Origins
Eventide Home for the Aged was opened on July 1, 1870. It was built to cater to elderly women but eventually opened its doors to destitute, crippled and handicapped men and children. In its first year of operation Eventide housed about 160 women and was maintained by the ‘poor rates’ of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, now known as the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.
A Growing Institution
In 1944, the resident population of Eventide grew to 968 but by 1980, the population numbered 700 with a complement of 180 staff members.
The Fire of May 20, 1980
46 years ago, on the morning of May 20, 1980, there was a shift in the atmosphere on Slipe Pen Road, Kingston 5. The Myers Ward at the Eventide Home for the Aged caught ablaze and in a matter of minutes, the wooden structure, constructed during the late nineteenth century, quickly surrendered to the fire.
A joint team of firefighters from Kingston and St Andrew managed to contain the fire, preventing it from spreading to the rest of the property, but, despite their efforts, 146 elderly women perished on that fateful day—and to this day, the bodies of seven victims were never recovered, they were presumed dead. Of the 211 residents, only 58 survived the ordeal.
After the smoke-filled skies cleared, only metal rods, zinc sheets, ashes and awe remained.
Rebuilding and Reform
Following the fire, the Technical Committee, headed by Pat Anderson, the Director of Regional Planning in the National Planning Agency, suggested a number of measures that would decentralize and restructure Eventide. One was to turn the facility into a multi-purpose Home to care for the aged, the disabled, the chronically and terminally ill. This multi-purpose Home would have special programmes developed for each of those groups.
Another suggestion was to build more “cottage-type units,” which would encourage a communal kind of environment, where residents could interact with each other.
Probably the most progressive suggestion coming out of the Committee was the idea that the Ministry of Construction should initiate a policy of reserving special houses for the aged within Government housing schemes. This would reduce the pressure for accommodation on existing institutions like the Eventide Home.
From this horrendous incident, the Vineyard Town Golden Age Home was constructed on a new site in 1985, under the leadership of the Most Honourable Edward Seaga and was conceptualized and structured to prevent another tragedy of this nature. The Golden Age Home is the largest of its kind in the Caribbean, with a capacity for 500 residents and was designed to encourage a communal kind of atmosphere, where residents can interact with each other and feel at home.
A National Day of Remembrance
On May 26, 2025, Cabinet approved the observance of the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Eventide Home Fire.
Today, we are changing the legacy of those mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and aunts who died in that fire. This establishing of an annual day of national observance in memory of the lives lost during the Eventide Home Fire of 1980 is intended to honour the memory of those women and acknowledge their humanity and contributions, thereby ensuring that they are not forgotten.
Read the full text of the Governor-General’s Proclamation on The Proclamation page, and view photographs from the commemorative observance in the Gallery.