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On May 13th 1974 H.R.H. Princess Margaret,  
 
accompanied by her husband Lord Snowdon unveiled the cornerstone, and box containing historic memorabilia, at the new Assiniboine Centre afterwards taking a tour of the facility.  
 
Back in 1965 a policy decision by the provincial Government transferred the responsibility of the Assiniboine Hospital to the Brandon General Hospital.  
 
This was the end of an era for the Brandon Sanitorium.  
On Friday June 30th 1972 a sod turning ceremony took place when Mayor Bill Wilton, and MLA Bud Boyce used a Bulldozer to scoop a bucket of dirt in front of the skeletal remains of the old General Hospital.  
 
February 24th 1974 was the day chosen to transfer the patients from Tenth, and Queens to the Assiniboine Centre adjacent to the Nurses residence at 150 McTavish Avenue East. The move was started at 8 am sharp, and 156 patients were moved by nursing staff, employees and more than 200 volunteer fire fighters, police persons, members of the St. John Ambulance, and the Emergency Measures Organization.  
 
The Physiotherapy equipment, and some hospital furniture had been transferred some days earlier, but on this day the move was completed with the use of a cavalcade of busses, a wheel chair van, a number of cars, and a station wagon. The entourage was escorted en route by radio-equipped cars, which made for a very smooth, uneventful ride.  
 
On January 24th 1959 it was announced that all tuberculosis stricken patients housed in the old Institution would be transferred to the distant Ninette Sanatorium. Instead the Brandon Sanatorium, (Tenth Street and Queens Avenue) would be changed into a convalescent infirmary for Manitoba Hospital Service Plan Patients.  
 
In 1946 the Institution had come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans and invalided ex-service personnel received first treatment at this Military Hospital, but in 1947 the wartime sick bay was converted to a permanent medication centre for Indian tuberculosis cases, ailing Eskimos were added later. Some patients who regained their health soon returned to their home habitat to resume their normal activities.  
 
By 1955 inmates in the Sanatorium totalled two hundred and sixty men, women and children. To overcome idleness many patients participated in activities like woodworking, embroidery, hand weaving, and moccasin making. An early Indian resident who recovered took Technical School and Hospital training, and graduated as a Nurse. Many of these milestone achievements are lost to history.  
 
The treatment of Tuberculosis was discontinued at the Brandon Sanatorium in 1958, but the term “Sanatorium” was replaced by “Assiniboine”. After the Hospice underwent structural extensions the treatment of patients with non-communicable, long-term illnesses was continued.  
 
Source: Brandon a City. G. F. Barker.  
BGH – 100. A History of the Brandon General Hospital. F. Madeline Perry  
 
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