On May 14th, 1894, Nellie Irving, a 20-year-old schoolteacher from Alice Township (shown at centre in above photo of Renfrew Model School Convocation c.1894), opened the first school established in the village of Barry’s Bay. It happened 125 years ago this week and was a big moment in a very big year for this little Upper Madawaska village. It was the same year that the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railroad (OA&PS) opened its brand new Station in Barry’s Bay. And the rest, they say, is history.
Well, not quite, as anyone will see who attends Old School Barry’s Bay, 1894, a new Opeongo Readers’ Theatre production to be presented this Thursday May 16 at 7:00 p.m. at the Barry’s Bay Railway Station, the only OA&PS Railway Station left standing after 125 years.
“What happened 125 years ago this week is a thoroughly fascinating story, because the history of Barry’s Bay, as we all know, is anything but straightforward,” said Joanne Olsen, Chairperson of The Station Keepers, a volunteer group established to revitalize the old Barry’s Bay Station by promoting its iconic culture and heritage.
Poor Nellie Irving comes to town and the next thing you know, she’s fired, re-hired, and then almost excommunicated for helping out at a fund-raising dance to help pay her salary.
Olsen says the show about Nellie Irving will preview The Station Keepers’ re-opening of the Barry’s Bay Station this long weekend. Official ceremonies begin at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 18 when the entire Township of Madawaska Valley is “welcomed aboard” in true Station Keeper style. That’s when the group will unveil its newly renovated Railway Heritage Museum, along with its Salute to our Community Builders exhibit, which this month pays homage to the 125 years of teachers who have taught in the Township of Madawaska Valley from 1894 to 2019.
There will also be an opportunity to join new Station Keeper culture and heritage clubs, all based at the 125-year-old Station – clubs including a Heritage Music Club, a Heritage Cookery Club, and even something that promises to be unique to our area, The Station Keepers’ Company of Young Adventurers. It’s a group of volunteers, young and old, intent on locating and collecting a wide variety of physical and digital artifacts of local cultural and heritage interest, often located on far flung points of the compass, and not easily discovered by the faint of heart.
“We also have another new, intriguing thing — not so much an exhibit or a club, but an idea based on our area’s great storytelling tradition,” says Olsen. “It’s called Station Keeper’s Corner and it’s located in the old Station’s waiting room where anyone can come in and make an audio recording in answer to a set of prompts.” Olsen says the best answers, stories or yarns recorded at The Station Keeper’s Corner, especially those dealing with the culture and heritage of Barry’s Bay and area, will be used as part of the group’s new weekly podcast, The Opeongo Line, broadcast internationally every Sunday evening and available afterwards on the internet.
The hour-long podcast will also include a recurring segment called Beside the Fire where local historian, Mark Woermke, interviews people about their connection to Barry’s Bay. Usually, it will be recorded in front of a live audience at the Station once a month. For instance, this coming Sunday at 2:00 p.m. the show will center on retired schoolteachers who grew up in the area but who taught there in the 1960s.
Admission to all Station Keeper events is free though donations are gladly accepted, but, Olsen says, “only after you are thoroughly satisfied with each and every show, exhibit, activity or event.” Olsen also said anyone from inside or outside the Township is welcome to join The Station Keepers as a supporting member and volunteer. Official Membership will be made available at the Station starting this Saturday. Memberships are $20 annually and one membership covers an entire family household.
Olsen,J. and Conway,B. (2019,May12) Station Keeper’s 125th Anniversary — Grand Re-Opening [press release]
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