Caledon East Community Memorial Hall

Caledon East Community Memorial Hall. , A Community Hub , The Caledon East Community Memorial Hall stood on this site from 1923 to 1981. Prominent local builders Joseph Proctor and Samuel White oversaw construction of the brick building, which was set on three acres of land purchased by the Township of Albion on what was then the outskirts of the village. The hall included two levels, with an open, high-ceilinged room and raised stage on the main floor and a kitchen and meeting space in the basement., The first social function in the new hall was a dance held on January 11, 1924, with the proceeds going to the building fund. Fundraising continued until the space was furnished and the mortgage paid. Joseph Proctor, who also was a village trustee from 1913 to 1934, functioned as caretaker of the hall without payment for many years., The hall quickly became the village's entertainment hub, as dances, dinners, card parties, school concerts, showers, wedding receptions and amateur shows filled the building on a regular basis. An outdoor stage at the back of the hall provided for summer entertainment, as did the athletic field, lacrosse grounds and bowling greens that completed the site. An outdoor skating rink was built beside the community hall, flooded each winter by water drawn by an electric pump from nearby Parsons Creek., Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies were among the many local groups that met in the hall. In 1957, the Mothers' Auxiliary of these organizations teamed up with local artist Daphne Lingwood to hold the inaugural CACY (Caledon Arts and Crafts for Youth) fundraiser show there. This show became a well-known annual event, providing high school art scholarships and summer art classes for local youth for several decades., Rehabilitation and Site Redevelopment , Community use of the hall waned in the early 1960s, and for a while it was leased to a private business. In 1967, the local Lions Club took on the refurbishment of the hall as a centennial project for the village. It was soon re-opened for community use and became known as the Lions Hall., Also in 1967, a decade after Caledon East was incorporated as a village, a municipal building was erected beside the hall on the site of the skating rink. It housed the village's council chambers, library and fire hall. Today, the balance of the three-acre site continues to be used for community sports, with a baseball diamond in place since the 1940s and tennis courts constructed in 1973., A New Community Complex , In 1974, Caledon East became the administrative centre of the newly created Town of Caledon, with a civic campus established just east of the village core. Here, the Caledon Town Hall was opened in 1976, followed by the Caledon East Community Complex in late 1980. The large new Community Complex, which replaced the hall, provided dedicated meeting space for the Lions Club and CACY., In September 1980, the hall's cornerstone was removed and the time capsule inside opened so that its contents, and the cornerstone, could be incorporated in the new Community Complex. Unfortunately, the paper artifacts had been irreparably damaged by water and could not be saved. Among them was believed to be a list of the soldiers from Caledon East killed in World War I. During eventual demolition of the hall in January 1981, its sign was salvaged and subsequently incorporated in a small stone wall marking the site., Memorial Park , In November 1981, at the urging of the municipal heritage committee, the Town of Caledon erected a stone cenotaph on the former site of the hall and dedicated the area as a memorial park. Two bronze plaques on the front of the cenotaph, which came from the former Royal Canadian Legion in Caledon East, bore the names of those from the community who lost their lives in World Wars I and II, enshrining forever the names of those in whose memory the hall had been built. An inscription on the back of the cenotaph recorded the origin of the plaques and a brief history of the hall. Construction of the cenotaph and park was funded through community donations, with contributions from the Orangeville and Tottenham Legions., In 2004, the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the cenotaph was moved to the Caledon Town Hall, where local Remembrance Day Services are now held., Cherished Memories , For almost six decades, the Caledon East Community Memorial Hall was integral to the heartbeat of this village - a treasured venue for community gatherings and celebrations both large and small. Many happy memories were created by the generations who passed through its doors and played on its grounds. ,