Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre is located along Glenridge Avenue in St. Catharines and has been operating since 1953. Originally, the site was home to the St. Catharines Consumptive Sanatorium in 1912 and then the Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium in 1930, specifically for the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1944, the idea to establish a Catholic acute care centre in St. Catherines was put in motion (along with the other St. Catharines General Hospital). Upon its completion on May 18th, 1953, the building was given the name Hotel Dieu which translates to 'Hostel of God' and as time has continued, the hospital has seen numerous extensions and upgrades, for example, a kidney dialysis centre, and an eye and oncology clinic in 1974. In 2005, Hotel Dieu earned the Shaver part of the name when the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care decided to do some organizational restructuring with reference to the Shaver Hospital. Following the construction of the Healing Garden in 2007, flower beds and mulch can now be found wrapping a path that loops in the yard. Directly adjacent to Hotel Dieu Shaver is the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site which originally operated as a limestone quarry. As time has continued, from 1976 to 2001 it was a municipal landfill site until the city of St. Catharines decided to push for naturalization which aimed to return the local flora and fauna to the area (and cover up the garbage too). Restoring bee populations was a critical goal in mind because if we don't have bees, we don't have food and with every new building and road, greenspace and natural habitats are being replaced and destroyed. Planners had to design a habitat similar to other natural habitats in the area, thus Carolinian vegetation is what was utilized which includes numerous plants and trees such as sassafras, purple coneflower, witch hazel, Canadian wild rye, tulip poplar trees, black walnut trees, etc.

Niagara Topographic Map 1970s and St. Catharines Street Map 1964: These two maps display what used to be a drive-in movie theatre that was located south of Hotel Dieu Shaver known as The Canadian, which remained open from 1947 to 1982. Being the fifth drive-in theatre in Canada, the place could hold up to 750 cars, admission was 50¢, and children 12 and under were free (Floyd, 2016). Also, growth in the quarry's boundaries between the two maps seems significant.

Welland Canal 1916 and Niagara Frontier 1862: Much of the area covered on these maps are separated into large lots which were most likely used as farm fields. Another distinct feature is the emphasis placed on the escarpment and how it naturally divides the land.

Municipality: St. Catharines

Local area name: Niagara Region

Other identifying names or descriptions: Niagara Greenbelt

Latitude and Longitude: 43°07'19" N 79°14'32" W

Physical Dimensions: Hotel Dieu Shaver

Length: Approx. 280m

Width: Approx. 200m

Surface Area: 49,020m²

Physical Dimensions: Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site

Length: Approx. 620m

Width: Approx. 575m

Surface Area: Approx. 401,060m²

Elevation:

Highest Point: 192m

Lowest Point: 170m

Within my analysis of the site, to fully capture the scope of Hotel Dieu Shaver I will also explore the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site simultaneously as their boundaries rub against each other, making it difficult to discuss one without the other. There appears to be a stark contrast between the dark urban pavement that surrounds Hotel Dieu Shaver and the seemingly natural area within the Glenridge Quarry. On the northern side of Hotel Dieu Shaver towards the escarpment, Elizabeth Hilton and local gardeners implicated a healing garden in 2007 that provides a smooth stone path, bushes, trees, flower beds, and serenity to patients and guests at the hospital. Away from the main hospital, a separate building with a large chimney is situated, along with different buildings to support new medical innovations and treatments that require additional space such as the Glenridge Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine building. Directly to the east and west sides of the facility, the majority of the land is occupied by parking lots, pick-up drop-off spots, but generally pavement. However, beyond a small hill on the east side, exists the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site which has been heavily influenced by humans throughout the history of the site. Once farmland, next it became a limestone quarry, then a municipal landfill site and now a naturalized area, the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization site offers a pleasant landscape for both humans and animals to interact in. Numerous trails wind around the park along with the Bruce Trail that further connects this isolated green space to the rest of Southern Ontario.

