support themselves and their ministry, they also took in female pensionnaires. In response to increased industrialization of the area, in 1864 they founded the workhouse of Saint Geneviève to " procure work for the poor women when they are unable to find any on the outside." The workhouse produced woollen fabric and soap, and provided employment for ten women, fifteen girls, one man, and three boys. They became a separate pontifical congregation in 1896. In 1888 the sisters founded the first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, called variously "the Sisters' Hospital", "the French Hospital", or "the Catholic Hospital". In 1902 the Sisters moved to a larger building that came to be called L'Hopital Generale Ste. Marie - St. Mary's General Hospital. St. Mary's developed into Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center. Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart The only American congregation of Grey Nuns, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart branched off from the Ottawa congregation in 1921, to establish an independent English-speaking congregation to minister in the United States. They founded D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York. In 1966, the mother house moved to Yardley, Pennsylvania. The sisters serve in a variety of ministries in the East Coast states New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts as well as in Georgia and Alaska. the Sisters of Charity of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet (1886), branched off from Saint-Hyacinthe, united with Montreal (1941) the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa (1845) formerly the Grey Nuns of the Cross the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (1926), branched off from Ottawa the Sisters of Charity of Quebec (1849) The 21st century As of 2008 the various Grey Nun branches operate in Canada, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Haiti, Central African Republic, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. Hospitals They once operated a number of major hospitals in Canada; as provincial governments and church, authorities moved to standardize both ownership and operation of hospitals, many of these hospitals passed into the hands of Church corporations (or, in some cases, governmental organizations) and the Grey Nuns changed focus. The Grey Nuns' Hospital building built in 1765 in Montreal was designated a national Historic Site of Canada in 1973 to commemorate the Grey Nuns. In 2011, Grey Nuns Motherhouse, the former motherhouse of the Grey Nuns in Montreal, now part of Concordia University, was also designated a National Historic Site. Shelters