HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-07-16, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1986.
Plans for new museum win approval
The new Huron County Pioneer
Museum will try to retain the sense
of surprise of the current museum
within a convenient, climate-
controlled new building, members
of the public were assured at a
public meeting to unveil plans
Wednesday night in Holmesville.
The new $3.51 million museum
(building costs of $2.8 million) will
replace all the additions which
have been made to the old 1856
school house that formed the
museum when it was first set up by
the county in 1950 under the care of
J. H. Neill. The school house itself
will be renovated in the final phase
of the four-year project, Claus
Breed, Project Director explained,
plained.
Using floor plans from the
design of the Blyth architecture
firmofChristopherBorgal, Mr.
Breed took his audience on a tour of
what the new facility will be like.
The entrance will be changed from
the front of the old school house to a
new doorway at the south side of
the school where the school and the
new addition join.
Inside this entrance will be the
reception area and gift shop and to
the right will be an area that may
house the archival collection of the
Huron County Historical Society.
Under the recommended traffic
pattern (although visitors can
choose their own path) visitors will
be first ushered into a 95-seat
the hub of the new building. After
that sneak preview, it’s on to the
first of the agriculture galleries,
showing the importance of agricul
ture and its historical impact on the
county.
Next is the transportation gall
ery which will feature many of the
buggies, cutters, etc. of the
museum’s collection. Through a
set of windows the visitor will be
able to look down into the storage
area where artifacts not on display
will be kept.
The domestic gallery, showing
what it was like to live in earlier
periods, will be set up as a series of
upstairs apartments of the kind
above main street stores. From this
area, people will go downstairs
where they will come out on the
street complete with two-storey
shopfronts.
The main street will be lit only
with the light from period lamps
and the light from the shop
windows.
Among the shops will be an
undertaker’s establishment, com
plete with some of the hearses in
the museum’s collection, a fire hall
with steam-pumper and other
equipment, and a machine shop
which will house a collection of
steam engines.
From these visitors will go down
a ramp into the second agricultural
gallery housing the big farm
Continued on page 23.
Plans for the new Huron County Pioneer Museum were unveiled at a public meeting in Holmesville
Wednesday night. Looking at the architect’s model of the new building are [left to right] Tom
Cunningham, Hullett township reeve; Claus Breed, project director; Leona Armstrong, Huron County
Warden; John Rutledge, Blyth, designer and Chris Borgal, Blyth, architect.
theatre where they will be shown a
film on the history of the museum
and the work of Mr. Neill or the
development of the county. From
there they would proceed into the
central corridor of the old school,
which will remain unchanged,
complete with hanging bicycles,
etc.
There will be two galleries on the
north side of the corridor, one
dealing with the development of
the museum, about Mr. Neill’s
work in gathering the extensive
collection that formed the original
collection and containing some of
his hand-made models.
There will be a “European
gallery” setting the stage for the
massive immigration that populat
ed North America and Huron
County in particular. Mr. Breed
said it is important to explain what
was happening in Europe that was
so horrible that it would drive
people to make the terrible sea and
land journey to the bush of Huron
County.
There will be another gallery
which will deal with the conditions
peoplefoundhere: dealingwith
the history of the aboriginal
peoples and the setting up of the
Canada Company.
Upstairs on the second floor of
the old school there will be four
theme galleries, dealing with early
transportation in Huron; the devel
opment of such institutions as
churches, schools, and local
government; development of
towns and villages; and industrial
development.
By this point, Mr. Breed predic
ted, the average visitor will have
spent nearly one and a half hours in
the building and will need a rest.
There will be a lounge area where it
is hoped volunteers will man a
refreshment booth.
At this point the typical visitors
will enter the new portion of the
museum, entering the long mili
tary gallery which will have
segments for the Fenian Raids, the
Boer War, World War One and
World War Two.
There will be a dramatic canti
levered window that will direct
attention down to the World War
Two era Sherman tank parked
outside. The military gallery will
end with a look at the post-war
period and the eventual closing of
four air bases in the county.
The exit from the military gallery
will be on a balcony like that of a
19th century hotel, which will give
the visitor a first glimpse of the
dramatic streetscape that forms
'Wfafl 'Mem?
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