Hotel Dieu Shaver is located in an urbanized area where pavement dominates green-space which means many of the animals directly around the hospital have adapted to the human element: raccoons, skunks, foxes, white-tailed deer, and coyotes along with other animals typically seek out their food at night to avoid humans. Additionally, squirrels, rabbits and a wide range of birds flock to the area, especially the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site: Caspian terns visit the Quarry site following migration patterns and can be seen dive-bombing the pond to catch fish (The Bird Nerds, 2017). Various other birds that can be found include Canadian geese, killdeer, eastern bluebird, great blue heron, turkey vultures, and black-capped chickadees along with about 400 other birds that reside in the Southern Ontario Carolinian ecosystem (Carolinian Canada, 2021). However, in the not-so-distant past, the site was uninhabitable for nearly all wildlife due to quarry and landfill operations carving up the landscape and refilling it with waste.

The Carolinian region is relatively small when considering the scope of Canada; comprising about 1% of the nation's land area, this ecosystem is home to an estimated 2,200 herbaceous plant species and 70 different tree species. This region can be further fragmented into different ecosystems such as forests, tallgrass prairies and savanna, wetlands, streams, and shorelines and over 400 species of plants and animals are considered to be rare within these boundaries (Carolinian Canada, 2021). The federal government along with the help of the province organized the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) to determine how at risk specific species are at becoming extinct with categories including no longer present in the wild or extirpated, endangered, threatened, special concern, not at risk, and lack of data. The committee's decision-making is based on species reports, however, these reports can take up to two years to prepare meaning an endangered species could easily go extinct in that period of time. As of right now, there are over 125 different species within this fragile region that are considered to be threatened, for example, eastern moles are considered to be vulnerable while bald eagles are endangered (Carolinian Canada, 2021). With regard to plants, blue ash trees are considered to be vulnerable in Ontario; along with the tree's cousins, black ash, pumpkin ash, red ash, white ash, and prickly ash, are all susceptible to infestation from the invasive emerald ash borer which has killed an estimated 100 million ash trees across Southern Ontario, Michigan, and other states (Farintosh et al., 2012). Of these Carolinian ecosystems, 58 are considered to be rare including the fresh sugar maple deciduous forests and white birch dry treed limestone talus types to name a few (Carolinian Canada, 2021).

With the previous quarry and landfill site being a re-naturalized area, it is certainly a step in the right direction environmentally as the Brock Bee Lab has reported that Niagara is now home to 165 different species of bee (Richards, 2019) and the returning vegetation provides countless benefits to these pollinators. Simple measures can be taken to by just about anyone to reduce bee population declines such as leaving patches of dirt, twigs and leaves in lawns and gardens so bees can hibernate through the winter, growing plants and vegetables that produce flowers (ex. squash, pumpkins, etc.), and planting gardens around government and public buildings (Majtenyi, 2019).

Wider Evolution of the Site: The transformation from farmland to quarry is quite apparent as excavations that began in 1957 and ended in 1972 carved up the landscape. Additionally, The Canadian drive-in movie theatre which existed from 1947 to 1982 can be seen toward the bottom left, leaving a rounded indent on the landscape.

The landfill implemented numerous innovative design elements that aimed to limit environmental degradation, for instance, a clay liner encompasses the waste pile to prevent contamination leakage and a leachate collection system funnels water to the Port Dalhousie Water Pollution Control Plant (Regional Niagara, 2021). However, this transportation of this water can reduce the amount returning to aquifers and with the roads and highways that encompass the area, much of the grounds surface area is impermeable, further reducing groundwater recharge (Alberti, 2008).

Alberti also mentions that tight clay soils can prevent water from effectively percolating into the aquifer which means the Large Clay Borrow Pit Pond, which takes up five hectares and has a maximum depth of five metres, cannot effectively recharge groundwater (although the surface isn't entirely impermeable). This can explain why this anthropomorphic pond exists in the first place as water struggles to drain into the ground below, making it a great aquatic habitat for animals that live in and around the pond.

The Large Clay Borrow Pit Pond serves a variety of functions that impact both the climate and biota.

