Preserve history, don’t erase it

In the early 1990s, controversy erupted over a push to rename Sister Kennedy Centre as “Pleasant Pastimes Place” (or something to that effect).
Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and her name continues to adorn the seniors’ centre on Nelson Street as it should. After all, you don’t name a building after someone and then unceremoniously ditch it a few years later.
Fast forward to 2009 and word the Rainy River District School Board is inviting suggestions from the public for a name for the new school now under construction to replace aging Robert Moore. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 29, after which a committee will recommend three possible names to the board, with the board expected to approve the name in March.
And just like that, Robert Moore, whose namesake has been a fixture in Fort Frances since 1913, seemingly will be doomed to the dustbin of history.
Granted, the two situations aren’t exactly the same. In the case of the seniors’ centre, it revolved around renaming an existing building, not a new one. And adding to the debacle was the fact that Sister Kennedy was still alive at the time.
In the school board’s case, Alexander MacKenzie already has been razed from public recognition with the closing and demolition of that school five years ago. And F.H. Huffman faces a similar fate next fall when that school closes and its students are amalgamated with the new school.
Why, then, assume the name Robert Moore would remain once its doors are shuttered?
And truth be told, chances are fewer and fewer residents even know who these men were.
Yet obviously they were important enough in our town’s early years to have three schools named after them. And therein lies the crux of the matter—how a community looks to the future while still remembering and honouring its past.
Nothing lasts forever, of course, but something is lost every time the name of a pioneer, or someone who played a critical role in forging our town, is wiped away for good.
While it may be too late for Alexander MacKenzie, there’s no reason why the new school shouldn’t be named after Robert Moore, with perhaps its library or playground dedicated to F.H. Huffman.
Hopefully, enough residents also see the wisdom in preserving our history rather than erasing it.