CHINESE CANADIAN PIONEERS IN ALBERTA

JIMMY SMITH -- FATHER OF THE CALGARY GENERAL HOSPITAL

While many Chinese struggled to make a living during Calgary’s frontier era, one quietly amassed a considerable amount of money, which he dedicated to a humanitarian cause. His name was Jimmy Smith; a name he acquired after converting to Christianity. When he died in 1890, he donated the bulk of his estate to establish Calgary’s first public hospital. Thereafter he became known as the father of the Calgary General Hospital. [58]

Aside from these facts, much of Jimmy Smith’s story has been distorted and embellished over the years. According to the legend, Smith was an elderly labourer who was discharged upon completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. Five years later, he died of typhoid in a room at the Royal Hotel in Calgary. One of the few people who visited him was his friend, the Reverend Alfred William Francis Cooper, to whom he bequeathed an expensive suit. He further entrusted the Anglican Rector with the remainder of his estate, requesting that the money be used to establish a public hospital so that no others would suffer the hardship and neglect he had endured. Smith was later buried in Union Cemetery.

Historian Frederick C. Hunter points out that the myth raises more questions than it answers. For example, how could such an individual afford a hotel room given that he could not even afford proper medical attention? What was a poor Chinese worker doing with an expensive suit in the days when most Chinese were paid a pittance for their labour? Why was Smith buried in one of the most respectable parts of Union Cemetery given the intense anti-Chinese feeling at the time? [59]

Though there is some basic truth in story in that Smith did leave money for a public hospital, much of the details are fictitious. In fact, Smith was only in his mid-twenties when he died from tuberculosis, not typhoid. Far from being isolated, he was popular and enjoyed socializing with a wide circle of Calgarians. Nor was he a poor labourer. By the time of his death, Smith had a reputation as an excellent cook and worked in several upscale establishments in Lethbridge and Calgary. Due to his frugality, he was able to save enough money to be considered fairly well-off.

When he contracted tuberculosis, he was cared for in the home of Nelson and Lizzie Hoad. Lizzie was possibly the first recognized nursing practitioner in the town. Despite receiving medical attention, Smith died on June 21, 1890. In his will, he left $500 to a friend and gifts to three clergymen. There is no evidence that he had any contact with an Anglican Rector. As stipulated in his will, the remainder of his estate, totaling around $1500 to $2000, was used to create a hospital fund. The first Calgary General Hospital was thus established in a two-storey house on 7th Avenue and 9th Street South West; it could accommodate up to 12 patients.

By 1922, Smith’s grave had deteriorated to the point where the city had to remove it. It lay unmarked for another 80 years until the Alumnae Association of the Calgary General Hospital School of Nursing, took it upon themselves to have a memorial stone created for the grave. The dedication took place in August 2003. [60]