As mentioned before, the majority of the land around Hotel Dieu Shaver is primarily paved over which removes almost all vegetation, heavily affecting the level of heat that is radiated back from the ground. Not only this, but because roads and pavement tend to be darker compared to grass and green space, the albedo effect causes the pavement to absorb heat energy from the sun at a much faster rate (Brown, 2021). Lighter colours from white snow/ice and green foliage reflect the sun's energy back out into space, preventing the heat from becoming trapped at Earth's surface. In the winter, the clearing and melting of snow on roads and sidewalks would further reduce the reflective effect white surfaces have with reducing heat. Some areas around Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site are preserved in some manner, for instance, the trees and forests that line the escarpment and the perimeter of the park can reduce wind speeds (and thus, the rate of erosion). Continuing with the quarry site, the Large Clay Borrow Pit Pond is a relatively large body of water and therefore would act as a "natural air-conditioner" that's powered by evaporation and water's ability to store a high amount of solar energy before altering its temperature (Hough, 2004).

Archaeological Influences: Towards the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago, this area of land saw its first human inhabitants who acquired their food primarily through hunting massive animals such as bison and mammoth. With regard to travel, ancient indigenous peoples laid the foundation for many modern roads and routes through their extensive trail system, which means many of the routes we travel along today have been in use for 1000s of years (Regional Niagara, 2021).

Land Use History: For centuries the land was under the control of various indigenous groups such as the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe until French and British colonial forces began to expand their territories. Following the American Revolutionary War in 1785, many Americans who were seeking better democratic conditions often fled to Canada, some under a false pretence as they would pretend to have loyalist views because the British government was offering incredibly cheap land. In 1783 after the American Revolutionary War, the British government 'bought' the Niagara Peninsula from the Mississauga Nation which flooded with American immigrants; by 1790, 60,000 Americans had immigrated into Upper Canada (Samson, 2021).

Death-rate (per million) from Tuberculosis vs Year: One thing to note here is the slope of the graph rarely changes and new innovations had little impact (Graph acquired from Duffin, 2021).

When the St. Catharines Consumptive Sanatorium was originally established tuberculosis was one of the leading causes of death in North America for adults. The sick would have been isolated and treated here and faced symptoms such as fever and a bad cough; those suffering are described as wasting away within romanticized texts from the period where being thin, pale and rosy were greatly desired physical features (Duffin, 2021). The BCG vaccine was celebrated as tuberculosis mortality rates declined throughout the 20th century, however, it was shown by Thomas H. McKeown that the BCG vaccine had no real impact on the decline of tuberculosis and rather the disease had been on a steady decline since the 1840s, likely because natural resistance grew with increased wealth, hygiene, and nutrition (Duffin, 2021). Just because Hotel Dieu Shaver no longer operates as a sanatorium, doesn't mean tuberculosis has been eradicated; in 1990, an increase of poverty and homelessness within North America resulted in a spike in tuberculosis cases. Additionally, another spike was noticed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting medical resources and drugs available to patients. Tuberculosis is the main cause of death for people suffering from HIV and still kills 1.5 million people every year (Duffin, 2021).

From 1957 to 1972 when the site operated as a prominent quarry in the Niagara peninsula, a typical day could consist of shipping out as much as 2,000 tonnes of stone, 95% of which was being reinvested into the Niagara Peninsula (Regional Niagara, 2021). Materials were used in the construction of roads and buildings (perhaps even in the construction of Hotel Dieu Shaver), large stones known as rip-rap stones were extracted and utilized to prevent erosion around the perimeter of Lake Ontario, and finely crushed rocks have been used by farmers to decrease soil acidity in order to produce healthier crops (Regional Niagara, 2021). The limestone from this quarry is infamous for being tough which is why the quarry required a heavy-duty percussion drill and explosives to break down the rock into feasible materials. It would be hard to imagine how loud this location would have been with all the enormous trucks and machinery, so it probably made sense to local governments to naturalize an area where new families are going to live.

Top Right Image: The previous nurse's residence building that used to be beside the north parking lot.

All Other Images: It is difficult to see how this building evolved into what it currently is until one notices distinct tuberculosis crosses near the tops of the walls.

The original statue of St. Joseph which sat above the hospital entrance in 1953 has been at its current location since August 2016. Additionally, the remanence of the building's past as a tuberculosis hospital is apparent when analyzing the tuberculosis crosses that are incorporated into the exterior walls.

