Burnaby Village Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Burnaby Village Museum & Carousel

Location	6501 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Type	open-air museum

The Burnaby Village Museum is a fun open-air museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It's like stepping back in time to the 1920s! You can find it in Deer Lake Park.

The museum is usually open from May to September. They also have special events from September to March. This museum shows what a village looked like in the 1920s. It has 31 full-sized buildings. Staff members dress up in old-fashioned clothes. They show how people worked and lived back then.

The museum covers about 10 acres of land. Some buildings are real old ones, moved from other places. They have been carefully fixed up. Other buildings are copies, made to show off special items. One cool exhibit is a 1912 B.C. Electric Railway interurban tram. This was like an old electric train. The museum is also famous for its 1912 C. W. Parker Carousel. You can even ride this old carousel!

A Trip Through Time: The Museum's Story

The museum started in 1971. It was first called the Heritage Village. It began as a smaller place. Over the years, it grew to 10 acres. It became a major attraction in the Metro Vancouver area.

On November 19, 1971, the museum officially opened. Canada's Governor General, Roland Michener, was there. More than 15,000 people visited during its first three days! In 1972, the museum opened for its first full season. It had shops in replica buildings. It also had a "manor house" from 1922, called Elworth. There were even farm animals, like horses. You could watch them get new shoes at the blacksmith shop.

New Additions Over the Years

In 1975, a model railway opened at the Village. A Chinese Herbalist shop also opened that year. A 1911 bachelor's house was moved to the site. It belonged to Tom Irvine, a Burnaby resident.

More buildings arrived in 1976. The Royal Bank building from Britannia Beach was moved here. A 1927 Burnaby building became a real estate office. In 1977, a Japanese bathhouse (called an ofuru) opened. It was built to remember the first Japanese immigrant to B.C. The old Vorce B.C. Electric railway station also joined the museum in 1977.

In 1979, the Heritage Village was used for a TV show. It was called Huckleberry Finn and His Friends. This show was made by Canada and Germany.

Becoming the Burnaby Village Museum

In 1984, the museum changed its name. It became the "Burnaby Village Museum." This showed its role as Burnaby's community museum. In 1987, the Seaforth School display opened. This restored 1922 school was open to visitors. By 1989, a popular school program was offered there. In 1988, an 1893 farmhouse was moved to the museum. It belonged to Jesse and Martha Love.

In 1989, the miniature railway moved to Confederation Park. That same year, a historic carousel from the PNE closed. A group called "Friends of the Carousel" formed. They worked to buy and fix up the 1912 carousel. Burnaby promised to build a home for it at the museum.

In 1990, the City of Burnaby took over running the museum. The C.W. Parker Carousel officially opened in 1993. It was in its new home, the Don Wrigley Pavilion. In 1999, a school program called "Business as Usual" started. "Home Sweet Home" followed in 2000. Also in 2000, the museum opened "Stride Studios." This gallery shows different temporary exhibits.

Restoring the Tram and Recent Events

In 2001, the museum's 1912 British Columbia Electric Railway tram was moved. It went to a warehouse for a big restoration. This project took five years! In 2007, the restored tram, called Interurban 1223, returned. It was placed in a new tram barn. The Vorce station was also fixed up in 2008.

The Burnaby Village Museum was a stop for the Olympic Torch Relay in 2010. In 2011, the museum turned 40 years old. To celebrate, Burnaby City Council offered free admission! This was for the summer and Christmas seasons that year.

What You Can See: Permanent Exhibits

Bells Dry Goods was a store that sold fabrics and other goods. It was open from 1922 to 1937.

Here are some of the cool things you can explore at the Burnaby Village Museum:

• Tom Irvine's House – This small house was built in 1911 for a bachelor (an unmarried man).
• Church – A copy of a 1920s church. It is often used for weddings today.
• War Memorial Fountain – This fountain was put up in 1923. It honors those who served in wars.
• Vorce Tram Station – This is a real 1911 train station. It was part of the old Burnaby Lake interurban line. It was restored in 2008.
• Interurban 1223 Tram Barn – Here you'll find a restored 1912 B.C. Electric Railway tram. You can learn about how these electric trains helped Burnaby grow.
• C.W. Parker Carousel – A beautiful, restored 1912 carousel. Each horse was carved and painted by hand. You can ride it for a small fee!
• Elworth – This was the home of the Bateman family in 1922. It's a lovely house that is still in its original spot.
• Elworth Garage – The original garage for the Elworth home.
• Drugstore – See what a typical drugstore looked like in the 1920s.
• McKay Barbershop – A 1920s barbershop. It's based on a real one from Burnaby.
• The Stride Studios – This is a special gallery. It has a different exhibit each year.
• Burnaby Lake General Store – A 1920s general store. It's based on a real store from Burnaby.
• Royal Oak Garage – This garage is based on a 1925 garage on Kingsway in Burnaby.
• Optometrist – See what an eye doctor's office looked like back then.
• Central Park Theatre – You can watch silent movies from the 1920s here.
• Old Curly Locomotive – This is the oldest steam locomotive (train engine) in British Columbia. It was used in the 1880s to build part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
• Wagner's Blacksmith Shop – A working blacksmith shop! It's based on a 1925 Burnaby business.
• Steam Equipment – Learn how steam was used to power sawmills and other machines.
• Steam Donkey – These machines used steam to pull logs in the forest.
• Log Cabin – A copy of an old log house. Burnaby's first settler built a log cabin in 1860.
• Japanese Ofuro – A copy of a Japanese bathhouse. It was built in 1977. It remembers the first Japanese immigrant to B.C. in 1877.
• Dow, Fraser & Co. Real Estate Office – This building was a grocery store annex in 1927.
• Royal Bank - This Royal Bank building was built in 1950 in Britannia Beach. It looks like Burnaby's Royal Bank from 1921.
• Treble Clef Phonographs – A 1920s music shop. It has a player piano that actually works!
• The Burnaby Post – This is a working print shop. It shows the offices of Burnaby's weekly newspaper.
• Way Sang Yuen Wat Kee – This replica Chinese herbalist's shop has items from a real store. That store operated in Victoria from 1900 to 1971.
• The Home Bakery – The original "Home Bakery" was on Kingsway.
• Bandstand – The museum's bandstand is like the one in Central Park. It was built in 1895.
• Vancouver Heights Sheet Metal Works – This small building was once a shed for shoeing horses. Now it has tools for making things from sheet metal.
• Bell's Dry Goods - This original store building was built around 1922. It was a dry-goods business until 1937.
• Seaforth School – This school building opened in Burnaby in 1922. It had 20 students.
• Jesse Love Farmhouse – The 1893 farmhouse of Jesse and Martha Love.

Museum Connections

The Burnaby Village Museum works with other groups. These include the BC Museums Association, the Canadian Museums Association, and the Canadian Heritage Information Network.

See also

• Burnaby Art Gallery in the same park