The Lincoln County Industrial Home’s road to Linhaven
In the 1870s the Province of Ontario began to encourage local jurisdictions to establish “County Industrial Homes” to centralize the care of “the indigent, the infirm and the insane” that had formerly been left to families and churches to provide for.
In Lincoln County nothing was done for more than a decade. It was feared that local public opinion would not support such a use of taxpayer funds. But in 1885 the county revisited the question. A special committee recommended the establishment of the Lincoln County Industrial Home to house the county’s neediest.
A site for the home was purchased on Ontario Street at a point that was then out in the country, well beyond St. Catharines’ city limits in those days — on the west side of Ontario Street at the end of Scott, south of where the QEW is today.
Plans were drawn up, and by late 1886 the building shown in our old photo this week had been constructed to house the Industrial Home’s inmates. (An accurate term for the times as residents of the facility did not apply but were committed to it by county officials.)
On the opposite side of Ontario Street, along both sides of Scott, lay some 40 acres of land belonging to the home. Those inmates of the home who could work would be expected to work on the farmland to raise enough food to feed the inmates, with any surplus sold to defray some of the institution’s expenses.
Over the years the focus of the institution changed considerably. In 1918 it became simply a home for the county’s elderly. In the late 1930s the “industrial” part of the name was dropped — it was simply the Lincoln County Home. In 1953 it was given the more appealing name of “Linhaven” (“Lin” for Lincoln
Those inmates of the home who could work would be expected to work on the farmland to raise enough food to feed the inmates.
County, and “Haven” suggesting shelter). Two years later the home ceased its farming activities and its farm land along Scott Street was sold.
The Linhaven home did not remain in the old 1886 building very long after that. The building was badly in need of repair, and the idea of housing the elderly in a fourstorey building without elevators had never really been appropriate. Consequently, in December 1957 residents of the Linhaven seniors home moved into a brand new facility, its current location on the west side of Ontario Street, between the QEW and Linwell Road.
After that, from 1958 until 1964, the old industrial home’s residence was used on and off as an annex by the Linwell School District while Lakeport Secondary School was being expanded. In July 1964, a month after the last Lakeport students moved out, the old building was finally demolished.
The former County Industrial Home’s land was soon cleared and occupied by new commercial ventures. Ed Learn Ford, 375 Ontario Street, now does business where the county home’s agricultural and other out buildings once stood, while the home itself has been replaced by a series of fast food restaurants — first Peter Pan, then the Jolly Buccaneer, and today KFC and Taco Bell.
ACROSS
1 Supplies food
7 Lord with a namesake sports trophy
14 Showy bloom
15 “The Miser” playwright
16 Levi's alternatives in the bargain bin?
18 Rial spenders
19 Ascended
21 Humdinger
23 Bright red semi?
27 Song heard in the film “Marley & Me”
31 Sign of success
32 Sign of success
33 Arte who co-owns MLB'S Angels
34 Prayer __
36 Dog collar for obedience
school?
41 Sported
42 Steamed cantina dish
43 I in Innsbruck
46 Mogadishu is its cap.
47 Getty of “The Golden
Girls”
48 Kibbles 'n Bits?
51 Petition
52 Relaxation
53 Smarts
57 Inept patsy on water skis?
63 Captain Marvel, for one
64 Walking on air
65 Taken in
66 Parlor pieces
DOWN
1 Govt. agency in many 2020 headlines
2 Spa emanation
3 Title Marx Brothers setting
4 Jack of “Rio Lobo”
5 Gifford's “Live” successor
6 Like logs
7 Huge hit
8 Passel
9 Niger neighbor: Abbr.
10 Nothing
11 Suspicious
12 E on a scoreboard
13 Private aye
17 Often-steamed serving
20 It may be inflated
21 Ceremonial display
22 “__ out?”
24 First name in daredevil try
25 Takes the bait, say
26 Software subsidiary of IBM since 2019
28 Peace Nobelist Walesa
29 Focused, jobwise
30 Entirely without
34 Outlaw
35 To a degree
37 Villa-studded Italian lake
38 Greek city known for olives
39 Building additions
40 Strongly suggest, with “of”
43 Bar staple
44 Onomatopoeic dance
45 Quieted
47 Touch up, perhaps
49 Surgeon's opening?
50 Dominated in competition
54 Threw off
55 Where to find a hero
56 Norse patron
58 Unruly head of hair
59 Trading place
60 Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 __ minor
61 First “Jeopardy!” guest host after Alex
62 Harris and a horse