Willingdon, Alberta

Willingdon
Hamlet
Hamlet of Willingdon
Willingdon Location of Willingdon in Alberta
Coordinates: 53°49′53″N 112°07′39″W
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Region	Central Alberta
Census division	10
Municipal district	County of Two Hills No. 21
Incorporated
• Village	August 31, 1928
Dissolved	September 1, 2017
Named for	Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Government
• Governing body	County of Two Hills No. 21 Council
Area  (2021)
• Land	0.92 km2 (0.36 sq mi)
Elevation	625 m (2,051 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Total	249
• Density	271.8/km2 (704/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−06:00 (Alberta Time)
Highways	45 857
Waterways	Withford Lake

Willingdon is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada within the County of Two Hills No. 21. It is located approximately 117 km (73 mi) northeast of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city.

History

Willingdon originally incorporated as a village on August 31, 1928. It dissolved from village status 89 years later on September 1, 2017, becoming a hamlet under the jurisdiction of the County of Two Hills No. 21.

In 1985, one of the last two traditional wooden grain elevators in Alberta was built in Willingdon by the Alberta Wheat Pool.

Hospital

Health care in Willingdon began with a need for local hospital services in the 1930s. In 1931, resident physician Dr. V.B. Goretsky was treating patients from a small office and in their homes, while local pharmacist Stanley Syshka joined him in advocating for a hospital because the nearest facilities were in Vegreville, Mundare and Lamont. The Willingdon Chamber of Commerce subsequently pressed the Village and the Eagle Municipality to establish a hospital. The Village purchased 7.7 acres at the north end of Willingdon in March 1935 for a hospital and future health facilities, and the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate agreed to establish and operate the institution. The community's first hospital opened in 1935.

The Sisters began constructing a permanent hospital during the Great Depression, but financial difficulties repeatedly interrupted the work. In October 1936, shortly before completion, the new building was destroyed by a fire. The Sisters rebuilt using portions of the damaged structure, and the resulting hospital operated from 1937 until the opening of a replacement facility in 1962. The hospital became an important medical centre for the surrounding agricultural district. Its chronicles recorded 630 patients in 1939, while operations and maternity cases increased during the following years; by 1943 the hospital's daily patient load was often between 30 and 37 and its nursery commonly held four to six babies.

By the late 1950s, the aging hospital was increasingly inadequate and provincial standards and medical practices had changed. After discussions between the Sisters, the community and the Alberta Department of Health, provincial approval for a new 25-bed hospital was granted in August 1959. The new institution was incorporated as the Willingdon General Hospital on January 25, 1962, and was named the Mary Immaculate Hospital. Designed by architect G. Thornton and built by Alta. West Construction, the new hospital officially opened on October 3, 1962, with Sister Sylvia Nakoneshny as administrator. The original hospital building was subsequently renovated for use as a staff residence.

The 1962 Mary Immaculate Hospital was a 25-bed general hospital with six bassinets; federal statistics recorded it at that capacity in 1968 and 1978. The hospital remained under the management of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate for most of its history. The Catholic Health Alliance's chronology dates the Willingdon Mary Immaculate Hospital to 1935–1995 and records its transfer to the Government of Alberta in 1995. That year, Alberta's health-care restructuring resulted in hospital closures and layoffs across the province; the United Nurses of Alberta recorded the closure of the Willingdon hospital and the departure of its nursing staff.

Following the hospital's closure, health services in the community were provided through community health programs rather than a local acute-care hospital. A Willingdon Community Health Clinic was operating by 2005, while the Two Hills Health Centre subsequently became the hospital and health-care facility serving the Willingdon and Myrnam areas. Following the closure of Mary Immaculate Hospital in 1995, the former hospital ceased to provide medical services, and the hospital building has remained standing in Willingdon. The former hospital property was still listed by the County of Two Hills in 2023 as a serviced commercial lot containing a building, while contemporary property listings continued to identify the site as the former Mary Immaculate Hospital.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Willingdon had a population of 249 living in 104 of its 159 total private dwellings, a change of −21.9% from its 2016 population of 319. With a land area of 0.92 km² (0.36 sq mi), it had a population density of 270.7/km² (701.0/sq mi) in 2021.

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Willingdon had a population of 319 living in 130 of its 160 total private dwellings, a 16% change from its 2011 population of 275. With a land area of 0.92 km² (0.36 sq mi), it had a population density of 346.7/km² (898.1/sq mi) in 2016.

See also

• List of communities in Alberta
• List of hamlets in Alberta