What is the Hanna Roundhouse Society?
The Hanna Roundhouse Society (HRS) is a group of volunteers who are passionate about this historic building which has so much to offer our community. We want to bring it “back to life”, save the history & share it with others.
In 2009, Sandra Beaudoin, president of the HRS, learned someone had purchased the Hanna Roundhouse for its bricks. She decided to see what could be done and began investigation, research, and proposals including contacting federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. She received blessings from the Town of Hanna who also provided her with a 1981 Feasibility Study involving the Roundhouse.
The Hanna Roundhouse Society (HSR) was created in January 2010 to save the 1913 Canadian Northern Railway Roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta and the history associated with it. A structural engineer report in 2010 (paid with private funds), confirmed the original 19,000 ft.2 1913 roundhouse with 10 locomotive bays & attached 3,700 ft2 Boiler Room/Machine Shop was restorable. The purchase was completed September 20, 2013, and restoration officially began.
The unique 1913 Hanna Roundhouse is reportedly one of the last original roundhouses with a 90′ turntable, in Western Canada. The HRS is non-profit society of volunteers who have been working to restore/preserve this piece of local railway history, collect history of those who worked in the Hanna Roundhouse and provide a unique venue to support our rural community. The HRS registered, with Alberta Registries Jan 10, 2010.