Robert Berg
Dear editor:
I visited the old home town this past summer, and noted with interest the changes that have occurred in the two years since I was there.
One thing of interest is the building of a new Robert Moore School.
I must say that the reports of demolishing the old school buildings shocked me. How many generations of Fort Frances children walked the halls of those three majestic buildings, and sat probably in all of the classrooms at one time or another during their elementary school years?
In 2004, in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the first of the three blocks of buildings, the Times quoted from an article published in 1914: “Such a building will be an ornament and a credit to Fort Frances. . . .”
And the town doesn’t have many ornamental buildings left.
I heard rumors of also demolishing the courthouse and the library building. Are you trying to imitate Winnipeg—certainly one of the ugliest cities on Earth?
Someone once said, “If you forget your past, you have no future. . . .”
A month or so ago, I sent an e-mail to the Fort Frances Museum asking where I might find a picture of the old town hall. I never did receive a reply. Guess no one bothered to take a picture before they tore that down.
I remember going to the old town hall with my grandfather to pay bills back in the ’50s, and watched with amazement the telephone operators sitting in a room to the left of the entrance connecting people’s phone calls.
Wake up, Fort Frances, your history is being torn out from under you!
From the news reports, it appears that the opening of Boston Pizza created more of a stir than the soon-to-be-demolished Robert Moore School.
By the way, for future reference, in case the museum doesn’t have any pictures of the school buildings, I do.
(Signed)
Robert Berg,
Robert Moore School
student (1951-59),
Mendoza, Argentina
