Agricultural Exhibit Hall

Agricultural Exhibit Hall. . , Agricultural Exhibit Hall , The Alliston Agricultural Society built the main building in 1914 as an agricultural exhibit hall where craft and food entries were displayed during the annual fall fair in Riverdale Park. During the First World War, 1914 to 1918, the building was also used as a drill hall and recruitment centre, as Base Borden in Angus hadn't fully opened yet., The Lions Club Dance Hall (Riverdale Pavilion) , In 1937, the Lions Club leased the building from the Town for the annual fee of one dollar and renovated the building into a dance hall. Upwards of one thousand residents attended the inaugural dance on April 27, 1937. Dances were held weekly from April through to the late fall and continued into the early 1940s., The Dorothea Knitting Mill , In 1945, the building was leased to the Dorothea Knitting Mill, a knitting mill in Toronto that manufactured berets, scarves, toques, gloves and mitts for the Armed Forces. The sole function of this local mill was to finish gloves and mitts that were shipped from the Toronto mill. The company eventually added equipment to produce men's sweaters. After years of instability due to a faulty heating system, a decline in workers and cheaper imports flooding the Canadian market, the Alliston branch of the Dorothea Knitting Mill closed in 1954., The South Simcoe Pioneer Museum , In 1959, the Town of Alliston passed a by-law establishing a 'Historical Museum' in Alliston. A museum board was established consisting of two people appointed by the Town of Alliston Council, and one person appointed by each of the councils for the Townships of Adjala, Essa, Tecumseth, Tosorontio and West Gwillimbury. The Town of Alliston offered this building and the newly named South Simcoe Pioneer Museum unofficially opened in 1960. Following a very successful first season, a grand opening was held the following year., The Museum on the Boyne , After the amalgamation of several municipalities in South Simcoe and the establishment of the Town of New Tecumseth in 1991, the museum board consisted of appointed council members and citizens appointed from the municipalities of Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Essa, Innisfil, and New Tecumseth. In 1996, the building underwent major renovations to better protect the artifacts within the building and to meet the criteria for government grants. In 2005, the museum's name was changed to the Museum on the Boyne to better reflect the mandate and to avoid confusion with Simcoe County Museum.