Summary information
| Repository: | South Peace Regional Archives |
| Title: | Lewis J. O’Brien, M.D., fonds |
| Reference code: | 0153 |
| Date: | 1902-1942 (date of creation) |
| Physical description: | 1 cm of textual records
2 photographs 1 postcard |
| Language: | English |
| Dates of creation, revision and deletion: | Exported from AoR and added to new database July 2022 – TD |
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
Dr. L. B. O’Brien was born near Toronto on November 28, 1868. He received his education in Toronto, served as a teacher, then returned to the University of Toronto where he finished his B.A. in 1897. Three years later he enrolled at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, where he obtained his M.D., remaining to do clinical work in Germany and Austria for two years before moving back to Ontario to set up his medical practice and marry Miss Alice John from Extension, British Columbia. They married in 1903. When World War I started, he went overseas with the Canadian Army Medical Corps and served in the tent hospitals of Salonika, France, Egypt and England. The couple came to the Peace Country after the war in 1918.
When he arrived in Grande Prairie there was only a log mission hospital with 18 beds and a staff of one nurse and one ward aid. These two staff were on duty 24 hours a day and responsible for not only for the nursing, but for the cooking, cleaning and laundry. The operating room equipment consisted of a wooden table and a coal oil lamp. During surgeries Dr. O’Brien acted as both anesthetist and surgeon, and often travelled long distances over undeveloped roads to operate on rural patients.
Dr. O’Brien actively promoted the idea of a community hospital, and slowly it came into being: first a local carpenter built a new operating room in lieu of paying his hospital bill, then the Ladies Hospital Auxiliary purchased the only X-ray machine north of Edmonton. By 1922, Hospital District No. 14 had been formed and the hospital taken over by the municipality of Grande Prairie. In 1929, the hospital district was expanded and a large, modern, well-equipped new facility constructed immediately east of the pioneer log hospital.
Both Dr. O’Brien and his wife Alice contributed generously to the community of Grande Prairie and were active in civic and volunteer affairs. He served on the school board and was president of the Alberta Medical Association. In 1940, he ran as an Independent for the Grande Prairie Constituency in the Alberta Provincial election. He defeated the Social Credit incumbent and served as an MLA for 4 years but declined to run in 1944.
The O’Briens raised five children: Hugh, Eric, Gurth, Herbert, and Margaret. Both Gurth and Hugh followed their father into the medical field. The family were avid naturalists and O’Brien Provincial Park, on the bank of the Wapiti River, is named after them. Dr. O’Brien passed away in 1955.
Custodial history
The records were deposited in Grande Prairie Regional Archives by Margaret (O’Brien) Bowes, grand-daughter of Dr. O’Brien, in 2003, 2004, and 2011.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of a 1902 postcard from Dr. O’Brien to Miss Alice John from Germany; 29 over-sized pages of Surgeon’s Reports from 1927 to 1938 listing the name of Dr. O’Brien’s patients, their addresses, the diseases they suffered from and the amounts they were charged; 17 pages of monthly cash reports from 1941 to 1942 and one photo of Dr. and Alice O’Brien. The surgeon’s reports date from both the old pioneer log hospital and from the new Municipal Hospital. Later accruals include a photograph of Alice with her class, a poem, a rail pass, and a biographical story written by Alice’s granddaughter, Margaret Bowes.
Notes
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the fonds.
Restrictions on access
There are no restrictions on access.
Accruals
No accruals expected.
Access points
- Graphic material (documentary form)
- Textual record (documentary form)
- Graphic material – photograph (documentary form)
- Health care (subject)
Series descriptions
| Reference code | Title | Dates | Physical description |
| 2003.26.01A-B | Item – Grande Prairie Main Street William M. Lefaivre |
1913 | 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 19 in. |
| Scope and content:
Photograph looking west down Richmond Ave. showing Selkirk Trading Co. and the Pool Room on the north side of the street. There is an accompanying letter glued to brown paper with the photograph. Note: Presented to the Royal Bank by W.P. Lefaivre in 1977, later given to Bill Bowes by Paul Lefaivre. There is an accompanying letter glued to brown paper which was not listed originally. It was added during an inventory project. 2020 JS and LA. |
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| 2004.14.01 | Item – Dr. L.J. and Alice O’Brien | 1952 | 1 photograph : b&w ; 3 x 5 in. |
| Scope and content:
Dr. and Mrs. L.J. O’Brien pose in formal attire for a summer occasion. |
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| 2011.18.01 | Item – Alice O’Brien | ca. 1900 | 1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 7 in. |
| Scope and content:
Copy of photograph showing Alice John (O’Brien) with her class of 53 children at her school in Ladysmith, B.C. ca. 1900. Photo and poem written by Alice John when she was a child was used in the March 2012 newsletter at SPRA. Note with the poem says, “Dr. & Mrs. L.J. O’Brien’s home was on the corner of 102 Street and 90th Avenue. The City bought their property and used most of it to widen the road. Grandmother O’Brien died in February, 1955 and Grandfather O’Brien in June of 1955.” |
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