Dr. Gardiner’s house
Robert Gardiner had graduated from Queen’s Medical School in 1891 at the age of twenty-one and returned to the family home to establish his practice. While at medical school he had worked during the summers with Dr. Preston in Newboro and it was there that he met his future wife, Julia Tett, the daughter of the local MPP.
In anticipation of his marriage in 1897 he engaged an architect and builder from Kingston to build a large brick house which was completed in the fall of that year. The house featured modern conveniences that were only available in city homes – central heating and indoor plumbing with running water. The house has a separate side entrance leading to Dr. Gardiner’s consulting room.
In 1899 Dr. Gardiner was joined by Dr. Henry Elliott. When Dr. Gardiner left to pursue further medical studies Dr. Elliott purchased the house and continued in the practice which he had expanded by 1910 to include an office in Lyndhurst with the assistance Dr. Franklyn S. Young.
Dr. Elliott had met and married his wife, Ruth Eaton in the village. In 1912 Dr. Elliott moved to Manitoba and Dr. Young purchased the house and practice. He and his wife Ethel raised their four children in this house and Dr. Young conducted his medical practice from the house until his death in 1947.
Keith Sly
August 2021
