Elliot Lake’s Historical Society hosted its monthly meeting Wednesday with special guest speaker and local historian Bill Gareau talking about his memories of the community since his family moved here in 1957.
Gareau is well known on Facebook as he regularly posts historical pictures of mining works in Elliot Lake from 1955 to the mid- 1990s when uranium mining operations closed here.
His parents settled during in Elliot Lake with the mining rush is 1957 and Gareau and his own family have lived her ever since.
Society chair Marie Murphy-Foran welcomed those attending the Wednesday evening meeting held at the ski chalet at Mt. Dufour.
“I’m very, very pleased to see so many out here,” she said. “As time goes on we’re hoping we can grow this organization so we can celebrate the great history of Elliot Lake. So we recognise the people who built this community.”
Co-chairman Edo Ten Broek also welcomed he more than 20 people attending the meeting. He said the society is looking for new locations. He also mentioned that donations to the organization will hopefully be tax deductable.
The group has also secured a donation for about $7,000 to assist with its initial budget. He said the society is also looking for assistance in developing a website.
Gareau recalled growing up in Elliot Lake where he would eventually carve out a life for his own family.
He lived in Cobalt until his parents moved here in February 1957. According to him there were at least two major shopping spots, Kressge and Hudson Bay, where he would eventually have one of his first jobs.
Gareau remembered the first shutdown in the early 1960s when uranium contracts demise forced the shutdown of some mines.
By the mid 1990s all the mines closed operation and the city had to focus on other economic work to restore Elliot Lake and that came in work done by Elliot Lake Retirement Living to bring people in to live here.
Unfortunately a video from 1975 about the growth of Elliot Lake which showed comment from early settlers to the community and people who experienced its early growth and what that meant cut out about halfway through, but it showed many recognizable personalities associated with it history.
The society will hold another meeting next month.