Grosse Île

A cholera epidemic in 1832 killed more than 7,000 people in the colony of Lower Canada. Governor-in-chief Lord Aylmer had prepared for the outbreak by persuading the legislature to establish a quarantine station at Grosse Île, an island east of Quebec City, and a board of health in the city, but the measures proved wholly inadequate. In the late 1840s the massive immigration of Irish fleeing famine and deadly typhus brought new challenges, and attempts were made to mitigate the situation by improving conditions at the island hospital. The epidemic exceeded all forecasts, however; it was stemmed towards the end of October 1847, but more than 5,000 bodies lay in the Grosse Île cemetery. By the end of the 1860s Canada, which was counting heavily on immigration to populate and develop the country, had to limit the spread of a growing number of contagious and increasingly virulent diseases. Consequently, during the next few decades a more efficient, rapid, and permanent system was put in place at Grosse Île, which brought it to the forefront of North American quarantine stations. By the 1880s the station had rapidly and radically altered its scientific approach: disinfectants and vaccination put an end to lengthy confinement, and a bacteriological laboratory was built on the island. It closed in 1937 and was later deemed a national historic site.