Education / Interpretation: While looking through the Hotel Dieu Shaver website, one can find a brief summary of the history of the hospital, although their specific site doesn't include many details on the building's past as a sanatorium. The Niagara Public Library has a variety of online sources that illustrate the hospital's earlier history as a sanatorium typically through old postcard images.

With regard to the Glenridge Quarry, there are numerous signs around the park that provide insight into the various features of the landscape, however, many of them have suffered severe degradation to the point where many are either illegible or completely destroyed. The surviving signs still offer a plethora of information on the park's flora and fauna, its history as a quarry and landfill site, and different environmental processes which makes it quite disappointing to not be able to read all of them. The site does have a website although most of the information is quite surface-level.

Architectural Heritage: When comparing the current state of Hotel Dieu Shaver to the old postcard images, it can be difficult to see how it's the same place. It seems that decades ago the rooms had their own individual balconies and the main facility was much smaller. The location has clearly seen numerous renovations, however, certain original architectural and design elements shine through such as the tuberculosis crosses (which share a heavy resemblance to religious crosses) that line the exterior walls, the original statue of St. Joseph which sat above the entrance in 1953, and the large chimney building which was most likely the site for the burning of bodies and medical waste (considering the building's grim past as a tuberculosis hospital). North of where the main building sits used to be the residence which was demolished sometime between 2010 and 2013.

Recreational Uses: The visitor webpage for Hotel Dieu Shaver explains that patients are allowed one visitor at a time and that visitors are required to sign off on the hospital's visitation guidelines to ensure everyone's safety. In addition to that point, effective January 27th, 2022, policies will be implemented to ensure all staff and visitors will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have a legitimate exemption as the current rate of staff vaccination is about 89%. Outside patients and guests can enjoy the landscape and maneuver around on the wheelchair-accessible path. Over at the Glenridge Quarry, people can be seen walking their dogs, bird watching, cycling, and spending time with their families, although you won't see a lot of smoking, swimming, fishing, or ice skating as those activities are prohibited.

Hotel Dieu Shaver and its land are under the control of the Canadian government: management, organization and the distribution of medical services are at the provincial level while operating under the health care standards set by the federal government (Government of Canada, 2016). Municipal and local governments would then be in charge of general lawn maintenance and perhaps also the ticketing of illegally parked vehicles without valid parking passes. Additionally, the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site would also have its trails and other areas maintained by the municipal government of Niagara, although their work wouldn't be significant today to preserve the naturalization of the site. The park allows for public access between 6 am to 9 pm from May to October and 8 am to 6 pm from November to April (Regional Niagara, 2021).

While maneuvering around towards the top of the centre hill, a large tube protrudes out of the hill along with a foul stench that has previously spread to nearby buildings in the 1990s through manholes connected to the effluent sewer. The decomposition of waste within the mound has resulted in the 1996 construction of a gas collection and flaring system which has weekly and biweekly maintenance and monitoring done by Integrated Gas Recovery Services (IGRS, 2021).

A panoramic shot that captures the Brock Schmon Tower, Hotel Dieu Shaver, and the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site's Large Clay Borrow Pit Pond.

Hotel Dieu Shaver is far from being in an isolated area; currently, toward to north Glenridge Avenue descends the escarpment; across the street to the west is Brock University; to the south is the Niagara Children's Centre, and the East Academic portion of Brock; facing east the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site, and King's Highway 406 which acts as a transportation artery, connecting Welland, Thorold, and St. Catharines to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). It also divides and cuts up the natural environment, fragments animal habitats and replaces green space with pavement. Numerous trails wind around the park along with the Bruce Trail that further connects this isolated green space to the rest of Southern Ontario; over 800km on the main trail from Tobermory to Niagara along the escarpment, the Bruce Trail also offers an extra 300km of side trails which was all constructed in about four years before the trail was officially opened in June 1967 (Regional Niagara, 2021).

Address: 541 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines Ontario L2T 4C2

Phone: (905) 685-1381

Fax: (905) 687-4871

Email: info@hoteldieushaver.org

Website: https://www.hoteldieushaver.org/site/home

Text Sources

Alberti, Marina. (2008). Advances in Urban Ecology: Integrating Humans and Ecological Processes in Urban Ecosystems. Springer.

