[2]: 21  Established in 1919 for returning World War I veterans who suffered from TB, the Central Alberta Sanatorium as it was then called, was typical of its era, "isolated, treed and divided into many separate buildings.

"[3]: 179 [3]: 179 [4][5] It was "downstream from the old Alberta Ice Company warehouse" (now the Shriner's storage area for antiques).

By 1962—as more accommodations for TB patients were created elsewhere—the Sanitorium was gradually converted to the Baker Center for the Services of the Handicapped.

[2]: 21 Along with the riparian native plants and shrubs, Alberta author Terry Bullick noted that the list of family trees include White Spruce, Green Ash, Colorado Spruce, Manitoba Maple, Lodgepole Pine, Bur Oak, Scots Pine, Aspen, Douglas Fir, Larch, Poplar, May Day Tree, Paper Birch, Mountain Ash[clarification needed], Weeping Birch, Hawthorn, Manchurian Elm, and Flowering Crabtree.

Its promenades, archways, arbour, grass amphitheater, and river observation point make it a prized area for wedding photos.