If negotiations between the City of Calgary and a group of classic car enthusiasts go well, the much-debated Eamon Station building may get a second lease on life in High River.
Bob Everett, the site’s former owner and founder of the Roy Eamon Cultural and Heritage Society, confirmed that River City Classic Car Club based in High River is ironing out the details on a potential deal with Calgary to relocate the structure. The club would then convert the building to a rotating classic car museum. While he said this is good news, Everett is unhappy about what he sees as the lack of interest from the surrounding communities in finding a closer alternative.
“Most people I would run into were very supportive but they weren’t showing the same type of enthusiasm and involvement that I’m seeing coming out of High River.”
He maintained that no groups or individuals from communities such as Bearspaw, Springbank or Cochrane contacted him with offers.
“It’s just as much Cochrane’s building as it is Bearspaw’s, as it is Bowness, as it is mine. It’s a very import piece of our history.”
Gord Davies, president of Cochrane Historical and Archival Preservation Society (CHAPS) knows a thing or two about relocating pieces of history.
A year ago, the society relocated the Davies Hospital to its current location at the Cochrane Ranche site to the tune of more than $200,000, and Davies said they simply don’t have the funds or locale to take on another such endeavour.
“From our point of view, it’s a big undertaking. We wouldn’t be prepared to do it again because we don’t have the money.”
Davies said there are other considerations to take when moving historical buildings.
“We’ve been told that as soon as you move a building from its original site, all of its historic value is lost,” he said, adding the structure won’t receive historic designation.
The Eamon building’s fate has been up in the air for years, going from a near-abandoned site to a converted residence to a life in storage, with various groups vying and debating just what to do with one of the last remaining pieces of “Eamon’s One-Stop Tourist Centre.”
Everett’s Roy Eamon Cultural and Heritage Society tried and failed to pitch Calgary this year to move it back and restart plans to convert the building into a 1950s diner. Everett said he’s standing behind River City Classic Car Club’s efforts, but said it rightfully belongs at the original location.
“If someone came along tomorrow and said ‘I will fund it and put it back on the original site,’ I would go with that.”
