Dec 9 – Christmas at the Train Station
Christmas at the Train Station: A Book Launch Celebrating 25 Years of Glencoe Station’s Restoration
Join the Glencoe & District Historical Society on Wednesday, December 9th at the Glencoe Train Station for the launch of Glencoe Station: The Restoration of Glencoe Station Middlesex, marking 25 years since this beloved community landmark was saved and restored. Doors open at 2:00 p.m., with the presentation beginning at 2:30 p.m.
When CN announced plans to close Glencoe Station in 1978, the grand old station house faced the same fate as so many others across the country: the wrecking ball. Instead, members of the village came together to save it, launching a restoration effort that has left Glencoe Station standing today in its present splendid state.
This Christmas launch event brings that story home, in the very building it saved. Editor Bill Simpson, G&DHS member, will share how the station was rescued, drawing on years of research and firsthand accounts from those who lived it, alongside the release of the companion book that documents the full restoration story in photographs and original documents.
A special word of thanks to Harold Carruthers, whose decades of patient work as Society historian made this book possible. The bulk of the material and pictures in this volume come from Harold’s own collection: original documents from the 1800s, land transaction records, and photographs and images spanning from the late 1800s to the present day. Harold also served as Vice Chair and later Chairman of the original Restoration Committee, and gifted the Station’s clock. This book, and much of what we know of Glencoe’s history, would not exist without him.
We especially welcome the families and descendants of those honoured below. So many of the people who gave their time, materials, and determination to this cause are no longer with us, and this event is as much a tribute to them as it is a celebration of the building they saved.
Here are some of the people who helped save the Glencoe Station
Restoration Committee
Harold Carruthers (Vice Chair, later Chairman) • Bruce McLean (founding Chairman) • Reeve David McDonald • Gerald Robson • Reverend George Hamilton • Allan Mayhew • Frank Reycraft • Doug Reycraft • Julie Field • Joan Whitlock
Gifts of labour
Bruce McLean • Harold Carruthers • Gerald Robson • Gerry Atkinson • Lorne Haskell • Frank Reycraft • Linda Mayhew • Fran McLean
Other significant contributors
Keith Campbell • Gord Leach • Ron Lovell • David McEachren • Alex McFarlane • Paul Janssen • Eric Martin • Vern Hathaway • Bill McLean • Dale McGuinness • Jack Harcourt • Jim McAlpine • Carl Gerber • Bob Purdy
Contractors and tradespeople
Toni Ross – Landscaping • John Allan – HVAC • Ian Carruthers – Concreting • Doug Whitney – Plumbing • Gerber Electric – Electricals • Les Steele – Station relocation • Floyd Winship – Fence
Gifts and donations
Harold Carruthers – Clock • Bruce Maclean – Pinnacle • Norm Davidson – Showcases • Blake McGill – 300 squares of glass • Don Ward – used furnace (installed free by Ken Allan) • Roy Watson – two lamps • Stewart Simpson – complete roof, materials and labour, valued at $13,331 • ICI Canada – paint, valued at over $1,000
If your family has a connection to the Glencoe Station restoration story, we would love to see you there.
Warm up with Christmas cheer, browse the photographs and stories in the companion book, and help us mark 25 years of a Glencoe landmark that almost wasn’t.
The companion book will be launched and available for purchase at the event, and online at:
https://www.amazon.ca/Glencoe-Station-Restoration-Middlesex/dp/B0H8T4433C
Glencoe Train Station
Wednesday, December 9
Doors open 2:00 p.m., presentation at 2:30 p.m.
Presented by the Glencoe & District Historical Society