More storyboards will be added to the collection throughout the town of Deloraine, with between 6 and 9 more expected to be installed by the end of 2025.
Thus far, the Deloraine-Winchester Historical Society has completed and installed three storyboards; The Prairie Skills building (the former Presbyterian Church), the Dominion Bank building and Hasselfield Drugs.
Society member and research lead, Jan McClelland says there are six more storyboards in the pipeline ready to be install this year. More recently she's been working on storyboard number 6 and then hopes to work on numbers 7, 8 and 9 in the course of the year.
"So that will give us 12 and then we'll take a pause and focus our efforts," shares McClelland. "We do have other irons in the fire as well. So, you know, it'll be good to take a little bit of a break and focus on something different for a little while at least. As to how many more there will be to come, I think there's a list of 30, so it's an ongoing project for the foreseeable future."
Current storyboards expected to be installed in 2025:
- St. Andrews Anglican Church
- Country Collectibles building - the oldest commercial building remaining in Deloraine
- Deloraine-Winchester Legion and WWII monument
- Bren-Del-Win Lodge - the location of Deloraine's original hospital
- WWI monument (located at the Bren-Del-Win Lodge)
- Sunrise Credit Union location - which originally was a blacksmith shop. That location then became a garage and implement dealership for several decades before becoming Sunrise Credit Union.
- Deloraine-Winchester post office, and the
- Former Toronto Dominion Bank location was most recently Crafted and More and is the original location of the Hudson's Bay store in Deloraine
- Riviere House - the largest and very first hotel in Deloraine
McClelland says each of the buildings and locations shares their own unique story. One of the largest establishments in Deloraine back in the day is Riviere House, built in late 1886 that acted like a hotel and boarding house offering approximately 45 rooms as well as a dining room.
Today there are three business in that same space, so that gives you an indication of how big that building was," adds McClelland.
Back in the early settlement years hotels were massive. "In 1886 Deloraine was a brand-new town," she explains. "There was lots and lots of traffic, with travelers, people moving to town, and many single men in the early days, whether they were married and here without their families to start with, or just single young men trying their luck at being businessmen in a new town. There were lots of permanent hotel residents. But they did keep aside 15 or 20 rooms just for basic traveler traffic as well, including salesmen and people moving through town."
Riviere House operated in 1916.
Please listen to more on the Riviere House with Jan McClelland below!