Coffee With The Curator

Step back into the vibrant frontier history of the Pincher Creek area! Our monthly feature “Coffee with the Curator” encourages a trip down Memory Lane.

Our next event takes place the afternoon of Thursday, 11th January 2024 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The theme from our past which we will be exploring is the early Pincher Creek Pioneers. Have you ever wondered who these frontier people were? This is a chance for you to discover some of them.

We look back at a series of business people, community leaders and town planners of more than a century and a quarter ago! Picture the roles of Albert and Sarah Morden who surveyed the streets on the north side of the Creek and who were active in the Methodist Church. James Schofield and Henry Hyde, who had N.W.M.P. connections and political aspirations, established in 1883 the first business – a pioneer general store and Post Office – in this rough and tumble frontier settlement.

William and Margaret Dobbie operated the classic Arlington Hotel that dated back to circa 1889. Relive the educational and societal contributions of elementary school treachery Mary Bull whose 32 year career started way back in 1898.

Billy and Minetta Wittkopf “came out west” to operate blacksmith shops and boarding houses in the ranching encampment of Pincher Creek, the coal mining settlement of Blairmore and in two Saskatchewan farming committees. These are but a few of the pioneer Pincher Creek frontiers people who we will be talking about.

We have a series of unique visuals to go with these stories – old time photographs and a set of colourful 1924 fire insurance maps of Pincher Creek itself.

So please join us at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village for some innovative history. This is a complimentary event, one of a series of “Coffees with our Curator” that we will be hosting during the winter and spring months.

Future topics to be presented include our railway settlements in February, the agricultural Fishburn and Twin Butte districts in March, the frontier development of the Beaver Mines, Mountain Mill and Gladstone Valley areas in April and the early Ranchers of the Pincher Creek area in May.

Written by Farley Wuth at Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village

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