The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The end of an era has come at HBMS with yesterday's demolition of the last remaining company apartments. In a matter of hours, the buildings were turned to rubble as part of the company's continuing modernization efforts. "It's a significant change," said HBMS Director of Environment and Communications Wayne Fraser. "Now, for the first time since the 1920s, the company is no longer in the housing business." The remaining apartments, which stood across the street from the Flin Flon Community Hall, were among the oldest buildings in the Flin Flon area. Fraser said they were probably built in the late 1920s. One was believed to have originally been a bunkhouse, while the other was thought to have been initially used as a cafeteria. Fraser said it no longer made sense to keep the aging buildings due to maintenance, sewer and water, and infrastructure concerns. He agreed that the removal of the facilities represents a new age for the company. "They are certainly part of the past of HBMS," commented Fraser. There are no immediate plans for the vacant lot on which the apartments stood, other than filling in the land and planting grass. But down the road, Fraser said, HBMS may look at building a new changehouse or warehouse at the location. HBMS at one time owned 43 company apartments. The company began demolishing the structures in the early 1990s, deciding it no longer wanted to be in the housing business. By 2002, only four of the apartment complexes remained standing; by this year, only two still stood. Also torn down last year were a pair of aging company dorms near the north end of Main Street that were believed to be as old as 60 years.
