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Stettler group wants to convert grain
elevator into musuem
reprinted from Red Deer Advocate (Brenda Kossowan) May 14, 2010
Efforts are underway to
create a railway museum out of a retired grain elevator located in
Stettler, right across the tracks from the town's most popular
tourist attraction.
The former Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator, feed mill and
assorted outbuildings were mothballed in 2003 and then put up for
sale.
Local farmer Stan Eichhorn couldn't stomach the idea of losing one
of the town's last remaining elevators -- so he bought it for the
princely sum of $1. He felt that, with Alberta Prairie Rail
Excursions as a track-side neighbour, the towering yellow structure
was too precious as a local landmark to be torn down.
Eichhorn was able to negotiate an agreement with American Railway,
the company that owned the land on which the elevator, annex and
outbuildings were built.
Alberta Prairie later purchased the land and has formed an agreement
that will ensure that the elevator can stay at the site where it was
first built, sometime during the 1920s.
With building and land secured, Eichhorn approached some like-minded
individuals to form the Stettler P&H Elevator Preservation Society,
now a registered non-profit group legally entitled to issue tax
receipts for donations.
They're going to need every penny they can find, says Eichhorn,
president of the group. The group is laying plans to restore the
grain elevator to working order so it can be used for live
demonstrations. Members want to fix the remaining buildings up as
well, and set up exhibits inside.
They also hope to return the elevator, which is badly in need of a
paint job, to its original deep red colour. Eichhorn estimates that
project alone at $40,000 to $50,000.
The elevator office already functions as a local gathering point,
much the same as it did during its working years, albeit on severely
limited hours. Society members open the office for morning coffee
three days a week, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays.
They hope a garage sale planned for the Victoria Day long weekend
will also give their bank account a bit of a boost.
The sale is set for 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on
both Saturday and Sunday. Members will serve coffee, doughnuts and
cookies to people attending the sale.
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