The Ontario Vaccine Farm

Photo by contributor David Brown - Posted June, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Wellington
The Town of Minto
In Palmerston, on the southwest corner of
Main Street and Queen Street

Coordinates: N 43 50.074 W 80 50.732

Plaque Text

Established in 1885 by Dr. Alexander Stewart, a local physician, the Ontario Vaccine Farm was the first institution to produce smallpox vaccine in Ontario. The Farm originally consisted of a converted barn where Stewart employed government-approved methods for obtaining and processing vaccine from inoculated calves. During an era of recurrent smallpox outbreaks in Ontario, large quantities were sold to local health boards for preventive vaccination. By 1907, although American farms were supplying most of the vaccine used in Ontario, Stewart had constructed new buildings, including a combined operating-room and laboratory. After Stewart's death in 1911 the operation was continued by Dr. H.B. Coleman until 1916, when it was taken over and transferred to the Antitoxin Laboratory of the University of Toronto.

Related Ontario plaque
The Hungerford Smallpox Epidemic of 1884

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