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The Acton Free Press Wednesday May 1977 Editorial Page Why the undue haste Why the undue haste coun Why give Acton people a week to prepare a case against the razing of the town hall for a firefighters parking lot The recommendation passed at works committee last week was only learned by via last weeks Free Press Five days later urged by coun cillors McKenzie and Miller coun cil was ready to approve the demo lition Councillor said there were people who would like to be heard There was little sympathy Councillor Miller felt the razing should be approved at once Finally a date was heard one week hence Why are Acton representatives railroading through this important decision To hear councillors and Miller it is because of the gent needs of the firefighters If the are so urgent why have the people never heard of them until a week ago Many of us have been in the fire hall They certainly need a second storey to the downstairs for trucks and irefighting equipment it is their addition of the treasured old fire truck the hall that makes their meeting room so cramped lately Their need for parking would lose the town another treasure and we just don t believe the firefighters are unanimously in favor of losing the tow hall problems lack of space and parking They ve had them for years A second storey will solve the space problem as long as Acton does not grow beyond recom mended figures of about 9 or As long as there is not a full time staff with required sleeping quar or the addition of service In that vox j new location woulcbbavetiet But an exclusi artnir firefighters a expense of rxrsg engineer calls part example of arcmtecuire its per lod Why not a neighboring house when it becomes available No doubt razing the hall i the cheapest solution How many parking spots will there be We can imagine fir fighters lining up to file into a while the siren sounds They 11 1 out on the street as they are now They run for three blocks said Mr McKenzie Ridiculous Considering their speed thi park well Save seconds fellas appreciate it They don t traffic Why no consideration to grant The Ministry of Culture and Recreation and both funds town hall restorations regularly Exeter Simcoe Port Perry and Uxbndge are examples Why no other price for restore work Some consider very high This sum also includes total restoration of the upstairs Why not keep the building and wait until grants and other funding can be investigated The building is structurally sound Not safe Nonsense If there is no money this year later Why not figure out how much it will cost the to be housed elsewhere In a new building Why not determine where the Senior Citizen dropin centre will be Why not pursue the suggestion of moving the town office recreation office and fire chiefs office into the town hall leaving the room at the front of the for the police The planning department is in desperate need of more space How about refurbishing the upstairs of the town hall for them Why not recall the post office the railway station the United Church How many times have people said Weshouldn In another few years must we say We have torn down the town hall Keep the town hall Build the fire fighters their addition around it and above most of their present building Repair the town hall later when funds are available then perhaps Georgetown will its recreation complex in a library and theatre and the restoration of the hall will seem ideal to everyone Again the building is safe and sound I twill wait Because the three Acton coun cillors approve the demolition does not mean they are right cillors have been wrong before Why the undue haste AUDITORIUM OF town hall is little change although it is only used now for storage unclaimed bicycles and Christmas decorations are seen above The first half of the split staircase was removed about 25 years ago and entry is gained from an outdoor stairway To take these pictures the photographer stood in the centre of the hall and pictured the east wall above and the west wall below OUR READERS WRITE Objects to demolition Dear Editor I strongly object lo the proposed demo lition or the Town Hall AH over this country historical buildings ore being preserved except here In Acton e the late railway station and Post Office Are we to a I low the demolition of this sole remaining historical public building in order to save a few dollars on our collective tax Once this decision is made there are no other buildings to save or remnants of the past to pass on to our children This building upon restoration could be utilized for any or all of the following office for the Fire Chief continuation of the dropin centre for sen ior citizens town museum service club meeting rooms public meetings display of historical artifacts Before any decision is made the council and residents of this town should have answers to these questions l Could estimates be obtained from contractors to corroborate the engineers cost estimate 2 this restoration been considered 3 Have the benefits from the full use of the renovated facilities been applied to the renovation coat Can the silent majority of Acton be stir red enough to stand up and be counted and to tell our council members that we want his part of Acton history preserved Douglas Town hall stands for something SPLIT STAIRCASE of town hall was partially removed and only the two upper portions remain Entry Is gained from an outside door at the foot of Dear Sir So they arc going lo tear down the Town Mall Why must politicians always be doing something about everything Do they feel the devil finds mischief for Idle hands and to be seen doing nothing visibly leads voters to suspect something is going on invisibly Sometimes it is better lo do nothing Right now is there any evidence show new comers and youth thai Acton was once a sturdy and independent municipality on Its own The Town Hall testifies to the fact but there are few such monuments