Eastend Dino Days Parade (July 22, 2017)

The Eastend Historical Museum's 1903 Case Steam Engine took part in the Dino Days parade on Saturday, July 22 - proud steam engineers are Ken Wills & Percy Hallwell. Ken took it to Regina and had the flues repaired...should be good for at least 20 years!
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Immigrating to Eastend

By Spencer Streichert

Mrs. Kay Vander Zaan of Eastend, SK, was born in 1923 in Holland. Mrs. Vander Zaan and her husband immigrated to Canada in the 1950’s with their children. Mrs. Vander Zaan and her husband were neighbours, but she didn’t formally meet him until she was sixteen. She is a proud mother and Grandmother with 13 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

When Mrs. Vander Zaan was a teenager, Holland was occupied by the Germans for four years during World War II. “If I remember right it was May 5th, 1940,” Mrs. Vander Zaan said, “We were milking cows one morning and all of the sudden there were a lot of planes fighting, so we wondered what was going on. We all thought they would just go into Belgium and leave Holland alone.” According to Mrs. Vander Zaan this was a very bad time because the Germans would take anything including food. The citizens would get a food stamp each week to get food, but it was in very small portions and barely enough to feed a family. Mrs. Vander Zaan …

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Eastend Memorial Hall

by:   Bernt Hanson

Dancing has always been a beloved pastime in small town communities, and Eastend has been no different. In the early days of Eastend, dances were held in the loft of a livery barn owned by Crawford and Jones. Dances were then held in a building on main street owned by William Anderson and Byron Walters that at different times served as a poolroom, drugstore, dentist’s office, town office and courtroom. In 1929 Frank and Gladys Simpson built Eastend’s first true dance hall, Simpson’s Hall, on the corner where the old Credit Union currently stands. In the tough economic times of the 1930’s the hall was filled with grain, as the farmers hoped they could store it until prices rose. Because the dance hall was out of commission, dances were held at the Pastime Theatre. However, the theatre was not especially designed for dances and George Fletcher recalls being in the basement during a quick polka and seeing the floor moving up and down with the feet above. Nearly every Saturday …

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Music of the 1940’s is Still Alive in Eastend

By Cleo Morvik

Mrs. Dorothy Armstrong is 86 years old. She’s seen a lot and knows a lot, but the way she talks about music is something else. You can tell how much she loves it; that’s why it was such a joy to talk to her about her days of the Big Band era, playing piano in the 1940’s.

She was only about 8 years old when she first started playing the piano. Her Dad was a talented fiddle player and she learned to chord along with him on the family piano (which now resides at her sister’s home). Gradually she started adding melodies to her chords and by age 13 she was good enough to play with the Eastend Rhythm Rascals without ever having a single lesson.

The Eastend Rhythm Rascals was a swing band featuring saxophone by Alfred Olson, piano by Elizabeth Vogt (Hamrin), Myrtle Ovre, and Bernice Hanson and Mrs. Armstrong herself, trumpet by Charlie Widdifield, drums by Jim Humphrey and banjo by Doug Anderson. After the war they were …

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The Eastend Stage Coach

By: Shelly Hall

A stage coach is an important part of history. Not so long ago, before trains, planes and cars, this was how people got from place to place. They hitched up a team or met a stage in one of the bigger towns and off they went. Some people decided over the years to continue building these beautiful methods of transport; Herb Koenig is one of these people. Two buggies were made by Herb: one that currently inhabits his front yard while the other was actually made from the fenders of an old Model T Ford. Mr. Koenig is most proud of the stage coach that he built.

Mr. Koenig started building his first stage coach in 1994 with no plans, only a picture and previous knowledge from building a few buggies. The stage was finished in 1996. I asked Herb why he decided to build a stage coach and he said, “Because I wanted one.” He shared some of his construction details with me as well, such as that particular stage has stabilizers in all four corners …

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The Dollard Fire “Engine”

By: Ruby Harvey

The Dollard fire engine, as some would call it, was first put to use in 1917. Although, engine is not quite the right word, it is what most people use to name it. The two-wheeled, four-man powered vessel includes a 30 gallon water tank, two additional ropes and hooks for two more men, and two air tanks for air pressure. This only resulted in about 150 pounds of air pressure. That is only one-quarter of the pressure available on fire engines today.

