Saturday, November 29, 2008

Silverdale Hall




When I can, I'll ask the team at the Silverdale & Districts Historical Society more about this building. Seems in late March 1896, the Wade Agricultural Hall burned down, according to the Hawera & Normanby Star of 23 March. Looks like it was rebuilt -- but in April 1899, it was nearly destroyed again.
Auckland, 11th April --An attempt to burn down the Agricultural Hall at the Wade, an agricultural district on the east coast, 24 miles north of the city, was frustrated on Wednesday night. A fire was discovered in the back part of the hall. The burning material proved to be straw saturated with kerosene. The floor of the platform and part of the walls inside had been similarly treated. The fire was extinguished.
(Evening Post, 12 April)

I popped inside today to have a look at the arts & craft fair happening there. Lovely interior -- a real rural meeting place.

2 comments:

  1. Gosh I haven't been to Silverdale for quite a few years now, apparently they have some good factory shops there.

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  2. That's what I've heard, Amy, yes. I enjoyed the day immensely, today. One thing had me doing a double-take -- I saw driver-less cars in the middle of Silverdale Road, the main shopping area. After several blinks, I realised that the cars were using the painted median as a parking area. There was a lot of traffic there.

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