Stouffville’s grain elevator to be demolished
Posted April 22, 2015 11:10 pm.
Last Updated April 23, 2015 12:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fire officials have deemed part of Stouffville’s past a fire hazard, says Metrolinx.
The grain elevator, originally constructed over a century ago, is located on the Stouffville GO station property.
Whitchurch-Stouffville council voted to have Metrolinx tear down the landmark on Tuesday.
Heritage consultants determined that the old grain elevator “wasn’t of heritage significance,” said Anne Marie Aikins of Metrolinx.
“We offered up to a million dollars to council to move it if they could find a suitable place to store it,” said Aikins.
But council could not find a suitable place to store the grain elevator, she said.
Darlene Shaw, a member of the Heritage advisory commmittee said that was not the case.
“Last July Metrolinx asked us to come up with three places … and the final space was going to be Memorial Park,” says Shaw.
“Metrolinx has now, basically, indicated there was no funding,” says Shaw.
Metrolinx responded that on March 3, council requested that the grain elevator be relocated to the “general area of Memorial Park but did not specify a site,” said Aikins.
“Subsequent investigation by Town staff found Memorial Park to be ill-suited due to floodplain issues,” said Aikins.
Resident Rob Dougald said that Stouffville is a farming community and the elevator was used by friends families in order to sell their grains, back in the day.
“This is Stouffville’s landmark that needs to be preserved to show future generations how food was brought to markets,” said Dougald.
Metrolinx said the demolition will happen over the next month.
Many community residents have been trying to stop the demolition from happening.
Over 544 people signed a petition online to show that the residents will not give up “without a fight.”
Aikins said Metrolix will consult with the heritage committee to arrange a way to commemorate it.
“We know it’s important to the community,” she said.
The current lot is owned by Metrolinx and the demolition will create about “60 more spaces,” said Aikins.
But Dougald said the parking spots will be “nothing” compared to what this elevator means to their small town.
Shaw said it is important to keep the spirit alive and proper documentation and cataloging of the building is key.
“We are not able to save the structure so let’s at least put those beams somewhere so a child can point up and say ‘hey mom what is that?’ and we can say ‘that was the grain tower that so and so’s grand dad owned.”