At this time there were many different versions of similar contraptions. Some were bigger that were pulled by horse and had a pump for two men to create air pressure. These versions could hold up to 75-100 gallons of water. To make up for the lack of water, a “bucket brigade” usually followed close behind.

Although Dollard got a real fire truck in the 1950’s, the old relic continued being active until 1961 and currently is available to view in the Eastend Historical …

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The Rebekah Lodge

Gardenia Rebekah Lodge in Eastend was incorporated as a lodge on April 18, 1928. The meetings were held above the old Rexall Drug Store, but then were moved to a hall above the skating rink. In 1981, they were moved to the Tea Room of Eastend Memorial which is their present location. The Lodge officers were installed by Shaunavon members.

Like other Lodges, they went through tough times such as money difficulties during the thirties, and it was sometimes hard to keep going. Because of the perseverance by some members, giving up was not an option.

The Rebekah Lodge declined in membership from 50 in 1983 to 15 in 2005. The Lodge made the decision to disband and donate their record books, gowns, and regalia to the Eastend Historical Museum for display.

Members of the Rebekah Lodge are proud of their accomplishments. They supported the Arthritis fund, bursaries, senior housing, loans for students, United Nations tours, Benevolent Fund for needy Oddfellows and Rebekahs, World Disaster Fund and World Eye Bank.

Thank you, Doris Stork for giving this information.

The Rebekah’s …

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The Benison Building

Early in 2012, the Eastend High School students undertook a research project about the community’s history. The following blogs contain the reports and stories created by those students as a result of their research and interviews with some senior residents of Eastend.

The Benison Building

By Jessica Scharf

The people of Eastend refer to the office building which is owned by the historical museum as the Benison Building. The Benison Building has been home to many businesses. It was built throughout the years of 1917 -1918, and started out as a service station until 1946. It then became a Barber shop in the fifties and sixties. In 1972, the Benison building was then turned into an appliance shop and that lasted until 1980. The Benison building was a law office around the time of 1980 to the 1990’s in which Heather Arendt was a legal secretary. Then it was known as the Benison Building from around the 1990’s until 2005 when the business was closed and the building was donated to the museum where it turned into a historical Artifact …

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The George Haddad Exhibit

By Alice Hanlin

The collection of displays in the Eastend Historical Museum and Cultural Centre Inc. is varied. It contains information about many of the pioneers and early residents of the community who have formed a foundation for our rich cultural heritage.

One such intriguing exhibit is about the world renowned pianist, George Haddad. George’s parents moved to Eastend in 1916 where they operated a grocery store. George was born two years later in 1918. He was one of 10 children, and a member of a very musical family. George’s musical abilities showed exceptional giftedness and his talents were encouraged. At age 8 he won first honours at the Provincial Music Festival. By age 13 he had earned his A.T.C.M. degree.

George Haddad spent his life in a world of music, sharing his talents through concert performances, and his own teaching of others. Although he lived and worked in the U.S. he was always listed as a Canadian whenever or wherever he played. He was back honouring his home community of Eastend with his gift of music with in 1971, …

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Lantern making inside the LaRose Building

The LaRose Building

By Glen Duke (Distant cousin of Lyle LaRose)

The LaRose building was the inspiration and dream of Lyle LaRose and his mother Dolores.  The school room is in the center of the building used to be a granary that he purchased from Joe Bluekins.  It was situated in the extreme NE corner of Eastend along Chimney Coulee road on the property currently owned by Dorothy Nelubowich.  Lyle moved the granary to their farmyard north and west of Eastend in the Klintonel school district.  Then he built the existing structure over top and around the granary giving lots of wall space for displaying articles.  Lyle created this small museum right on his farm.  After he retired and moved to Swift Current, he decided to donate the building and to loan its contents to the Eastend Historical Museum.  It was in January 16, 2006 that mover Doug Hallam delivered the building to its present location in the Historica lMuseum compound.

After Lyle’s death in early 2011, we were notified that he had donated all of the contents …

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