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A Resume of the Big Valley Historical Society
by Allan Johnston, 1999 (reprinted from our book, Thanks for the Memories, Big Valley in the Twentieth Century)
The Big Valley Museum originated, informally, in the early '70s with a small local group of citizens who saw the need to preserve as many aspects of local history as possible. Four of the original members of that group: Marie Melary, Gordon Melary, Florence Johnston, and Allan Johnston are still involved with what is now the Big Valley Historical Society. Allan Johnston chaired the first meetings and remains president the "the Society" to this date (2005).
By 1970, our CNR railway station had been classed as "demised" by the CN. CN
had torn out the platform and stripped the interior of the building of anything
moveable. The building was becoming dilapidated. In cooperation with
Red Grover (Mayor at the time) we entered into an agreement with CNR to open a
museum in the "Express Room: (the most southerly ground-floor room) of the
station. With Red's help we accessed a $5000 grant from the RCMP
Centennial Fund and the museum was officially opened in 1973. About the
same time, Marie Melary organized a group of local seniors and they moved into
the north three rooms, establishing the Big Valley Drop-In-Centre (their
official opening took place on November 14, 1974). In 1987, the Drop In
built new facilities and because of our ever-increasing need for space, the
museum took over the whole
station (except for the "Waiting Room" which was
still reserved by the CNR). by this time the station roof was leaking
badly so, with the help of Alberta Historic Sites, our museum group employed
Vern Raho to replace all the shingles. I should note that we had
previously negotiated a lease with CNR giving us exclusive rights to the station
(for a payment of !1.00 per year) until the year 2000. Somehow, the lease
was later ignored by the CNR and the rail line and all related buildings were
sold to CWR (Central Western Railway Corp.). CWR intended to use the
station as their office and we were requested, by them, to leave. We
negotiated a compensation agreement with them and proceeded to move all our
displays into the former Melary's Ceramic Plant on Main Street. Later when
it became obvious that CWR would require only the upstairs of the station we
moved back in. More recently the Canadian Northern Society (CNS)
negotiated a lease with CWR and we essentially sublease the station from CNS on
a share-cost basis. We also shared the cost of replacing the missing
platform and sidewalk.
Because of the difficulty in accessing funding under the name, Big Valley Museum, we applied to become a registered society. On May 19, 1982 we officially became The Big Valley Historical Society and, on May 1, 1984, we became we became a federally registered charitable organization.
Another major focus of our effort, that overlapped (time wise) the railway
station project, was the extensive repair and restoration of the "demised" St.
Edmund's Anglican Church, on the hill overlooking the main street of the village
of Big Valley. It had been unused, by the Anglicans, for several years and
had suffered some vandalism. Many of the windows were missing, and the
roof was leaking in numerous places. We began restoration by replacing all
the shingles and windows, followed by extensive interior repairs. Our
Society now hold title to this historic site and continues to make every effort
to maintain its original appearance (aside from its current distinctive blue
exterior). We have operated it as a tourist attraction for many years, and
it has been a popular site for weddings. In 1996 we had natural gas
installed (courtesy of Canadian Western Natural Gas) and, with the cooperation
of another group of local volunteers, a natural gas furnace was obtained, and
installed, so that the premises can now be useable on a year-round basis.
In 1998 an automatic bell ringing device was installed (primarily by Harry and
Lionel Stuber), with donations by Harry Stuber and several other villagers, and
the steeple bell now rings out the hours. In addition, "Christmas lights",
that outline the roofline of the church, were installed or the 1998 festive
season. Because the building dominates the skyline of the village, the
results are quite spectacular.
About 1990, we purchased two huge all-steel baggage cars (with the
co-operation of the CTAP program) and had a "panel track" constructed so that
they could be located just south of the
station.
They have been converted into much needed additional museum display space.
They now house an extensive tool display in the north car and other collectibles
such as salt and pepper shakers, model trains and toys.
We also own another locally historic site, the former McAlister Motors
building, located on Railway Ave. one block south of the station. we have
now finished extensive repairs to turn this building into our main museum area.
As the building was formerly a garage and machinery sales outlet, we try to
maintain the "garage flavor", and display several antique cars and trucks in the
older arched roof portion. We had to replace the "lean
to" portion of the building which was beyond repair. This
new section houses our main office, archives, and our household antique
collection. In 2008, we added a chain link fence and equipment shed
to the yard beside the garage and now have a place to display farm equipment and
tractors. We also have numerous equipment in the field across the street
and on the south side of McAlisters.
Through the cooperation-operating of Gulf Oil, the generosity of several
contractors, and the organizing skills of Harry Stuber, we have been fortunate
enough to obtain a typical oil well "pumper" and have installed it along Main
Street, in our Village Park, to indicate the importance of the petroleum
industry to the history of this area. This attractive display is located
about half way between the railway station and the "Blue Church".
Because of modernization, and centralization, in the grain storage and
transportation industry, our last local grain elevator (we had three at one
time) was closed early in 1998. Our Society has concluded an agreement
with the former Alberta Wheat Pool (now Agricore), that allowed the largest
elevator to be left, intact, on site. Through the years it has been a
landmark and an integral part of the local community and railway history that we
are trying to preserve. We have received a lot of local support (morally
and financially).
It is worthy of note that we have a gradually increasing number of tourists visiting our community each year. For example, in 2008 we had well over 24 thousand visitors to our museum facilities (most of them via the Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions enterprise). We operate with twenty to thirty volunteers annually plus, usually, two temporary summer employees (courtesy of provincial and federal government summer work programs).
It should also be recognized, with appreciation, that much of the money, for our work, has come from governments sources such as: CFEP, Alberta Lotteries, Historical Resources, etc. We also recognize that all of our work would have been very difficult (if not impossible) without local support, especially that of the many far-sighted, and cooperative-operative, Village councils. We are also indebted to the Village of Big Valley for their generosity in waiving all taxes on the properties that we maintain.