The Preeceville Legion Hall is being renovated in a project to be completed by early fall.
The building was moved to its present location in 1950 from the Yorkton Air Force Base. After many years of use the building was determined to have some structure repairs necessary as some cracking had occurred. The engineer hired by the Town of Preeceville had discovered the damage in a recent assessment.
“While the engineer hired had discovered the issues he had also found that the structure was sound and the column posts were all good,” said Lorelei Karcha, administrator. “It was also discovered that the south, east and west walls of the dance floor area were not insulated. Council made the decision to have special insulation poured into the walls to properly insulate the building.
Council also made the decision to close off the upstairs part where the Preeceville Harvard Air Cadets were utilizing it, to turn it back into an unoccupied attic space to help with heating issues. On July 21 council met with members of the Preeceville Harvard Air Cadets to discuss the issue and it was suggested that the cadet offices be moved into the Preeceville Legionnaire rooms.
The Legionnaire rooms were not being utilized anymore and with some renovations, the cadet squadron will be moving into those rooms. Robert and Eugene Ladossiere of Nipawin were awarded the contract to do the renovations.
“The move is very positive for the cadets as we get new rooms and the offices will now be closer to the main floor to which the cadets are based out of,” said CO Troy Rogowski.
After the hall building was acquired in 1950, it was moved by a local mover but it only got as far as a farm near Tiny and due to insufficient equipment, the crew was unable to bring it any farther, so it sat on that farm for a year.
The Legion then investigated ways of getting the hall to Preeceville themselves. With the help of the Army base in Regina, which sent a large tank carrier and a 10wheel Lorrie with power on all 10 wheels and two soldiers, they completed the move from Tiny to Preeceville.
The Pas Lumber Company lent them a second tank carrier. The move from Tiny was started on March 17, 1952 and it arrived in Preeceville about 10 days later. They came across country, as the building was too large to take over most of the roads. It crossed the river, the last big obstacle, at Iverson’s crossing, a mile east of town.
