Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Article 67 of 74
This article first appeared in the "Houses of the Gatineau Hills" column in the December 15, 2004 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Original Chelsea town hall to meet wrecking ball
By Mike Caesar
After housing generations of council meetings and dodging bulldozers once before, the days of the historic Chelsea town hall finally appear to be numbered.
Now standing on the soon-to-be-developed Hendrick Farm along Old Chelsea Rd., the 1876 town hall originally stood next to the present day site of Chelseas Pub. According to an article by Carol Martin in Up the Gatineau! Vol. 26, council used the building until 1956.
Council minutes from March 6, 1876 show Robert Kerr awarded the contract for building the town hall, at a price of $600. John Chamberlain was paid $10 for drawing up the plans.
The building was the first official home of council, after the founding of The Municipality of The West Part of the township of Hull in 1875. (The name was changed to Cheisea in 1990.)
Following its abandonment, the town hall was moved to the Hendrick Farm. No use was found for the building there, however, and it now stands in advanced decay. The Gatineau Valley Historical Society has no plans for saving it, and it is expected to be demolished prior to development of the property.
Despite the building's loss, Martin and a group of volunteers visited the site Nov. 24 to rescue both a plaque hanging over the front entrance and an old window in the shape of a fan.
"It was getting cold and I was getting scared," Martin says, referring to the planned development of the land. She says the Gatineau Valley Historical Society had great cooperation from the Hendrick family in saving the relics.
Martin hopes the plaque, which reads "Township Hall, 1875-1938," will soon be part of a heritage marker somewhere in Chelsea.
"lt's just saving a little piece of the past," she explains. "People value things they can see and touch. It's better than just reading about it."