Legacy Giving: Stained glass windows, heritage site plaques on Medicine Hat Historical Society’s to-do list

By Medicine Hat News on September 17, 2019.

NEWS PHOTO
Medicine Hat Police Service's station stands where the old Medicine Hat General Hospital used to be located.

The Medicine Hat Historical Society has a couple of ongoing initiatives for those looking to contribute towards historical preservation in the Hat.

Earl Morris, who represents the society on the city’s Heritage Resources Committee, says the society’s stained glass windows project is one of its more prominent initiatives in the works.

“Some time ago we rescued from the west coast the stained glass windows that came out of St. Teresa’s Academy. It was under demolition in the early 1980s,” Morris explained.

Morris and his wife, Judy, whose also active with the society, rescued the windows from going to the landfill.

Two local organizations are working with the society to get the windows installed at locations that are still under negotiation, so Morris is unable to disclose them.

Donations to the historical society will help with these windows’ preservation, which involves restoring their wood frames, Morris said.

“Obviously, since they’ve been outside since the 1980s, they need restoration. There’s a restorer in town who’s really good at restoring windows,” he said. “The intent is that the historical society will pay for the restoration of those windows and hand them over to one or more organizations who will install them already restored.”

Additionally, the city has provided the society with a grant to install “information signage” at different historical sites over town.

“The Heritage Resources Committee has now put plaques on 14 different designated municipal heritage sites, but they’re pretty expensive, in the order of a couple-thousand dollars, and there are a lot of places in town that exist, or don’t exist anymore,” said Morris.

For example, the police station is at the site of the old hospital, but this wouldn’t be covered by the city grant, as it isn’t designated an official heritage site.

“I’m working on a project … for historic sites which are not valid for heritage designation, such as the old hospital and many other buildings around town that are old enough to deserve recognition with information signage. Certainly, the Heritage Resource Committee would be OK with donations for that project,” Morris said.