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The story of the old Roe Lake Hall,
as told by Mrs. Lorraine Faessler, long time resident and Pioneer living at Bridge Lake with her husband Charlie
Old Roe Lake Hall
Up until the
late forties the small community of Roe Lake used their school house for many activities, but as the
population began to grow it was soon evident that a central community hall was needed.
The building
of a community hall was the brainchild of the Roe Lake Women’s Institute, which was at that time very active.
To raise money for this tremendous project, the members sold shares at $5.00 a share all over the country with
no guarantee of it being paid back if the hall didn’t make money. Fortunately it did and every penny was paid
back.
Ed Malm
donated 3 acres of choice virgin land for the proposed building and also donated much of his time and energy,
working on it from the laying of the foundation until it was ready to open it’s doors two years later for the
grand opening dance. Ed then did the janitorial of it for many years without pay until his health failed and he was no longer able. The job was then
taken on by Forrest Bell for a few years and then by Ed’s son Howard.
The first job in
it’s construction was done by Karl Larson who owned a D4 Cat and dug out the basement. The cement work and all
the timber work in it’s foundation was done by Amos Kellock who was a relative newcomer to the area then. The walls were
then raised by volunteer labour with Clarence Kelly (one time owner of Loon Bay Resort) overseeing the job.
This almost came to disaster one night during a terrific windstorm. The walls were raised and just braced for
the night. During the evening a very bad windstorm started blowing and almost brought down the whole building.
Fortunately men could be got to the stricken building in time to re-brace the walls before any damage
resulted. The rafters,
roof and siding were put on in short order and the hall was opened in 1952
The land around
the building being all brush and trees was cleared by the first Government land clearing outfit ever to come
into the area.
Nearly all the
work of this tremendous project was voluntary, from the cutting of the timber with a small gasoline operated
sawmill owned by Marion Higgins to the construction of the hall and the clearing up of the land after the
bulldozers. Many local
men and women walked miles to the proposed building site carrying small children and worked hard all day.
Women and children piled and burned small trees, willows and brush. Older children and many of the women sawed
timber and hammered on boards right along with the men. As twilight
descended these families trudged the many miles home again still to do their own chores and prepare the
evening meal for themselves and their siblings. The next day they followed the same procedure.
A close
call the hall experienced during this construction period was told to me by Noveta Leavitt. She and a couple
of women went over to the hall to oil the floor. It was a very hot day and during the noon lunch while sitting
on the shady side of the building eating and enjoying a little relaxation, their oil soaked mops on the sunny
side of the building caught on fire from the intense heat of the sun. Fortunately they came around the
building and saw the boards just beginning to scorch and smoke. They were able to extinguish the flames but
their mop rags were burnt beyond use.
The first big
shindig to take place in the newly completed hall was the opening dance. It was attended by people as far away
as Clinton, 100 Mile House, Forest Grove and Lac La Hache, which was a considerable distance in those days of
bad roads and poor means of transportation. They arrived in every type of transport from horse and wagon,
horse back, walking and old Fords. One elderly
gentleman, who was well known for his dancing abilities in his earlier days but had not been to a dance in
twelve years, Ole Ellington, who was at that time in his seventies, surprised everyone by attending this
opening.
Many events
took place in the Roe Lake Hall over those past years including weddings, funerals, church services, birthdays
and golden weddings and anniversaries, Christmas concerts and badminton. One of the most
significant events held in the hall was a benefit dance for Tommy Powel which netted one thousand dollars.
I remember they
held a large auction at this event. My husband won a life pig in a Chinese auction while I won a shotgun which
was one of the door prizes. Little did I know that during the course of the evening my husband was telling
everyone (without my knowledge) that I had traded my shotgun for his pig. The pig has long since met it’s
Waterloo but the gun is still a source of debate in our home.
A unique
feature of the hall is it’s fir dance floor. This was cut from local lumber, transported to Jensen’s Sawmill
on Exeter Road (in those days a very small mill) where it was planed, then brought back to Roe Lake where it
was piled to dry. It stood up beautifully throughout many years of stomping and pounding of thousands of happy
dancers.
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