Garden City in the wilderness
Dr Henderson and the social experiment
By Janet May
Not the Dr Henderson you're used to seeing?
Read about the photo mix-up in our August 2010 issue.
It was a bold experiment: a new type of community on the remote west coast. A century ago, Powell River was little more than a cluster of tents surrounded by bush, where men were building a dam and an ambitious pulp mill. Dr. Andrew Henderson was offered the post of company doctor for the newly formed Powell River Company. He was 57 years old, an established physician with a wife, two children, and an unsated sense of adventure. He chose to leave the comforts of Scanlon, Minnesota and be part of the experiment. In fact most of Scanlon chose to move to Powell River. The Scanlon mill was closing and the owners were committed to starting another in Canada.
The company's founders, Dr. Dwight Brooks, Anson Brooks, and Michael J. Scanlon, had experience in forestry and milling in Minnesota, the Carolinas, and Oregon. They knew the boom and bust industry, and had seen mill towns diminish as both raw resources and the workers were exploited. They wanted to create something different in Powell River. Evidence suggests that they were influenced by the modern social thinking of the nineteenth century, in particular the "Garden City" concept. In an ideal "Garden City" workers were treated with dignity, lived in clean well designed houses, and were offered amenities such as sports and the arts. Brooks and Scanlon sought the best quality of worker for their new community. Early interviews included questions like "What sport or instruments do you play?" and "What sort of family do you want to have?" Some of the first buildings were the community gymnasium and the tent theatre.
Henderson agreed to join the resourceful founders of the Powell River Company on three conditions: 1. that the company build a proper house with hot and cold water for his wife, Edith, 2. that they build a hospital as soon as possible, and 3.that a dollar-a-month from every wage packet would go towards a medical plan. Thus he initiated the first health care plan in BC.
In the beginning he worked out of a converted bunkhouse and a tent. In this facility he dispensed pharmaceuticals, treated industrial accidents, and performed surgery. A typhoid epidemic hit Powell River in the summer of 1912, and patients too numerous for the 11 beds, were quarantined in other houses. Dr. Henderson and his staff treated 37 cases of typhoid and lost only two patients to the disease. St. Luke's Hospital was opened the following year. In 1918 the town was struck by the Spanish flu pandemic in which nine people died. As Medical Health Officer, Dr. Henderson instigated the wearing of masks sprayed with Lysol for all people in the streets. He and Dr. Marlatt worked diligently to keep the disease under control.
As well as bringing medicine to the young town, Henderson played a key part in building the social fabric of Powell River. The year he moved to town he helped to establish a school. In order to meet the student quota, the school committee had to rig their numbers by enrolling both an infant and Henderson's daughter, who had already graduated from college. Very soon there were enough legitimate students to fill the seats, and in 1913 the first Henderson School was built. Henderson himself was a member of the Powell River School Board from its inception until his death in 1939. Henderson started a scout troop in Powell River to introduce youth to the outdoors. He was also involved in creating the original nine-hole golf course above the paper mill. Photos reveal the man enjoying family life and activities around Powell River, especially the spectacular fishing in the local lakes.
Henderson's medical career had followed the North American frontier. Born in Sorel, Quebec (1853) and educated at McGill University, he zigzagged across the international border as opportunities arose. He built the first framed house in Calgary, and brought his bride there in 1884. As a young doctor he travelled the continent, bringing mobile medicine to the men building the railways for the Canadian Pacific, and the Minneapolis, St Paul, and Manitoba Railway Companies. He was surgeon for North West Mounted Police in Calgary and accompanied them during the North-West Rebellion. He and Edith had settled in Minnesota while their children grew up, but when Henderson was drawn to the wilderness again, Edith was a good enough sport to pack up and leave civilization. It was their last move, and Powell River suited them well.
The first of his conditions for coming to town was met in 1910, when Edith's house was completed just above the growing mill. It is still standing there today, a reminder of the successful experiment that was Powell River, and of the energetic people who made it happen.
