When the DCMA was planned, the decision was made to incorporate many historic components into the overall design of the facility, to “build in” some of Dufferin’s history. This included parts salvaged from demolished buildings and materials such as the stones in the building’s foundation that were found and gathered from old fences and stone piles on farms in the local community.
The largest of these components are three heritage buildings, carefully restored and re-erected inside the DCMA facility, which include a one-and-a-half storey pioneer log house built in 1852, the Rich Hill Orange Lodge hall built in 1861, and “Crombie's Station,” a Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway flag station built in 1882. All three of these structures were originally preserved by the Dufferin County Historical Society during the 1960s, and for many years, were located at its museum site in Hyland Park, Shelburne, Ontario. As part of arrangements made to construct the DCMA facility, the three structures were disassembled, moved and stored. They would be rebuilt inside the new museum. The original Knight / McCutcheon log house was lost when fire destroyed its temporary storage facility.