Heritage in the Heat: The man in the mosaic

By Medicine Hat News on September 16, 2017.

Who is that man in the mosaic? Although Dan MacCharles Park is located beside the high-traffic corridor of Gershaw Drive and Third Street S.W., few of the drivers whizzing by ever stop to check it out. It is mostly the preserve of neighbourhood residents and includes two pieces of public art, one at each end.

As with most public art, the abstract metal sculpture by artist Clay Ellis succeeds in its first objective of arousing curiosity, followed by the usual debate of what constitutes art. At the other end of the park, partly enclosed by shrubbery, is a brick structure with a mosaic depicting a medical doctor. A mosaic is today a very unusual art medium and yet it’s a process that goes back to antiquity. Artist Luke Lindoe, well known for his ceramics, incorporated this mosaic into a fountain, with a series of ponds connected by a brick walkway (latter component recently removed).

At the unveiling in 1961, Lindoe explained that the main figure was the doctor of today looking forward and that the other figures represent the medical community going back in time to the Egyptians. Although the man in the mosaic was not specifically Mac-Charles, he was representative of this modern medical man.

Dr. Donald “Dan” Neil MacCharles (Donald and Daniel are the same name “Domhnall” in Gaelic) was born in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, on Sept. 20, 1891. He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Manitoba in 1918 and went on to practice in Alsask and Empress before coming to Medicine Hat in 1927, with his wife Nina and children Pat and Phyllis. Upon arrival, he was instrumental in establishing the Medical Arts Clinic, originally located at 826 Second Street S.E.

He was elected twice to the council of the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, and was honoured with a life membership in the Canadian Medical Association in 1959, and in 1961, was made Senior Member of the Canadian Medical Association. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Alberta in 1959.

Dr. MacCharles was very active in the community as a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Medicine Hat Shrine Club, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Independent Order of Foresters, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, as well as being active in the Boy Scout movement.

He passed away on Sept. 17, 1962. The auxiliary wing of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital (demolished recently) was also named in his honour. His son Pat practised medicine in Medicine Hat for a number of years as well.

The park, with its amazing mosaic and its series of cascading pools, was a remarkable monument to the man who had such commitment to Medicine Hat.

Malcolm Sissons is the Chair of the Heritage Resources Committee of the City of Medicine Hat.