The Friends of Freeman Station (FOFS) have announced that a CN caboose and a CP boxcar are all set in place at 1285 Fairview Street, just east of the Burlington Central Fire Station. An official opening ceremony will happen as soon as COVID-19 protocol allows.
The original station burned in 1904 and was rebuilt in 1906. The plaque at the current location reads: “Grand Trunk Railway, Burlington Junction Station, Village of Freeman, Built 1906, Closed 1988, Restored 2017, Re-opened July 1, 2017.”
Membership in the Friends of Freeman Station is available at $20 per year or $200 for life. David Vollick is the president and Bob Lehto, membership director, posts on their website, http://www.freemanstation.ca/
Did you know? Many British Home Children, needy children who were moved from the United Kingdom to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from 1869 through to the 1970s, landed at Freeman Station. Spencer George Smith, who Spencer Smith Park is named after, was one of the 100,000 children sent from Britain to Canada between 1869 and 1932/1948 (depending upon the source). He arrived at the older Freeman station in 1885.
