Fire hall fixes coming
And election candidates emerge
The old fire hall on the Trent River in Campbellford is getting repaired, refurbished and gussied up so it can look its best and be used to display antique firefighting equipment.
The municipality is also planning repairs to the stone house at 37 Saskatoon Ave. and the Campbellford-Seymour Public Library on Ranney St. All three projects were discussed on Tuesday, April 28 by council’s Heritage Advisory Committee, which agreed they each should qualify for $8,000 grants to help pay for planned work. The recommendations will go to council for a decision.
At the fire hall, the municipality plans to spend $49,000 this year to restore the hose drying tower and paint the onion dome. Also, interior support beams and the exterior cedar shakes will be replaced. A second phase will replace the red wooden door with a glass door so that an old fire truck and other antique equipment will be visible.
The fire hall, which was the Water Works and Electric Light Station when it was built in 1889, was designated a historical building in 1983. A newer addition is used to store public works vehicles now that the fire department has its new Emergency Services Base on Doxsee Avenue.
“The building Is constructed of red brick with limestone sills,” said a report to the council’s committee. “Finely detailed brlckwork outline the arches of the main door and windows. The original roof of the main building Is metal with standing seams, while the tower roof Is In the shape of an inverted onion.”
Some emergency masonry repairs were done last year when problems were spotted. The new work will start about Sept. 1 and be completed by Oct. 30.
The municipality is also planning to spend $18,000 to repair the stone house located south of the old town hall. The work will involve repointing masonry, repainting and caulking windows, windowsills, soffits, and decorative gingerbread trim, and removing vines that have been growing up the side of the building. As well, two chimneys will be capped to prevent pigeons from nesting inside.
The house, built about 1875, was designated as a historic building in 1989. It has been rented for retail uses in the past but is currently used to store municipal records.
The structure is made of coursed limestone and was designated as a historic building because of “the single vertical stone pattern bordering both sides of the windows.”
The Campbellford-Seymour Public Library will see $45,000 in spending to replace the existing worn steel roof with a new steel roof, repair the fascia and eavestroughs, repoint masonry where it has become damaged, and repaint windows and trim.
The library was built in 1912 and was designed by Walter A. Mahoney alongside two sister libraries in Port Hope and Whitby. “All three share a Greek portico entrance and a children’s entrance to the side,” a report says. “The overall design of the library follows the pattern of the Carnegie model library, the design of which was implemented by the Carnegie Foundation who provided funding for 125 libraries across Canada between 1883 and 1929.”
The Carnegie Foundation was approached in 1906 for a grant or donation to build a new free public library. It offered $8,000 to construct the building and in May 1911 a bylaw was enacted to accept Carnegie’s offer. The building opened in 1912 and was designated as a historic building in 2007.
Heritage committee member Skye Morrison, who is also on the library board, said the building needs more extensive repairs but the current project will at least ensure it is waterproof so the books don’t get wet.
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And they’re off
Two current members of council hope to move up a position on election day — October 26.
Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf has filed his nomination papers to run for mayor and Councillor Daniel Giddings, who represents Campbellford (Ward 3), is running for deputy mayor.
Both Metcalf and Giddings filed their papers early on Friday, May 1, when nominations opened. Candidates can register until August 28 at 2 p.m. Their moves were expected by council observers. No other candidates have announced their intentions at this point. You can check the list of candidates and get other election details on the municipal website.
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Run raises $58,000
A record number of runners and walkers in the Ranney Gorge Run raised a record amount for the Campbellford Memorial Hospital Foundation under sunny skies on Sunday.
The 592 participants raised $58,594, the foundation said on Facebook. They posted dozens of pictures of happy walkers and runners of all ages.
The route through the park was in excellent shape with many of the roads newly graded and smoothed. I had time to enjoy the scenery since I wasn’t moving too quickly, But I did make it to the end and was only 30 seconds slower than last year.
Thanks to all those to donated through me. I helped raise $795.40 this year.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.
Art just a bit of history. The old firehall in the seventy had an apartment over top rented. Then this area became a meeting place for the fireman. The OPP also used it for detachment planning meetings. Hope the council makes use of this space.
The stone house was the home of Chuck Davidson and family and the paved space was used to display GM products. Again too bad it can,t have some useful occupancy other than storing files.
The old municipal office that was used when Campbellford stood alone also should be put to some use. Way back when on amalgamation with Seymour it didn,t have air conditioning. The smaller Seymour office was Lockes wholesale and had air conditioning.
Big money has been poured into the wholesale building to make it the office it is today. Hopefully it can be put to good use again.
Moving over to the extension on the library. This was the location of the shoe factory. When the roof was put on it years ago it leaked. Good to see a new roof properly installed would be an asset.
A little unknown fact was a strip of municipal land from Doxsee that makes up part of the Royal bank parking lot was where trucks backed into the factory. Discovery of that when I was on council caused a bit of an uproar when they were charged rent.
This parking may be needed with patrons going to the new Doohers store.
Just a little explanation of the past.