Remington Carriage Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1993 |
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| Location | Cardston, Alberta, Canada |
| Type | horse-drawn transportation |
The Remington Carriage Museum is a special place in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. It opened in 1993 and is the biggest museum of its kind in the world! Here, you can see over 240 amazing carriages.
This huge museum is about 64,000 square feet (5,900 square meters). It has a working stable where horses live. You can even go for carriage rides! The museum also has cool video displays, an 80-seat theater, a gift shop, and a restaurant.
Contents
Exploring Carriage History
The main part of the museum shows different scenes from the late 1800s and early 1900s. These scenes tell stories about how people lived in North America. They also show the horse-drawn vehicles they used every day.
You'll see many coaches, carts, and sleighs. Each one has information panels with hundreds of old photographs. These pictures help you imagine what life was like back then.
How Carriages Were Made
At the Carriage Preservation Workshop, you can watch experts at work. They show how carriages were built and fixed. You can see them doing blacksmithing, which is working with metal. They also do wheelwrighting, which means making and fixing wheels. Other skills include woodworking and metalworking. It's like stepping back in time to see these crafts!
Meet Donald Remington
Don Remington (1914–1987) was the person who dreamed up this museum. He was a rancher, a builder, and someone who loved to help others.
For 35 years, Don and his wife Afton traveled all over the world. They went to North America, Britain, and other places. Their goal was to find old carriages and bring them back to restore.
Don Remington was very skilled himself. He knew how to build and fix carriages. He was also an expert on their history. Many of the carriages you see in the museum were used during his lifetime.
Famous Carriages and Important People
Many Remington carriages have carried very important people. These include kings, queens, princes, and princesses. They have also transported presidents and world leaders. Even famous celebrities have ridden in these carriages!
Remington Carriages were a big part of the famous Calgary Stampede. They were also featured in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. You can often see them at Calgary Heritage Park Days and Spruce Meadows horse shows. These carriages have been in hundreds of parades around the world.
Royalty and Presidents on Board
Queen Elizabeth II of Canada rode in a Remington landau carriage. This happened when she visited Canada in 1973 and again in 1980. Her husband, Prince Philip, and her son, Prince Charles, were with her.
The Studebaker Company made a special landau carriage for Ulysses S. Grant. He was president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. This very carriage is now at the Remington Museum.
The museum also has an original Royal Hansom Cab from 1910. This cab belonged to Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. Don Remington bought it in New York. He made sure to keep its original look and the Vanderbilt logo. These Hansom Cabs were common in London, Paris, and New York City between 1870 and 1930. They were like the taxis of their time, before cars became popular.
The Remington Barouche carriage has carried many important people. These include Prince Philip and Prince Andrew. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau also rode in it. So did Alberta premiers Ralph Klein and Peter Lougheed.
Abraham Lincoln owned a barouche that looked just like the one at the museum. When Canadian Prime Minister Diefenbaker traveled 'Out West,' he also rode in a Remington barouche carriage.
The Five Glass Landau Coach is another interesting piece. It was made around 1890 in Rochester, New York.
The Famous Concord coach
The museum has a collection of famous Concord coaches. These include a Concord Wells Fargo stagecoach.
Another Concord coach in the collection is an original "Buffalo Bill's Stages North Platte Nebraska" stagecoach.
Other Notable Carriages
You can also see the Wells Fargo & Co. Yellowstone Wagon. It was made around 1886 in Concord, New Hampshire. This wagon was later used for tours in Yellowstone National Park. When Don Remington was fixing it, he found the original Wells Fargo & Co. name on its sides!
Hollywood and the Remington Collection
The Remington Carriage Museum has been featured in movies and TV shows! Hollywood often uses covered wagons and stagecoaches to show the Old West. The museum has both.
You can even climb aboard the stagecoach used by Jackie Chan in the Disney movie Shanghai Noon. It was also used by Tom Selleck in Crossfire Trail.
The popular TV show The Simpsons once featured the museum. In an episode, sisters Patty and Selma showed vacation slides. These slides included pictures of carriages from the Remington Museum. They even showed Patty and Selma standing next to a statue of Don Remington.
The Fay Wray Fountain Memorial is near the museum. Fay Wray was a famous actress from the 1933 movie King Kong. When she visited Cardston in 1967, she rode in a Remington Concord Stagecoach.
Horses at the Museum
Horses were super important for transportation in the 1800s. The museum has its own herd of horses! These include Clydesdales, Quarter Horses, and Canadians. They are a big part of the daily programs.
The museum also has an elegant equestrian program. This shows how skilled horses are when pulling carriages. Each horse breed is chosen to help with the museum's carriage rides.
Different Horse Breeds
The Clydesdale is a large, strong horse. They are often used in teams of two, three, or four. These teams can pull big vehicles with up to 18 passengers. Clydesdales are famously known as the Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
The American Quarter Horse is known for its speed. They can run very fast over short distances, like a quarter mile. They are also great at pulling wagons, buggies, and sleighs.
The Canadian Horse came from horses sent to Quebec from France in 1665. They are known for their strength and calm nature. This makes them perfect for carriage work.
At the museum, pairs of Quarter Horses and Canadians pull smaller carriages. These carriages can carry up to six people.
Tack is also a very important part of a carriage. Tack includes all the equipment used on a horse, like harnesses and bridles. Don Remington made thousands of unique tack pieces himself.
The Remington Carriage Museum is part of a group of historic sites in Alberta. These include Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The museum is open all year, seven days a week. Cardston is also home to the first Mormon LDS temple built outside the United States.
Affiliations
The museum works with several organizations. These include the CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.
