Cornwall Ontario — The memorial honouring 52 immigrant men, women and children who perished in Cornwall’s 1847 quarantine sheds and those that cared for them will be dedicated on Saturday Oct. 18 at 2 pm, at the Cornwall Community Museum. Everyone is invited to attend this event that will take place 167 years to the day, after the hospital closed.

In the summer of 1847, 234 Irish immigrants who were fleeing the Potato Famine arrived in Cornwall and were placed in typhoid quarantine sheds on Pointe Maligne to ensure that the disease did not spread to the town, From June 14th to Oct. 18th, 52 of these people died from disease making it the single largest human tragedy in SD & G.