Series QTN.01 - Queenstown Community Hall series

Queenstown Community Hall was built on the north west corner of Railway Avenue and 1st Street South, in late 1927, and subsequently [before ‘47] moved across the street to the south west corner, the former site of the teacherage.

One of the first events held there was an “Old-Timer’s Dance”, held In January 1928, which was sponsored by a group of long-time area residents, and offered the enticements of both old-time fiddlers and moose meat sandwiches. Other events held over the years included student concerts and festivals; dances; wedding receptions; Stampede Wrestling; adult Drama Club productions; tap dancing classes; Royal Canadian Legion Children’s Christmas parties; town meetings; Women’s Institute functions; badminton club; and a movie every Saturday night. These were originally presented by a travelling agent from the Film Exchange, who would bring a screen and projector along with the film reels; by the late 1950s, the Hall had its own equipment. The girls of the Queenstown Explorers club used to make pop corn to sell at the screenings.
Some members of the Hall Board were also members of a town hockey team called the Queenstown Cleaners, and by the mid-1980s the team as a whole had unofficially become responsible for overseeing Hall activities, mainly hockey parties, dances, stags, and poker games. The last function held at the Hall was a New Year’s Dance, December 1990, attended by area’s young adults; the older generation had a separate gathering, in the new Community Hall that had been built in Milo.
The Queenstown building was subsequently purchased and used for storage by a private individual.