Our History

Windsor Regional Hospital is the key provider of Acute Care and Emergency Services for Windsor/Essex.

The Metropolitan Campus, located at 1995 Lens Avenue, opened in 1928 as a community based, acute care hospital. Throughout its history, the Met Campus has focused on medical and surgical care with specialized services in areas of cancer and burns.

A Cancer Clinic and Department of Neo-plastic Services was established in 1935. Nuclear Medicine and EEG Services commenced in 1959. A major expansion of the Met Campus occurred in 1974 with the construction of an eight-story tower to accommodate 500-beds. Critical Care facilities were established in 1983 and the HIV Care Program began in 1991. A major expansion was completed in 2005 resulting in 420,000 sq. ft. of new and renovated space.

The Ouellette Campus, located at 1030 Ouellette Avenue, was originally founded in 1888 by Dean James Theodore Wagner, pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish, and five sisters from the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph (RHSJ), who came from Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal on September 14, 1888. Dean J.T. Wagner had become concerned for the black people who had migrated from the southern United States to his parish, particularly the children in the community. The families had come from the rural American South for industrial jobs. The children were excluded from white schools and had no school of their own. In addition, many had become orphans. Dean J.T. Wagner organized a mission for black people and sent letters asking for donations. Over the years, Hôtel-Dieu of St. Joseph Hospital was renovated and expanded several times, adding more beds as the need arose. Additional beds were added in 1910, 1927, 1938, 1952, and 1962. In 1963 the original 1888 building was demolished.

In 2013, Windsor Regional Hospital entered into a historical realignment of services with Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare which was the first step in planning for a new progressive and modernized "system-wide hospital plan" for Windsor-Essex. This plan includes a new state-of-the-art regional acute care hospital, an urgent care centre and a centre of mental health excellence.

Find out more information about the future Windsor-Essex Hospitals System.