Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Weekend Extra: Chateau St. Michael

The building of Chateau St. Michael is 100 years old.
Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy

By Lisa Goudy

Chateau St. Michael has a long history leading up to its one-hundredth-birthday celebration today.

Diane Thomson, director of care at the home, said the home currently provides two levels of care. If one partner or any individual can no longer cope with independent living, he or she can be moved into another area of the same building to receive personalized care. Someone living in the independent area can go back and forth and share meals, which is particularly important for elderly couples that become upset at the thought of separation from their spouse.

However, Chateau St. Michael wasn’t always a personal care home. From information provided by Thomson, the structure was first opened as the Presbyterian Boys College in 1912, originally called the Saskatchewan College. In 1913, the name was changed to the Moose Jaw College. The college was a Christian education facility for Grade 9 to 12 students and initially had 88 students registered for classes.

Over the course of 18 years, the college provided education to 1,200 boys. However, during the Great Depression, the college had financial troubles. In 1931, it was left with no choice but to close.

St. Anthony's Home opened its doors in 1939.
Submitted photo

The building was not used until 1939 when it went up for sale. Archbishop P.J. Monahan of Regina purchased the home and asked the Sisters of Providence to be in charge of it. The Sisters of Providence are an apostolic congregation of vowed women whose home base is at Providence Motherhouse in Kingston, Ont.

Thomson’s information said Monahan asked the sisters to convert the structure into a home for the “elderly, needy and afflicted.” That was not an easy task. Having been abandoned for eight years, there were warped floors covered in inches of dust from the massive dust storms that swirled in the province during the Depression. 

Pipes had burst and windows were broken. Electrical fixtures needed replacing and the heating system needed overhaul. There was no elevator in the building and everything had to be taken up two and three flights of stairs.

Despite the troubles, the structure opened in September 1939 as St. Anthony’s Home. There were 20 residents at the time St. Anthony’s opened. The information from the home stated that 1939 marked the start of the “long and creditable service to the elderly in need of special Christian care.”

For more information, see the July 14th Weekend Extra edition of the Times-Herald.