Elgin Museum

An excerpt from "Partnerships with Museums"

A collaboration between the Turtle Mountain – Souris Plains Heritage Association and local Museums and Heritage Associations
The Elgin Historical Museum is housed in the 1903 Canadian Bank of Commerce Building on Main Street, Highway #23. There you will find the Military Memorial, a large collection of military pictures, uniforms and artifacts from World War I and II, as well as information of service men and women from the district.
Inside the museum you will find; aboriginal display, period clothing, early 1900’s home setting, sports uniforms, school display, history book from many districts, artifacts from former Elgin businesses, extensive photo display, minute and record books from many organizations and an indexed collection of clippings from Elgin Newspapers 1900-1931.

Stoll the grounds around the museum, there you will find a 1948 snowplane, working windmill, collection of vintage farm machinery, tools and railway artifacts.



The Building
Built in 1904, this building was originally two storeys high, providing accommodation for the bank manager on its second floor, which was removed in the 1950s.

The Elgin Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is representative of the functional bank branches established in rural service centres across the Prairies in the early 1900s. The building's prominent corner location, solid brick construction, restrained detailing and well-lit banking hall were typical of the features employed by chartered banks to woo customers and convey an image of quiet corporate strength and reliability. As the village's only bank, the CIBC held an important place in the financial life of local residents and surrounding farm community until its closure in 1995. It is now the only structure that remains from the many commercial buildings erected in Elgin's business district in the early twentieth century.


Highlights

The strength of rural museums lies in their ability to collect and showcase things that aren’t readily available anywhere else.


Things that Work!

The Elgin Museum has a selection of things that work, or could easily be made to work. Some are items manufactured right here – by local farmer / inventors / craftsmen. Other are manufactured far away and all but forgotten.



The Barbed Wire Telephone
Most of us have heard of the attempts to find home made solutions regarding communications such as the barbed –wire telephone. The display in Elgin helps you understand just how sophisticated such things could be.
As late as 1934 this phone was part of a system that linked many households in the Regent Community, including Fox’s general store.

The push button activated the Ford Model T ignition coil sending a strong buzzing signal on the fence line and at the same time isolated the caller’s headphones.

Each household had a buzzer code. The transmitter switch was closed when the caller was speaking and opened when listening.



The Snowplane



This home-made snowplane look as if it is ready to be driven out of the shop, and so it is! It was made in Ninette and purchased for $1050 by Gordon Racher in 1947. It features a Model A Engine. It was a valuable item when the roads were blocked and use as late as 1980.





This fully functional windmill stands ready to do its job – many farms used wind power to access the water supply.
This Coleman Kerosene-Fueled Iron is a reminder of the time before rural electrification, when fossil fuel technology was the only option.

You could fire it up today, but apparently the previous owner experienced a mishap involving a bit of an explosion and decided the old method of heating the iron on the stove was good enough for her.
News Documents

The Elgin Museum has a very useful collection of News Excerpts from the Elgin Banner in binder format.
WW 1 & 2 Display

The WW 1 & 2 Display has an excellent collection of wartime items that is complemented by correspondence and documents that offer a first hand look at the experience, both overseas and on the home front.
A newspaper article details the search for records regarding missing soldiers from the Elgin are believed to be buried in Europe and the efforts to identify remains.
Church Display

In addition to commemorating the village’s churches, the museum includes rare items relating to nearby rural churches, Regent, Westhall, and Millerway.



Regional Communities

The nearby community of Regent, and the Fox family who operated the store, are represented. Items such as the cheese box highlight the operation of a retail store.



About People

The life and achievements of local son Andrew King are profiled.



Unique Items

Sometimes you discover something that is not connected to the community except for the fact that it ended up here. It reminds us that even in those early pioneer times our communities were connected to the rest of then world.



The Unexpected

A device for measuring the amount of powder for a shotgun shell.

Surrey Lamp – coal oil lamp to be placed one on each side of a buggy.



Dr. McIntry’s Casebook from 1927 offers a very real, authentic look at the details and proce

A copy of the Massey Harris Illustrated reminds us beforebusinesses had website, they had newsletters and magazines. They combined useful information along with the typical sales pitches. An ad for that Gordon’s Chips – From the U.S., shows us that junk food was always an option.

The sports display reminds us that even small communities such as Fairfax had very active sports team and that lacrosse and cricket were popular, in the pre WW1 Days.




Briefly Mentioned.....

McDole Family - Prominent business family news, and artifacts.
The Elgin Hotel register.
Scottish Heritage Display