Tree Packing Shed

The Packing Shed was constructed completely of wood in the fall of 1913. It was gable-roofed, with a two-storey portion of 50 feet by 24 feet containing a packing room/workshop on the main floor and a store room above, and a one storey adjunct 24 feet by 16 feet.  The packing shed was sheathed with metal, perhaps as a rodent deterrent. It was also believed that metal sheathing may be used as a fire retardant. 

Over the Nursery Station's lifetime, 147 million trees were distributed to prairie farmers from this building.

Spring triggered a flurry of activity, as last year's seedlings were lifted, bundled in peatmoss, wrapped in burlap and packaged in bales. The vast inventory of trees was then loaded on carts for transport to the Sutherland Railway Station, ready for their journey to farms across the prairies.

This building underwent numerous changes during the life of the Nursery Station, and by the mid 1960s the original workshop adjunct had been demolished and replaced with a one and one-half-storey expansion to the south of the original building. A cold storage room was created above the workshop in the half-storey, and a sloped shed roof replaced the peaked roof over the original single storey workshop. A tree storage cellar was also built along the north wall.

In the early 1970s a single-storey structure was added to the north wall of of the original two-storey building. The main floor workshop had no interior walls until the mid 1980s, when walls were added to form an office area and a welding area. Many doors were upgraded and replaced and some of the originals may still be stored on site. The original clapboard siding is protected under the new vinyl siding.

The packing shed now referred to as the Maintenance Building is used as a general workshop for the facility operations.