Dear Editor
Recently, I forwarded letters to city, town and government officials, service organizations and important agencies in the Battlefords requesting a letter of support in our quest to have the Saskatchewan Hospital designated a provincial heritage site.
Some have asked whether we have a plan for the Saskatchewan Hospital if it is bestowed this honour. The answer is, no. Other than to suggest that the main and auxiliary buildings would be able to house banquet halls and ballrooms, apartments and perhaps, offices, we do not have the engineering, legal skills and entrepreneurial perspective to draft a workable plan for this extraordinarily large and complex collective of historic buildings. But this in no way diminishes the validity of our intent and request.
As I say in my letter, "the Saskatchewan Hospital is the Battlefords' grandest and important structure. It's architecture and scale, the wonderful treed and landscaped grounds, and a location that affords a panoramic view of the North Saskatchewan River Valley are surely unmatched anywhere in Western Canada. This, combined with the hospital's extraordinary history, makes it eminently qualified to be designated a provincial heritage site."
At the risk of being redundant, that's why the Saskatchewan Hospital should be designated a provincial heritage site. We can figure out the rest later.
Richard W. Hiebert,
President, Battlefords Heritage Society
