see these buildings preserved as an important part of East London’s history and it will be exciting to see how the new residential development incorporates these heritage assets into the new design.
Map of London, 1898. Courtesy of Western Archives.
The London Insane Asylum, 1875. Courtesy of the London Room, LPL.
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Old East Villager March-April 2025 • Page 5
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