BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST
On November 9th, 1931, a photograph was taken of the construction crew, hired by general contractor Angus Robertson Limited, who built the original wing of Providence Motherhouse. In the photograph, the workmen are standing in front of the north half of the West Wing. The building wasn’t complete until spring 1932. This print was given to the SP Archives over 25 years ago by a daughter of one of the workmen. If you look closely, you can see that one of the workmen is holding a cat.
In September 2025 a photograph was taken of the Sullivan construction crew, who are building the new Providence Manor on the Motherhouse property.
Has that much changed in 94 years? There is more in common than you might think at first glance. There are 77 men posing in the 1931 photo, with two more men in the background at the far left, and there are 78 workers in the 2025 photo. That’s almost the same number of construction workers for the two buildings! The crew in the 2025 photo are standing in front of trailers and in the far-left background of the 1931 photo, you can see temporary sheds that probably served a similar function. The most obvious difference between the two crews is the presence of safety vests and hard hats in the 2025 photo!