Brown, D. (Personal communication, October 1, 2021).

Carolinian Canada. (2021). Rare Species & Ecosystems in Carolinian Canada. https://caroliniancanada.ca/legacy/SpeciesHabitats_RareEcoSys.htm

Duffin, J. (2021). History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction. University of Toronto Press.

Farintosh, L., Scarr, T., & Streit, M. (2012). Preparing for Emerald Ash Borer: A Landowner's Guide to Managing Ash Forests. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. https://npca.ca/images/uploads/common/woodlot-management-for-eab.pdf

Floyd, A. (2016, June 17). Ask Alicia - Drive-in Movie Theatres. St. Catharines Museum Blog. https://stcatharinesmuseumblog.com/2016/06/17/ask-...

Government of Canada. (2016, August 22). Canada's health care system. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/ca...

Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre. (2021). About Hotel Dieu Shaver. https://www.hoteldieushaver.org/site/about

Hough, Michael. (2004). Cities and Natural Processes: A Basis for Sustainability. Taylor & Francis Group.

Integrated Gas Recovery Services. Glenridge Quarry Landfill - St. Catharines, ON. Viewed November 8, 2021. http://igrs.ca/PDF/Glenridge.pdf

Majtenyi, Cathy. (2019, May 7). Save the Bees: Policy brief examines ways to help Niagara's bee population. The Brock News. https://brocku.ca/brock-news/2019/05/save-the-bees...

Regional Niagara. Bruce Trail Link [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021

Regional Niagara. Use As A Landfill [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Use As A Quarry [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Settlement of the Area [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Niagara Escarpment History [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Meadow Vegetation [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Life Within the Pond [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Regional Niagara. Life Cycle of the Large Clay Borrow Pit Pond [Sign]. Viewed October 26, 2021.

Richards, Miriam. (2019, May 20). 165 bee species and counting. Brock Bee Lab. https://brockbeelab.wordpress.com/page/2/

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Brock University (Cartographer). (1916). Welland Canal North Section [Map].

Brock University (Cartographer). (1918). Geology of the Niagara Peninsula [Map].

Brock University (Cartographer). (1950). St. Catharines Street Map [Map].

Brock University (Cartographer). (1964). St. Catharines Street Map [Map].

Google (Cartographer). (2021). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Map].

Aerial Photograph Sources

Brock University. (1934). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (1945-55). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (1965). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (1968). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (1969). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (1995). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2000). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2002). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2006). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2010). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2013). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2015). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Brock University. (2018). Hotel Dieu Shaver and the Surrounding Area [Aerial Photograph].

Photograph Sources

Brock University. (2021). Shaver Hospital Residence [Photograph]. https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/834

Debbie, M. (2016). Emerald Ash Borer [Photograph]. USDA Forest Service. https://entomologytoday.org/2016/03/07/heres-how-t...

Jack, S. (2021, October 26). Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site [Photographs].

Jack, S. (2021, September 12). Hotel Dieu Shaver [Photographs].

Jack, S. (2021, November 8). Hotel Dieu Shaver [Photographs].

K. Catania. (2015). The Eastern Mole [Photograph]. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/52297-moles.html

Niagara Falls Public Library. (2021). Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium St Catharines Ontario [Photograph]. https://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=301...

St. Catharines Public Library. (2021). Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium [Photograph]. https://bmd.stcatharines.library.on.ca/en/3231327/...

St. Catharines Public Library. (2021). Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium [Photograph]. https://bmd.stcatharines.library.on.ca/en/details....

St. Catharines Public Library. (2021). Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium [Photograph]. https://bmd.stcatharines.library.on.ca/en/3231303/...

The Bird Nerds. (2017). Caspian Tern [Photograph]. Bird Photography Life. https://birdphotographylife.com/birds-move-st-cath...

This Local Landscape Report was prepared by Jack Smith for the Brock University course GEOG 2P94: Human Dominated Ecosystems on November 10, 2021.

All copyrights for cited material rest with the original copyright owners.