Mayor Marolyn Morrison — Preserving and protecting local heritage is a priority with the Town

September 27, 2013 · 0 Comments

I have often remarked that Caledon has a proud and diverse agricultural history.
Much of what we are as a town today is grounded in the rich, rural traditions of the generations that made our community their home in the 1800s.
The Town of Caledon’s Community Based Strategic Plan (CBSP) underscores the need for all of us to protect and maintain our diminishing cultural and heritage assets. Under the CBSP’s Strategic Objective to “Value and Promote Culture, Heritage and the Arts,” council specifically approved a goal to “Preserve and Promote our Cultural Heritage, Agricultural and Natural Heritage Landscapes, Built Heritage and Archaeological Resources.” The Town has a very active heritage committee, known as Heritage Caledon. This is a statutory committee established under the Heritage Act and its members provide advice and assistance to council and Town staff on matters relating to the conservation of Caledon’s cultural and built heritage. Heritage Caledon is comprised of 16 residents and two councillors, who, with the assistance of Town staff, help us to preserve Caledon’s past. For more information, you can visit the recently launched online home of the CBSP at www.caledon.ca/cbsp
One such project that recently benefitted from the work of Heritage Caledon is the Caledon East Orange Lodge building. While I appreciate there may be some anxiety about preserving this particular building, it is part of our community’s history and its conservation must be viewed in that light. Constructed around 1856, the Caledon East Orange Lodge is one of three surviving Orange Lodge buildings in Caledon — eight, in total were built. The other two include the Palgrave Orange Lodge and the Sandhill Orange Lodge, now used by the Sandhill Pipes and Drums.
Of the three buildings in our Town, the Caledon East Orange Lodge is the most historically significant because of its age and architectural integrity; it is an early example of heavy timber frame construction, and an exceptional case of a fraternal society building unaltered in use and design. Only four Orange Lodges have been designated across Ontario and only 25 have been designated across Canada. Originally built as a meeting hall, the Orange Lodge is naturally suited for adaptive re-use as much needed meeting space for Town staff and a rental facility for the community at large. Giving new purpose to this historic structure will promote cultural as well as community uses on the Civic Campus.
Council committed to relocate the Orange Lodge to the Town Hall campus Dec. 4, 2012, so this exceptional and unique structure would be preserved and protected for future generations to enjoy. Staff is currently undertaking site planning and engineering work to have the Orange Lodge fully rehabilitated for opening by mid-2014. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated Heritage Caledon committee that is so enthusiastically committed to preserving and protecting our Town’s built heritage.