Tranquille Sanatorium

Today we went on a field trip to the Tranquille sanatorium. It was very neat, I have always wondered what was out here. Another homeschooling family are the care takers of the property and they took us all on a tour.

The is a little ghost town with alot of history it is about 10 mins west of town.
The site Tranquille came to life in 1857 when gold was discovered there. By 1884, three families — the Cooneys, the Fortunes, and the McIntoshes — resided on the property. Cooney and his wife are buried there and the provincial government maintains the plot.
Around 1905, the British Columbia anti-tuberculosis society started looking for a site to build a provincial hospital. Tranquille offered the ideal dry and mountainous climate.

This is staff housing.

The kids checking out the tunnels, under the land there are tunnels that led to each building.

In 1958, the Tranquille sanatorium was closed. The site became a home for mentally handicapped people and children and served as a major part of the Kamloops economy, at one point employing up to 600 staff. The home closed in 1984, a victim of government programs that dispersed the mentally handicapped into group homes and the wider community.