The Mack Centre of Nursing Education

Photo by Sherry Roy - May 4, 2005

Photo by Alan L Brown - March 25, 2007

Plaque Location

The Region of Niagara
The City of St. Catharines
Attached to the building, now the Leonard Home For Nurses, at 178 Queenston Street west of Eastchester Avenue

Plaque Text

Dr. Theophilus Mack (1820-1881) emigrated from Dublin to Upper Canada with his family in 1832. He received his medical education at the Military Hospital at Amherstburg and at Geneva College, New York. Settling in St. Catharines in 1844, he was instrumental in founding the General and Marine Hospital in this city. In 1874 Dr. Mack, understanding the need for trained and disciplined nurses, established the St. Catharines Training School and Nurses' Home, later renamed The Mack Training School for Nurses. This school, using the Florence Nightingale system with its emphasis on knowledge of hygiene and medicine, was the first of its kind in Canada. The Mack Centre of Nursing Education became part of the Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology in 1973.