Nearly six months after a fire destroyed their building in downtown Prince Albert, The Salvation Army has a sign up remembering what once stood on Central Avenue.
On Sunday, the congregation from The Salvation Army Church brought the original sign from the building, which was rescued after the fire, and placed it inside the fencing which surrounds the now empty property.
“Now that our site has been cleared off and the fence has been put up, our church family needed some healing in this and closure to one chapter and the opening of another chapter,” Major Ed Dean of the Salvation Army said.
“We were able to re-hang the sign that was rescued. The original site was destroyed, except for that sign, which is a miracle in itself. We have been able to erect it on the property so that the next chapter is being written. What that chapter looks like yet we don’t know.”
The property was covered in fresh dirt following the completion of the demolition of what was left of the old building last week. Now, the property sits empty.
Dean said it was nice that the original sign could be saved.
An demolition crews knock down the former Salvation Army location in Prince Albert on May 27, 2026.
“It’s a miracle that that sign survived. It’s the heat of the intensity of the fire that night was horrific. However, that sign did not burn, and so it was meant to be there.”
Dean said they plan to hold a special service on the property in a couple weeks.
Dean said the service will reconsecrate the land, which formerly housed the Salvation Army Church and services on Central Avenue.
“We’ll take our church service from inside and we’ll bring it onto our land here and have a service as a congregation,” Dean explained. “The old is gone. The new is still being confirmed.
“It’s a new chapter of history and that new chapter is that you’ve got a blank slate here. What that looks like the artist hasn’t drawn in.”
Dean said that plans for what will happen in the future on the property is unknown.
“I thought it was appropriate to get this up right away because they just finished the site on Friday afternoon,” he said
The sign was rescued and held in storage after it was recovered. Dean thanked the people who made the rescue possible.
“We’re grateful for the keeper of the sign, Dan Sweeney and Sweeney Electric. They collected the sign for us and kept it at their place until we could put it back up here today,” Dean said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
