Hide Article Text (OCR)
16 Opasquia Times, Fri. Jan. 20, 2017RegionalCelebrating 100 years for the Sam Waller Museum buildingIt will be 100 years since this building was completed.Trevor Wright/Opasquia TimesTrevor WrightTimes StaffThis year marks the 100th year since the building that the Sam Waller Museum is in has been built. Don't let the date on the building fool you, it may say 1916 but the building itself was completely finished around spring 1917, hence its 100th year anniversary being this year.Its initial purpose was to act as a courthouse on its first couple of floors as well as a community gathering place on the third floor. As time progressed and a new courthouse was built along 3rd Street East and the old courthouse suddenly needed a new purpose to save it from being demolished.Soon it was deemed worthy of being the new home of the Sam Waller Museum, named after the late Sam Waller, a collector of many artifacts, both locally and internationally.“In 1916 they began construction of the community building, courthouse and jails, and they decided to build it in brick just to indicate it's permanence within the community. The buildings construction was completed in 1917, so we decided to plan and have some little activities and some bigger events not only to coincide with this buildings anniversary but with Canada's 150th anniversary as well,” explained Sharain Jones, director of the Sam Waller Museum.During the time it was built Canada and the rest of the worldwas embroiled in World War I which started in 1914. When the building was completed it would have been the go to place to enlist with the army as Jones mentioned.“With primarily men enlisting to fight in World War I I believe they came to this building if they lived in The Pas and the surrounding area,” said Jones, adding, “Unfortunately some people caused some problems, some people were locked up in the jails, but there was a community hall that would have still been used for various community events.”After the building ceased being a courthouse there was a number of options that The Pas History and Heritage Society explored and by the end it was decided that the building was to become a museum that was dedicated to Sam Waller who owned and operated the Little Northern Museum before.“Because this was a historic building the local The Pas History and Heritage Society didn't want the building demolished, they wanted it to be used for other purposes. So there was a variety of thoughts when they were looking at reconfiguring the building for community use,” explained Jones, adding, “To have a number of various non-profit organizations and service clubs use the basement and finally they realized the museum would need the entire space. When they did do the renovation work they did it so it would fit the museum and follow current museum standards for temperature and relative humidity controls.”While there were other community groups that discussed possibly using the museum space, by 1987 the Sam Waller Museum was the sole tenant of the old courthouse. That year moving of exhibits, archives and other stuff from Sam Waller’s Little Northern Museum started, it took several years until it was all finished ending in 1990.“It’s the last standing brickbuilding in northern Manitoba, it’s not the oldest but it’s the oldest one that’s still surviving. One thing that really intrigued me about this building is I don’t know a lot about the architect so I’m hoping it would be possible to learn more about him. He wasn’t from here originally, I think he’s from B.C. and he came here then went down to the (United) States where he presumably died,” explained Joanna Munholland the Curator and Archivist of the Sam Waller Museum.If you want to learn more about the 100th year of the old courthouse/Sam Waller Museum you can check out the Sam Waller Museum where there is much more information to be found. Jones also mentioned that the museum has several things still in the works to celebrate the buildings 100 years since completion.
Newspaper Details
Pas Opasquia Times
The Pas, Manitoba, CA
Fri, Jan 20, 2017
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 13 Sep 2021
Other Publications Near The Pas, Manitoba
Pas Herald and Mining News
Pas Hudsons Bay Herald
Pas Opasquia Times
The Pas Opasquia Times
Pas Herald
