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Yellowknife Historical Society’s $1.5M museum slowly takes shape

A non-profit heritage group’s long-running dream of turning a piece of the city’s past into a multi-use museum is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Eddie Paul, a local contractor, left, brings Yellowknife Historical Society president Walt Humphries up to speed on ongoing repairs to the former Giant Mine recreational hall, located near the Great Slave Cruising Club’s boat launch.

The Yellowknife Historical Society – a newly re-branded collective committed to the preservation of Yellowknife’s cultural, economic and natural history – has kicked off construction at the former Giant Mine recreation hall.

It's a once-bustling community hub the society hopes to transform into a museum and interpretive centre.

Since late July, local contractors – overseen by Yellowknife Historical Society president Walt Humphries and secretary-treasurer Ryan Silke – have worked to remove weather-worn wooden siding and hazardous material from the red-roofed rec hall, which sits near the Giant Mine site and the Great Slave Cruising Club’s boat launch.

Built in 1953, the recreation hall was the go-to leisure spot for Giant Mine workers and staff living at the townsite.

The latest phase in the hall’s face-lift, Humphries told Yellowknifer, is a crucial step in the society’s bid to breathe new life into storied space.

“Once we get the walls done then we’ve got the building enclosed and it’s weatherproof, then we can work on it in the winter and in the summer. Before we didn’t have power and we didn’t have heat. That’s why it’s important,” he said.

The current construction is part of the society’s ambitious $1.5-million plan to transform the aging recreational hall into a museum that showcases Yellowknife’s local history – mining and more – complete with a planned exhibit hall, tea room, library and gift shop.

The Yellowknife Historical Society hopes to complete the project by 2020.

With two to three years of work ahead, the initiative is still in its infancy, but the society plans to install new windows, doors and siding to the rec hall by the end of the summer.

Once the exterior is complete, it’s on to the inside.

“After the walls are done, then we can start on the electrical and the interior of the building,” said Humphries.

While construction is well underway, the project’s completion hinges on the on the support of private and government sponsors.

“We’re dependent on funding and we’re hoping to get it done in two or three years. If the money comes in it’ll be done fast; if it doesn’t it’ll be done slower,” he said.

Recent progress on the project follows years of hiccups and false starts. The Yellowknife Historical Society – formerly dubbed the NWT Mining Heritage Society and YK Spirit – made repairs to recreation hall’s roof and foundation in 2007 and 2010, but remediation work at the Giant Mine site stalled development for 10 years.

Now, with the completion of new windows, doors and siding a month or so away, Humphries hopes to fill the revamped rec hall’s walls with markers and memorabilia of Yellowknife’s rich past – and in doing so, he aims to fill a demand.

Aside from the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, which focuses of the history of NWT as a whole, Humphries said there, “is no Yellowknife museum.”

“When people come up here they want to see some of the local history and some of the local colour - that’s what we plan to concentrate on,” he said.

“There is no group that’s preserving Yellowknife history and local history and that’s what we’re doing."

While the Giant Mine remediation process will continue near the site of in-the-works museum, Humphries said he doesn’t expect it will interfere with the museum’s development. He also stressed the proposed museum will stand well away from any potentially contaminated land.

As for what Yellowknifers think of the society’s plan to re-purpose the rec hall, Humphries said he’s received positive feedback.

“People are supportive and enthusiastic.”