Eatonia celebrates its history

By Joan Janzen

After a prolonged delay, the date for Eatonia’s Centennial celebrations is drawing near. Those planning to attend have marked off July 1-3 on the calendars when the festivities occur.

Heritage Park is one of the sites visitors will tour during their visit to Eatonia. In preparation, volunteers worked together laying sod Friday morning, May 27th.

In a post on social media, Lorrie Cooke recalled finishing upgrades at Eaton House five years ago. At that time, three precious treasures were given to Eaton House: a school clock over seven decades old, a handmade cushion from 1942 made by the women of the community to raise money for the WWII effort, and light fixtures from that era.

The CN Station is also located at Heritage Park, and this year Lorrie and her husband Ross were renovating the CN Station residence living space. They focused on recreating the decades of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. While working at the CN Station, Lorrie said she often thought of Bill Wardill.

Bill bought the station for one dollar, saving it from destruction, and was a valued member on the board and in the community. Now the community is honouring Bill’s life by preserving a room in his memory; his daughters contributed many meaningful treasures to help make the project possible. These contributions help revive Eatonia’s history during their upcoming centennial celebrations.

The rail line through Eatonia was one of the last branches to be surveyed and partially built by the Canadian Northern Railway. The incomplete line was taken over in 1918 by the Canadian Government Railways, with a construction camp appearing east of the new town site in the same year. Of the full complement of divisional point structures once at Eatonia, only the one-of-a-kind railway station built in 1925 and now owned by the town remains. The station, a caboose and an Eaton catalogue house are the principal elements in the Eatonia Heritage Park, which is still under development.

The branch is still owned by the CNR system and is still in use, serving producer car loading sites developed by West Central Road and Rail, a major player in shipping grains and oil seeds. Other transportation links serving the town are Highway 44, originally routed a mile north of the town, and Highway 21, which was not taken into the provincial system until long after Eatonia was settled.

CNR Train Station at Eatonia from “A Past To Cherish.”