All aboard, Station on the Green marks 20 years
Creemore’s Station on the Green will celebrate its 20th anniversary this month with an open house and ceremony.
Station manager Debbie Hill says, as always, it will be a community effort calling on many people to make it memorable.
The June 25 celebration will include special guests, including some of the Station founders, dignitaries, entertainment and refreshments.
An open house begins at 10 a.m. when the community will be invited to review Station archives including photos, Creemore Echo articles and board minutes, to learn all about the Station’s history.
The Station on the Green was an ambitious community undertaking involving many dedicated volunteers. It was a proposed as a millennium project with the intention of creating a community centre, a replica of the original train station in the old railway yard, that would pay homage to Creemore’s rail history.
The railway played an important role in the village’s growth. The train was nicknamed the Hog Special for its smelly four-legged passengers, and the Virginia Creeper for its pace. The railway was built by the Hamilton and Northwest Railway from 1978-1879, and the train station was built by The Grand Trunk Railway in 1906. Trains travelled the 40-mile route between Beeton and Collingwood stopping at 12 stations, with Creemore and Alliston being the main centres. The train went through twice a day, except Sundays, and carried mail, freight and passengers. A decline in shipping volumes and passengers was already a problem when trucking became the preferred method of shipping.
The station was destroyed by fire the spring after it was closed in 1955.
Decades later a group of community members set to work raising funds and planning for a replica of the train station to rise from the ashes in its original location.
It all started when the council of the day had plans to put the rail yard property up for sale. John Smart, who was the president of the Creemore BIA at the time, said he got to thinking about how Creemore needed a tourism centre with public washrooms, a place to house some memorabilia and a facility for community groups and events. With fellow BIA member Paul Vorstermans, Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society president Gord Bird, and architect Michael Clifford, Smart went to council with a mission to talk members out of selling the property and convince them it was a good idea to build what would be known as Station on the Green.
“We got together because we had mutual interests in saving the land from being sold and also recreating part of our history,” said Smart.
In the beginning, said Smart, the group had grandiose plans for a larger facility with a stage theatre but they were already facing a big budget so they scaled it back.
“We realized we were out in left field,” said Smart. “The amount of money would have been astronomical so we stuck pretty closed to what the railway station was… And I’m glad we did because we were trying to do too much and we would have probably fallen on our faces if we had tried to raise that kind of money, and the amount of money that was raised was incredible.”
The idea was that it would be self sustaining and would be built with community funds. The group polled community groups, sports organizations, and any potential user groups to get their support, because they knew the project would require buy-in from the whole community.
“We wanted something that would really excite people to have functions there,” said Smart. They imagined a place for wedding receptions, yoga classes and Scout meetings.
Smart remembers going to dinner at the home of Pauline and Al Orr when Al unexpectedly offered to kickstart the fundraising, and ran with it. Afterwards many others picked up that mantle and contributed in numerous ways from fundraising to the day-to- day operations of the facility. Smart said most of the money came from locals, weekenders, corporations and in-kind donations from local businesses.
Some of the founders will be in attendance at the anniversary celebration, with an official ceremony at noon.
Fran Webster will be playing original music, Tim Armour will play the bagpipes, and the whole town will know it is time to head to the Station when they hear Bob Ransier blow his train whistle at 11:30 a.m. Coffee, cake and refreshments will be servedafterwards, with the celebration wrapping up at 2 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Station on the Green archives: Station-on-the-Green designer Michael Clifford with wife Karin at high tea on opening day.
