Heritage in the Hat: Save the children

In 1909, the province legislated the Children’s Protection Act. Communities with a population of 10,000 or more were expected to develop a Children’s Aid Shelter for neglected children. The definition of neglected children within this act is quite extensive. A child who, “is found begging, receiving alms, thieving in a public place, sleeping at night The post Heritage in the Hat: Save the children appeared first on Medicine Hat News .

Heritage in the Hat: Save the children By Sally Sehn on July 16, 2026. Photo Courtesy Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre The Children's Aid Shelter (enhanced) circa 1919. In 1909, the province legislated the Children’s Protection Act.

Communities with a population of 10,000 or more were expected to develop a Children’s Aid Shelter for neglected children. The definition of neglected children within this act is quite extensive. A child who, “is found begging, receiving alms, thieving in a public place, sleeping at night in the open air, wandering late hours, associating or dwelling with a thief, drunkard, or vagrant,” was considered neglected.

Also, a child, “growing up without parental control and education, exposed to an idle and dissolute life, known to associate or be in the company of a prostitute, or deserted by parents,” was also considered to be neglected. The child’s age was 16 years and under. An officer of the Children’s Aid Society or of the Royal NWMP could apprehend such child without a warrant, to be brought before a judge.

Parents who neglected their children could also be fined. The Children’s Aid Society in Medicine Hat initially was operating from City Hall. In 1914, the Society proposed a Children’s Aid Shelter be constructed in northeast Riverside.

Local architects Bourne and Morrison designed an attractive two-storey Edwardian brick building. Builders Maddock and Stapleford began construction, but work stopped in August 1914 because of World War I. Contractor Maddock was released from his contract when he enlisted with the Mounted Rifles. Work resumed in 1916 and the shelter opened in the same year.

The early years were impacted by the Great War and the Spanish flu epidemic which resulted in setting up an isolation ward in the attic of the new building. There were several prominent resignations, and the firing of a probation officer due to drunkenness and misappropriation of funds. Neglected children were initially brought to the shelter, then placed in foster homes.

In 1925, with the passing of the Child Welfare Act, there was less emphasis on children’s shelter operations and more on foster care. Childcare operations were becoming provincially centralized. By 1928, the shelters in Calgary and Edmonton were closed and the one in Lethbridge downsized.

In Medicine Hat, the Children’s Aid Shelter closed in 1932. Post war, the Riverside building was repurposed as the Montrose Apartments and became home to a new generation of children, today’s baby boomers. In the early 1950s, the caretaker was Mrs. Hilda Raw.

Her daughter Bev Graham loved living in the Montrose because it was, “full of kids” and there was, “always someone to play with.” The building remained intact until the area, today the foot of Altawana Drive, was displaced by the construction of the Maple Avenue bridge in 1973. Sally Sehn is a member of the Historical Society of Medicine Hat and District.

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