One of Bruce County’s premier pre-Christmas events is coming around again on November 19 and 20th.  The Kincardine Hospital Auxiliary’s annual Christmas Boutique, held on Friday and Saturday, offers holiday giftware and decorating ideas.  Get an early start on shopping in the town of Kincardine, home to a hospital that has just passed its 100th birthday.

It all began in 1906 when the family of Sir Alexander MacKenzie played host to Madam Josephine Gualco, a wealthy, widely-travelled, Polish woman.  Madam Gualco became so entranced with Kincardine that she bought a home there called Roseneath.  

Becoming a central figure in the life of the community, in 1908 Madam Gualdo presided over a public meeting held in her home.  That day, she announced that she had purchased the Grant property on Queen Street and proposed giving it along with an annual grant of $2,500 to Kincardine and the surrounding district for a hospital.  

Within a year, a charter for Kincardine’s General Hospital had been procured.  At the same time, the new Hospital Board announced that a women’s auxiliary had been formed with Mrs. John McCrimmon, wife of a local doctor, as president.  Meetings were to be held once a month in the council chamber with an annual membership fee of twenty-five cents.

Beginning in 1910, the Kincardine Hospital Auxiliary raised funds catering for banquets, holding raffles and sox socials, bake sales and concerts and booths at fall fairs.  One hundred years later, they are still at work, hosting this year’s Christmas Boutique.  For more info contact Nancy Potter at: 519-396-2502.

(image source: http://www.kincardinenews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1280766 )

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Posted on: 05/11/10