Western Development Museum facts for kids
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Saskatoon branch of the Western Development Museum
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| Established | April 2, 1949 |
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| Location | Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Saskatoon and Yorkton. |
| Type | Transportation history, agriculture history, economic history, human history |
The Western Development Museum is a group of four museums in Saskatchewan, Canada. These museums help us learn about the history of the province. They show how people lived and worked long ago. You can find these museums in Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Saskatoon, and Yorkton. Each museum has a special theme: transportation, farming, how people made a living, and the stories of different people. The museum works with other important groups like the Canadian Museums Association.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's History
The idea for the museum started with people who wanted to save Saskatchewan's history. The museum officially began in 1949 when a special law was passed. The very first museum opened in a fixed-up airplane hangar in North Battleford in 1949. Later that same year, another hangar in Saskatoon became the second museum location.
In 1951, a third hangar in Yorkton was also turned into a museum. Years later, in 1972, the first buildings made just for the museums were built in Yorkton and Saskatoon. A new museum was added in Moose Jaw in 1976.
Moose Jaw: Journey Through Transportation
The Moose Jaw museum is all about different ways people have traveled. You can find it at 50°25′11″N 105°31′50″W / 50.4197°N 105.5305°W.
This museum has a special focus on airplanes. This makes sense because it's close to CFB Moose Jaw, a big air force base. You can see a special display about the Snowbirds aerobatic team, who are famous for their amazing air shows. The museum's airplane collection includes an American Aerolights Eagle ultralight plane, an Avro Anson bomber trainer, and a Canadair CT-114 Tutor painted like a Snowbirds jet.
The museum also has a special narrow-gauge railway called the Western Development Museum Short Line. It's outdoors and has the only working steam train in all of Saskatchewan!
North Battleford: Pioneer Farm & Village Life
The North Battleford museum shows what life was like for pioneers on farms and in villages. You can find it at 52°45′14″N 108°15′30″W / 52.7538°N 108.2584°W.
The museum has a large barn with farm animals. It also shows how farmers worked the land in the 1920s. There's a pioneer village with many old buildings. You can see a grain elevator, a co-operative store, churches, businesses, and homes.
The old Saskatchewan Wheat Pool grain elevator, number 889, was moved here from Keatley, Saskatchewan in 1983.
Saskatoon: Step Back to a 1910 Boomtown
The Saskatoon museum was once located on 11th Street. It used to host a yearly festival called "Pion-Era." In the early 1970s, the Saskatoon museum moved to its current spot at Prairieland Park. You can find it at 52°05′42″N 106°40′24″W / 52.0950°N 106.6733°W.
For many years, this museum was connected to the Saskatoon Exhibition fair. The fair was even renamed "Pioneer Days" because of the museum's Pion-Era festival. Over time, the museum and the fair became separate.
The Saskatoon museum is famous for its indoor "boomtown" display. It looks just like a town from the 1910s. Real buildings from that time, along with recreated ones, are kept inside where the temperature is controlled. They are filled with old items from that era. This is different from the North Battleford museum, where the buildings are outside.
Buildings you can see include a homestead, a police station, a bank, and a newspaper office with a working printing press. There's also a saddle shop, a general store, and a dentist's office. The museum also shows off old cars and farm equipment. The Saskatoon branch also has places for meetings and is home to the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame.
In 2005, the Saskatoon museum was updated for Saskatchewan's 100th birthday.
In 2022, the museum worked with the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. Together, they created a new exhibit called "Wapaha Sk̄a Oyate: Living Our Culture, Sharing Our Community at Pion-Era, 1955 – 69." This exhibit tells the story of how the museum and the First Nation became friends. It started in the 1950s when the museum's first curator, George Shepherd, became friends with Chief Harry Littlecrow. They started Pion-Era so Indigenous people could share their stories. This project lasted over 20 years.
In 2018, museum staff found old photos from Pion-Era. This discovery helped them reconnect with the First Nation. The project grew to include more research and a public display. The exhibit has Dakota artifacts, a horse and travois (a type of sled) display, photos, and stories from people who lived then. The exhibit officially opened on October 11, 2022.
Yorkton: Stories of People and Cultures
The Yorkton museum focuses on the experiences of immigrants. It shows scenes that highlight the cultural backgrounds of many groups who settled in western Canada. These groups include Ukrainians, English, Swedes, Germans, Doukhobors, and Icelanders. You can find it at 51°13′04″N 102°29′03″W / 51.2177°N 102.4841°W.
The Yorkton museum has several permanent exhibits. One exhibit shows 100 years of Saskatchewan's history. It has a timeline from 1905 to 2005. It also shows displays from the mid-1800s, before Saskatchewan became a province. This exhibit also includes presentations in the Saskatchewan Theatre. You can also see a log home that was built near Theodore, Saskatchewan. It was moved to the museum in 2002.
Other exhibits include special display rooms, a railway station mural, and an exhibit about Yorkton's local history. There's also a "Time Square" area designed for children. Another collection shows toys from the early 1900s in "In a Prairie Attic: Bladon Family Toys."
Major Artifacts to See
Here are some important items you can find at the Western Development Museum:
- The museum has the very last Ferranti-Packard 6000. This was an early Canadian-designed mainframe computer. It was given to the museum by SaskPower.
- A copy of the Canadian Vickers Vedette airplane is being built by the museum. In 2003, the museum got part of a real Vedette hull. This piece is shown as it was found. With plans from the Western Canada Aviation Museum, a group of volunteers called the Vintage Aircraft Restorers started building the replica. In 2014, their Vedette project won an award.
Images for kids
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Grain and fertilizer drill
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Horse drawn scraper
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Horse drawn machinery
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Rock picker
See also
In Spanish: Western Development Museum para niños
