Anyone who drives by the Yorkton Brick Mill will notice that a great deal of work is being done on the building. The Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society was at Spring Expo to give people an update on where they're at and what needs to be done.
A new problem which needs to be tackled is the roof, explains Allan Bailey with the Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society. The problem was discovered by the city building inspector, who discovered issues with the rafters which were not noticed earlier. The new roof design will add another $8,500 to the project, but the plan is to go ahead and put the roof on the building.
The other priority for the project is stabilization of the building, which will be a total of $80,000. Bailey says that grants from the Painted Hand Community Development Corporation and the Sask Heritage Foundation have raised $33,700. With local fundraising gaining $15,000 so far, the group is a little over half-way to their goal, needing to raise $32,000 to reach their goal.
Work that has already been done is the replacement of all the windows, cleaning of the building, and the roof repairs are currently underway. The goal of this phase of work is to get the building preserved, Bailey explains.
This is the second phase, with the third phase involving the development of a plan for use of the building. Bailey explains that due to liability concerns it's unlikely that the building itself will be open to the public, but that the current idea is to build a building adjacent which would highlight Yorkton's agricultural history and allow people to look inside the mill and see the equipment through the windows.
"What we are hoping is that we can tie it in and tell the story of the agricultural history of this part of Saskatchewan."
That phase is far into the future, however, and the main concern right now is just preserving the building itself. Bailey admits that it will be a slow process, but that Yorkton has lost so much of its architectural heritage that saving the mill and buildings like it is something that needs to happen.
"We've lost so many beautiful buildings in this community. As I jokingly say, if we keep tearing everything down the oldest building in town is going to be Walmart."
Part of the goal of going to Spring Expo was to get people involved in the preservation of the Mill, and if people want to get involved they can contact Vern Brown with the Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society at 306-783-8246.
