CFB Edgar
Cupid, C-4 or CFB Edgar is better known to people today as ‘Edgar’ which is located between Barrie and Orillia in the merged Oro-Medonte Township. It is situated at the highest point in the area, which is what made it ideal for its selection as the location for a radar station designed to be part of the NORAD system in 1951. It was a joint defense project between the Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Air Force to provide a sea-to-sea warning system against the Soviets. In true Dr. Strangelove fashion nothing ever came to be from this massively funded project based on paranoia. The station was completed in just two years. It originally had a school a heating and sewage plant and firehall, mess hall and pump house as well as a medical quarter’s area. There was a large recreation building that included a huge pool, a general store, library post office and living quarters as well as homes for married service people. It was built as a regular military base would be for self-sufficiency, but it’s somewhat remote and a fair distance from Barrie made commuting without a car, impractical.
Edgar operated as both an Early Warning system and a Group control intercept unit. Originally the radar equipment had a small radius of 80 miles but was later upgraded to 200 miles where all aircraft would be plotted manually on a large plotting board. This manual system was replaced with an automated system in 1961. Edgar closed shortly after in 1964 when other bases were upgraded. One cannot fathom why this separate unit was created other than the actual elevation and vantage point it offers as CFB Borden is relatively close to Edgar. Edgar was sold to the Province of Ontario where it was used as a training and residential centre for disabled adults, and not as the asylum many locals claim.
Edgar is an interesting place to visit since it has been abandoned for more then a decade and still looks (2006) as if everyone just walked away. There were not very many ‘artifacts’ lying around, and the only damage at the time was courtesy of the various policy agencies who have HE-MAN training here from time to time. The first place we dropped into was the recreational center which contained a huge pool on the lower level and a gym upstairs. While most of the buildings around base were the same, some of the recreational rooms, and maintenance areas were more interesting. Notable highlights include the punch in clock and sign in board (yawn) as well as the bar area near the rec center. Another cool find (well for Torontonians anyways) was a TTC bus! Whoa…how did this get here? It had no windows – obviously the result of some bizarre police role playing exercise.
Nothing feeling entirely satisfied with out first visit and feeling that so many at the location cramped our more usual ‘see everything’ approach last time, we decided a second trip was in order where we got to see the more northern end of the location. The view is truly spectacular from the Northern end of the base. Many of the buildings on this side were used as housing quarters for single service men and women while the houses more west of here were married living quarters, and also where the officers lived. We discovered that many of the buildings, including the rec center were now boarded up thoroughly and that some fire damage had occurred in the rear section.
Photos by Kathy and Jan.
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NTROPY.US is photographic and historical website featuring the work of Kathy Toth and Jan Normandale since 2005. NTROPY predominantly features industry and infrastructure from southern Ontario and the Northeastern United States, both active and abandoned.
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[...] No. 5 aircraft control and warning unit ( No.5 AC&WU) until October 1951 when that was moved to RCAF Edgar where the 31 Aircraft control and warning squadron was re-located, near CFB Borden. The [...]