left Some one tore down the old Post Office and replaced It with a bank building just like a thousand banks In this country For some thing we got nothing Is our only physical link with an In dependent past lo become a part time parking lot Why not put new shingles on its roof to keep the rain out paint up the outside re place the broken windows and let it stand as a memorial to years now gone but not forgotten Perhaps in the future some bene factor will promote further restoration a municipal museum perhaps There is still room then to add to the Fire Hall facilities and parking is not really a severe problem Can you Imagine a dozen cars trying to get into that new parking lot at the same time for a fire call Right now the firemen park very efficiently head to tall along the street which hurts no one The Cenotaph Is a useless pile of granite its space would park two cars No one ad however because It stands for something Acton Town Hall stands for loo Pull It down and Acton becomes only a name with no past visible that Is no pre sent sacrificed to provincial politicians desire to do something big and no future except as a minority subunit of George town Halton Hills Yours truly George Elliott Cheap but structurally sound Dear Editor Isn I II a sad state of affairs El Cheapos are at it again Why not get another estimate on the repairs of the town hall I have been told it Is structurally sound But at one time our town was the same cheap but struct sound Council seems to be accepting the figures that suit their purposes rather than those that oppose their views and may reflect the true condition Georgetown can have a new million dollar library but destruction of one of Acton historic buildings just doesn add up does it Unite Actonians and fight to save our Identity We are an old town and old arch itecture means more than these modern characterless buildings A year resident of Acton Preserve our heritage Dear Editor Nostalgia Is the key word for me solar as demolishing the town hall is concerned It was in the town hall that we as children held our Victoria Day extravaganzas It in the town hall that we observed our Remembrance Day services at the time when Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day were observed on the same date It was in the town hall that we held our high school at homes and Sunday School concerts Please preserve us a bit of our heritage Oral Norton SO Church Street East Free Press Back Issues 10 years ago Taken from the of he Free Press Wednesday May Thanks for the Memory sang Acton Centennial Citizen of the Year George Mussel as he accepted the award for out standing community service at the annua Chamber of Commerce Citizens Night dinner at the music centre Saturday night New constable with the Acton detach ment of the OPP is Pat trans ferred here from Oak Me after two years there Constable Thwaites Is a native of and spent three years in the Canadian Navy before joining the He is single and replaced Corpora Harness who has been moved to Kitchener after being Acton since 1954 Mr and Bob Marshall Sr were hosts to over 40 members of the staff of the Acton and Milton newspapers last day evening when presentations were made to Henry and Nellie Van who are being married soon and to Brian who has left the staff to work for a group of weekly papers in British Columbia Amiable composer Herman Hymn to Canada will be sung on the CBC television program Hymn Sing this Sunday afternoon The program starts at m Copies of the hymn are sold out in both Acton outlets and Mr is pleased at the reception it is all across Canada years ago Taken from the issue of the free Press Thursday May 1957 Leno Braids son of Mr and Mrs Abele 173 Ma Street South has recenUy been awarded a Canadian Industries I ted p n Chemical Eng ng and a Nat onal Research Council Studentship valued at and respectively Mr and Mrs Fred MeCulcheon and Jack and Mr and Mrs Gordon and fam ly vis ted in London with Mr and Mrs Harvey McCutcheon over the weekend Mr and Mrs J Krapek and baby sited in Huntsv lie over the weekend and John enjoyed fish His brother in law landed a three and a half pound trout Mrs Nelson Lambert and Mr and Mrs Lambert spent Sunday at Fonthill with Mr and Mrs It chard and family WO years ago Taken fron the issue or the Free Press Thursday May We are extremely sorry that our duty as a recorder of local events forces us give public to the fact thai one of our young merchants has seen f I to take sudden lo parts unknown rather than face a meeting of his creditors We feel sorry for George and hope he will shortly see his way clear come back again and frankly explain the difficulty to his tors Two turkeys belonging to Mr Laird baggageman at the station were myster gobbled up by some unknown in dual one day last week They were in the vicinity or the station a short time before the r d ranee but his eyes have not been gladdened by a Sight of them nee They were probably absorbed by some Russian gourmand Mr Hall the genial and efficient manager of Beard more tannery is about to remove to to superintend the construct on of the new tannery now being built for Mr Beard more at that place An immense stock of fans just arrived watchmaker Post office store Misses Mann respectfully announce to the lad of Acton they have commenced business as dressmakers Seasonable goods doz straw hats at doz sunshades up 000 yards English prints loc yards of American prints Mill room now complete with all the novelties or the season Christie Henderson and Company Of this and that A personal note when we visited in Scotland last October a friend drove us through the village of Duns in Berwickshire We hadn t been there for 26 years and we craned to look for the quaint old 17th century town hall It was gone We ve got regional government now said our friend And they tore it down It was paved over THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 8532010 Business and Editorial Office Out ft Co Lt Copyright