Moosonee, ON

1998 - Moosonee Revisited - Garnet Hamilton

After the closing of CFS Moosonee in 1975, the base location and buildings were purchased by the town of Moosonee for One Dollar. At this point, every second house was separated into two parts and the parts were towed across the Moose River during the winter to Moose Factory. They were then rebuilt to form a new subdivision. The remaining houses with their now larger lots were sold to bidders from the town.

The Headquarters building, the Mess Hall building, Henry Hudson school along with the CE Building and the Recreation Centre became the basis of Moosonee's first high school, Northern Lights Secondary. The students donned coats and boots to move from class to class in different buildings. The Officer's Mess became one of the few "History Classrooms" in the country with a bar. The Time Capsule in front of Henry Hudson School was opened, but water had seeped in and ruined the contents.

Until well into the nineties, the residence building was used to accommodate students from Moose Factory during freeze up and break up. The students were helicoptered over to Moosonee on Monday morning and back to Moose Factory on Friday night while river transport was not possible. Meals were eaten in the Mess Hall, then the High School cafeteria. A High School was built in Moose Factory in the mid nineties, making river transport of students unnecessary.

A new school building was built in Moosonee on the base in the early nineties. The building was north of and adjoining the recreation centre. The pool is also a part of the Moosonee recreation program.

Wives of Armed Forces members stationed at CFS Moosonee will remember the bus ride down the base road through the bush to the Bay store in town. The road is now paralleled on both sides with new roads lined with houses. The Mess building is no longer used due to wiring problems. The Headquarters building houses secondary and public school board offices and the CE buildings house the Moosonee Public Works Department.

The base chapel was torn down and the material loaded onto giant sleds. The sleds were drawn up the winter road up the west coast of James Bay and rebuilt in Kashechewan. Henry Hudson school has been remodeled into a six unit apartment building.

-- Garnet Hamilton, ex school teacher, CFS Moosonee, Ontario