By 1962, the Chamber of Commerce was making great strides in the betterment of the Sudbury community. The airport was operational, many of the roads and highways from Sudbury to outlying townships and various cities were established, and Sudbury was becoming a truly wonderful place to live. In 1963, the Sudbury Downtown Retail Association was created to help improve the economy in the central business district.

One of the many influential presidents of the Sudbury and District Chamber of Commerce during the 1960's was Jim Meakes. Mr. Meakes was the president in 1962 and was later appointed as Ontario vice-president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. During his years in this new position, he never failed to take advantage of an opportunity to promote Sudbury, even going so far as to promote Sudbury's winter carnival in which the downtown was made to look like a Yukon mining camp. In 1967, Jim Meakes helped the local Chamber of Commerce to purchase the former Bell estate and renovate it into a museum and arts centre to be donated to Laurentian University as part of the Chamber's Canadian Centennial project.

• Building for Tomorrow