The building that formerly housed the Cobalt and Northern Ontario Fire Museum and the Cobalt, Coleman, and Latchford Food Bank has now been demolished.
An adjoining building, belonging to a ratepayer, has been left standing.
The land where the museum stood belongs to the town.
At Cobalt’s August 20 council meeting, town manager Steven Dalley advised that the site where the museum stood is going to be levelled off, but that step is awaiting the completion of work on the side of the building still standing. After that is done, the work of cleaning up the debris will be completed.
"We do have a contractor now for the side of the building," he said.
"We had to wait to see what that wall was, to see what we're dealing with," he explained.
The site is fenced off at this time, he added.
"All safety precautions have been put into place," he assured.
The building had to be removed because the wall at the northeast side of the building was separating from the rest of the building. A portion of the facade had also collapsed from the front corner of the building.
Efforts had been made to salvage the building that housed the food bank and museum, however, the idea was abandoned after years of effort.
See: Unique Cobalt mural falling victim to wrecker's ball
And: Old arena may be new Cobalt Food Bank home
The museum had already been closed and artifacts dispersed, and the food bank volunteers were advised to vacate the building in October 2023 because the building was structurally unsound.
The Cobalt, Latchford and Coleman Area Food Bank is still seeking a new location.
Darlene Wroe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: Temiskaming Speaker
