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Starting over
?Usually, the demolition of a public building is itself a very public spectacle. The taxpayers can stand and almost watch their money fly away as every brick or pane of glass hits the ground. The millions that went into the building are vaporized, and you know as you watch that millions more will be poured into the hole where it stood, so that something grander can take its place. It can be painful to watch.
One of the most expensive publicly-owned edifices in Uxbridge has come down over the last several weeks, however, with almost no one noticing unless they lived in the immediate vicinity. We refer, of course, to the St. John’s School, or Kennedy House as it was more recently called. As Council met on Monday, the last few sections of the main dormitory building, the last building still standing, were being torn apart. The old farm house, the school, the shop building, these are already history.
Or at least everyone thought the dorm was the last building to go. Seems they missed an old food storage shed at the back (eastern edge) of the property, and will have to dedicate a few more dollars to getting rid of it as well. Makes you wonder why they had to store food so far from the kitchens. Leads you to speculate what other uses that building might have been put to. But never mind.
In her report to Council on the progress of the demolition, CAO Ingrid Svelnis also noted that some extra cash was spent to salvage the cupola on the dorm building, “which will hopefully be incorporated into a monument at the site to recognize what was formerly there”. Is this such a good idea? We don’t recall seeing any such monument on the site of the old post office, which was a much lovelier building and served the township a lot longer. And we suspect that for a lot of reasons, we might want to actually bury the memories connected with Kennedy House, rather than stir them up.
Certainly Jack Ballinger will be the first to tell you that for many of the residents and staff of the institution, there are some good stories to be told, of young men whose lives began to be turned around when they came there, where they learned life skills and work skills that stood them in good stead down the road. There was laughter at St. John’s, and pride, and the knowledge of a debt well paid.
But for perhaps as many others, the stories are darker. Nobody came to St. John’s or Kennedy House because they chose to, and for many, the place meant pain and regret and frustration. Despite the best intentions of the staff, it was not a step forward for many of the young men they worked with.
We should also forget the last few ignominious years when, due to the province’s criminal neglect, the buildings fell victim to vandals and Mother Nature to the point they could not recover.
Let those with good memories of Kennedy House cherish them in private. For the rest of us, let’s just level the ground and start over, and make it a place for nothing but happy thoughts and deeds. In that environment, a monument to a correctional institution would be nothing but a downer.
The Best Christmas Present Ever! In next week’s issue, many of our contributing writers will be sharing their stories of the best Christmas gift they ever received. We’d like to invite our readers to do the same. Just send us a couple of paragraphs on the most memorable present you ever got. We look forward to hearing about it!
