Membership for 2020
Help Keep the Station On Track

We the Friends of Freeman Station (FOFS) are now opening our membership drive for 2020. These funds help in the daily operation of the station. We would greatly appreciate your support.

The FOFS group are 100% volunteers – no one is paid – formed to restore and now manage the 1906 Freeman Station in Burlington. The Freeman Station has been part of the Burlington community for over 100 years.

We have a Board meeting the second Wednesday of each month 7pm at the Station and you are cordially invited to attend.

All members receive a 15% discount on items purchased at the Station.

Get involved by joining one of our committees.

You are able to obtain your membership either through this website  or by sending a cheque to our mailing address indicating it is for 2020 membership. The cost is still $20.00 for a yearly membership; your membership card will be mailed to you.

To announce special events/activities we use our FOFS Email Connection via Constant Contact so please include your email to stay in touch!

Thank you.

Wednesday January 8, 2020 at 7pm, held at the station.  All are welcome!

Sponsor a BENCH $500.00

Sponsor A Large PLANTER $250.00

Each of these will bear a stainless steel plate with a commemorative inscription…
…And they will all add much needed funds for the continuing restoration of Burlington’s historic Freeman Station. Just mail a cheque to Friends of Freeman Station, PO Box 91536, Roseland Plaza, Burlington. ON, L7R 4L6; or click on the “Donate” link in the header.

Click Book on the History and Restoration of Freeman Station

To date, more than 9,000 hours of volunteer labour have gone into the project, and more than $ 700,000 in cash and corporate/ private donations and pledges has been raised. On the Station’s Lower Level, we’re in progress with a computer-driven, museum-quality interactive diorama depicting life in the hamlet of Freeman, which is now part of Burlington, in the early Twentieth Century.

We’re looking for volunteers to join the administration of the  Station and/or the diorama construction project. Depending on your interests, there are many opportunities for you to get involved in this historic legacy.

Volunteer opportunities:

• Curriculum development- writing teacher material for class visits

• Accounting – simple, spread sheet, income & expenditures

• Photography – amateur (digital!)

• Computer – correspondence, spreadsheet data input and management

• Web site – assistant Web master

• Email database – adding/editing contact information

• Gardening – grounds maintenance, flower beds, mowing, weeding

• Community relations – arranging and staffing public appearance events

• Publicity – news stories and media relations

• Model railroading – garden scale design, layout, and operation

• Videography – video documentation and editing

• Artistry – scene and mural painting

• Docents – volunteer staffing to receive and brief the public

• Artifact management – logging, documenting, photographing, data entry

• You have some special talents not listed but applicable

To any extent that you can help, please email us — info@freemanstation.ca — and let us know your interest.

We’ve been working with local families to capture their stories  about life in the village of Freeman and early Burlington.  The first of these are now published under the “Families of Freeman/Stories” link above (or click here) and include “A.D. McMillan, Fruit and Vegetable Grower,” “Memories of Freeman,” “The Freeman Family and the village of Freeman,” “The Smith Family (Smith’s Funeral Home),” and the life story of “Theo Bullock.”  There are many more family histories and anecdotes which could be added to this collection, and we’d very much like to hear from you, to add your family’s memories.  Just drop us a note to info@freemanstation.ca and we’ll work out the details.

Christmas came early to the Station, as the masons from Thorstone — including Joel Thorstone and his staff — Colin, Mark and Mitchell — have now completed the work of re-installing the Whinstone facade across the front of the Station.  Work proceeded notwithstanding the cold weather and they finished in five days.  Beautiful job, guys.  We are thrilled to see the result!

…so here we are again, Friends of Freeman Station volunteers in the 2016 Burlington Santa Claus Parade.  Nice day, mild temperatures, no rain.  What more could the intrepid volunteer parade participant ask for?  Well, a reliable ride, what else?  And a good time was had by all…

_{(Intrepid photos:  Bob Miller)}

Leslie Dawe and her Mother arrived at the Burlington Junction Station from England by ship and train in 1956.  To celebrate the 60th anniversary of that occasion, Leslie invited 35 of her closest friends and relatives to meet her at the Freeman Station.  The rest, they say, is history.

She was greeted this time by the Mayor of Burlington, Rick Goldring, and Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed-Ward. Greetings were also read from Hon. Karina Gould, Member of Parliament for Burlington, and Hon. Eleanor McMahon, MPP for Burlington.

The family presented Leslie with a Whinstone named in her honour, and Friends of Freeman Station endowed her with a Lifetime Honourary Membership.  “I remember arriving at the Station warmly dressed in fur-lined coat and boots, expecting to step out into a cold Canadian November,” Leslie said.  “That’s what Grandma had prepared us for.  Instead the temperature was in the 60’s, and we were sweltering!”

Well, Leslie, we couldn’t quite replicate that day’s weather for you, but we did pretty good:  temperature around 45 degrees F and partly sunny, so really a nice day.  So congratulations and thank you for thinking of Burlington Junction Station as the venue for your 60th commemoration!

P.S.  If you, dear reader, or someone you know would like to come past the Freeman Station on your nostalgic occasion, we’ll be happy to accommodate you.  Just send us a note to info@freemanstation.ca and we’ll arrange it.

John writes, ” last Wed., Thurs., and Friday Ken Brooks and I completed the remaining installation of clapboard siding on the oval-window wall, plus the areas above the triple windows on either side of the oval window wall.  Denny and Ken finished the exterior painting in these areas except for some narrow trim that can wait until Spring. This area is now all buttoned up for winter and really looks good. Thanks to everyone who helped out in this area over the last year.”

And thanks to Bob M., Gord, and Denny, who worked under Ken Brooks’ tutelage to carefully remove the 110-year-old inside wall planks in the baggage room, thus enabling insulation and wiring to be installed.  Another section of the building moving toward completion…