1883 - July 27

"There is certainly no class of people more deserving of a place of refuge – a place where they can rest in peace and feel assured that they have a home and will always receive every attention – than the aged, indigent woman. And the people of this city with their usual generosity have placed them in possession of a very model home”

Hamilton Spectator.   July 27, 1883.

On entering the gate of the Aged Women’s home on Wellington Street South, visitors are presented with a two storey building, surrounded with beautiful grounds:

“There is a fine orchard, and although the crop is not extensive this year, there is enough fruit hanging from the boughs to make the small boy peer wistfully through the cracks in the high board fence. The lawns are green and on a seat in the shade is an old lady quietly reading a paper. As the Spectator advances, she lays down the paper and willingly enters into conversation. She is over 80 years of age, and has been in the home since its opening in 1877. Beside her sits another old lady rapidly running her fingers over the pages of a peculiarly-looking blank book, and at the request of the matron she begins to read, for she is blind and is reading by raised letters – peculiar letters, all seeming to be put sideways, and not in the same shape as ordinary letters. She reads a few lines and the reporter recognizes the Vicar of Wakefield.”¹

¹ “Aged Women’s Home : How the City Supports Its Indigent Females.”

Hamilton Spectator.   July 27, 1883.

Inside the Aged Women’s home, the reporter met an elderly lady of 84 years of age, who had entered her second childhood. She asked repeatedly if her mother and father had been in to see her. In all, twenty women in the home were over 80. For every woman taken into the home, the board of directors would receive $100, a sum either raised by friends or family, by the churches or sometimes by the lady to be admitted herself.

As the reporter was about to leave the Aged Women’s home, he met an active old lady with rosy cheeks, and pleasant smile, coming into the grounds:

“What ! 80 years of age, and has walked to the end of the street railway track, King street, and is not the least bit tired, but goes around to see some of the younger and feebler one inside.

“The Spectator reporter walks over the lawn and down the gravel walk to the street in the bustle of the city, musing on the tenacity with which those who have apparently nothing to live for, cling to life.”¹

Aged Women's Home Image courtesy PreVIEW, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library