A small crowd gathered at the Soo Line Historical Museum Sunday afternoon to see the unveiling of the museum's new exhibit on the Weyburn Mental Hospital.

The exhibit was opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Don Schlosser, Soo Line Historical Society president Art Wallace and Sun Country Health Region CEO Lee Spencer.

"We are gathered here today to commemorate and say a fond farewell to the Saskatchewan Hospital, or, as it was originally known, the Weyburn Mental Hospital. In doing so, we honour and pay homage to all those employees (who worked there)," said Wallace.

"Your museum has set up a permanant display to ensure the efforts and intent of 84 years are kept alive and visible for all to see, admire and hopefully reflect upon."

Spencer said he had an emotional attachment to the facility because he started his career in health care there in 1963.

"I think it's fair to say that it shaped the personality of the men and women who worked there, how we were able to cope with tough times. Because it was tough times working there - the suffering we saw, the happiness we saw, and all the different emotions that went on in that place.

"I'm really proud of my background within Souris Valley," he added.

The new exhibit includes pieces of equipment from the hospital, such as an electroencephalograph used to monitor brain wave activity.

There are also paintings from the art therapy program; photos of psychiatric nursing graduates from the 1930s to the 1970s; a scrapbook of black and white photographs from the hospital, as well as newspaper articles pertaining to the facility; and photos from the hospital's construction in 1921.

Lavine Stepp, curator of the Soo Line Historical Museum, said the historical society made a motion back in September of 2003 to contact the Sun Country Health Region regarding the hospital's archives, when they heard the building would be emptied.

The society offered to house the hospital's archives at the museum. Their offer was accepted almost immediately, said Stepp.

To house the new exhibit, a room in the museum was completely renovated, and the display located in that room was dismantled. Archival materials from the hospital began moving to the museum back in March, with help from the health region.

The origins of the Weyburn Mental Hospital hearken back to 1919, when an article was published in the Regina Leader-Post announcing Weyburn as the site for the new hospital. Construction was completed in 1921, and the first patients were inducted in 1922. The name of the hospital was eventually changed to the Saskatchewan Hospital, and then to its current name - the Souris Valley Extended Care Centre.