Heritage Week will be celebrated across Ontario from Feb. 20 to 26, and marks a special milestone for the Town of Collingwood.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Collingwood becoming the first municipality in Canada to have its heritage conservation district included on the Registrar of Canada’s Historic Places. To celebrate the occasion, on Feb. 21, the town will be presenting the owners of 219 Hurontario St. with a Heritage Award for their commercial restoration.
Currently home to property real estate company Property Valet, 219 Hurontario St. has a long history in Collingwood. Available records indicate the building may pre-date the Great Fire of 1881.
The building had previously been home to The Old Town Terrace. The stone rubble wall that runs in front of the building parallel to Hurontario Street today is present in historic photographs of the site dating back to 1916.
The stone wall, built of local rubble, is noted as a “rare piece of traditional, stone masonry in a brick town” by architect and planner Philip H. Carter in the Collingwood Downtown Heritage Conservation District Inventory of Buildings.
Heritage Week is celebrated in Ontario annually in the third week of February.
Each year during Heritage Week, Collingwood council presents awards to heritage property owners who have demonstrated outstanding restoration work.
The town hall clock tower will also be illuminated blue from Feb. 17 to 26 in recognition of Ontario Heritage Week.
If you’re interested in Collingwood’s heritage and would like to learn more, there are four self-guided Heritage Walking Tours that are available on the Discover Collingwood app through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store:
- The Look Up Tour – Features & Forms Downtown Collingwood
- Downtown Heritage Walk
- West Heritage Walk
- East Heritage Walk
You can also scan the QR codes on wayfinding signs throughout town. Hard copies of maps are also available at town hall (97 Hurontario Street) and the Collingwood Museum (45 St. Paul Street).
New this year, the town is also launching a Heritage Collingwood e-newsletter for residents to say informed about heritage related news, resources, and funding/grant opportunities. To sign up for the e-newsletter, click here.
