Description du lieu patrimonial

Pioneer Hall is a Municipal Heritage Property encompassing .8 hectares of rural land in southwestern Saskatchewan near the Towns of Shaunavon and Gull Lake. The property features a small wood-frame community hall with grass picnic and sports grounds.

Valeur patrimoniale

The heritage value of Pioneer Hall resides in its association with community life in the Illerbrun district. Since 1921, the hall has been the principal venue for such community events as dances, wedding celebrations, banquets, music and drama productions, sports days, picnics and ball tournaments. Some of the earlier gatherings are remembered as very lively affairs that earned the hall the nickname “Home Brew Hall.” Pioneer Hall continues to serve its community as one of few still-functioning rural halls in this area of the province, with a fifth generation now beginning to enjoy the facility.

Significant heritage value also lies in the property’s status as a symbol of community spirit and as a memorial to the area’s pioneers. From the beginning, the hall represented the community’s willingness to work together for common goals. Recognizing the need for a social centre, a local women’s organization, the Burns Progressive Homemakers’ Club, began a campaign in 1920 to raise money for construction of a hall. With sufficient funds secured by 1921, “Pioneer Hall” was built on donated land with local volunteer labour. Today, the ongoing ability to cooperatively sustain a facility of this calibre remains a source of pride for community members. The name “Pioneer Hall” acknowledges the foresight of the district’s early residents in creating this important community institution.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Bone Creek No. 108 Bylaw No. 4.1-96.

Éléments caractéristiques

The heritage value of the Pioneer Hall resides in the following character-defining elements:
-the siting of the hall on a parcel of rural land consisting of an open area of sports and picnic grounds demarcated from the surrounding grain fields;
-the hall’s boomtown façade that lends prominence to the building and distinguishes it from utilitarian farm buildings of similar design;
-interior elements characteristic of a community hall, including the floor plan consisting of the main hall area with hardwood dance floor, the bar and kitchen areas with service windows at one end of the hall, and the performance stage at the opposite end;
-elements that speak to the hall’s history, including the exterior signage and the stage curtain that is adorned with the logos and advertisements of businesses that have operated in the district throughout the years.