Saving A Piece Of Vermilion’s History

The CN Station. Photo Jan Scott

Members of the Vermilion River Naturalist Society, formerly the Vermilion River Naturalist Club, were involved in volunteer efforts to restore the station following the move. It later became something of a home base for the organization, serving as a gathering place for meetings, guest speakers and social activities.

Over the years, however, the building began to show its age and repairs became increasingly necessary. The station has been closed to the public since 2023.

That closure raised questions about what would happen to the building and whether it could once again become an active part of the community rather than simply a piece of Vermilion’s past.

The newly formed Vermilion CN Station Preservation Society hopes to help answer some of those questions and build community support around preserving the building for future generations.

There is also interest in seeing the station once again provide a home base for the Vermilion River Naturalist Society, reconnecting the organization with a building its members helped restore decades ago.

While there is still work ahead and details surrounding the station’s future will need to be worked out, the Aug. 11 gathering provided an opportunity for residents to learn more, share ideas and become involved.

Buildings like the CN Station can be easy to take for granted when they have been part of the landscape for decades. But they also hold the stories of the people who built a community, those who worked to preserve it and the generations who came afterward.

For Vermilion, the little station in the Provincial Park remains one of those connections to the past. Those working to preserve it hope it will once again have a place in the community’s future.