Our Historical Buildings 

A-Frame 

This building was built in the 1970s to house various artifacts. It contains farming tools and coal mining artifacts. Asle Zepolla, a Norwegian man who lived in Evansburg, made the skis in the A-Frame. His skis won second prize at a Seattle World’s Fair for their craftsmanship.

the CN Caboose 

In the early days of railroading, each crew was assigned its own caboose, which served as their home for days at a time.

The caboose served several functions, one of which was as an office for the conductor. A printed waybill followed every freight car. The conductor kept the paperwork in the caboose. The caboose also carried a brakeman and a flagman.

In the early days before automatic air breaks the engineer signalled the caboose with a whistle when he wanted to slow down, and the brakeman would climb out onto the roof to manually set and release the breaks.

Canadian National Railway (CNR)  cabooses were originally painted in mineral brown. The colour was the same as the box cars until 1944 when all CNR cabooses were painted orange. 

the Mazeppa house 

This house was built by the first homesteaders west of the Pembina River, the Mazeppa family. It was completed in 1911 in the Reno district, south of Evansburg. Three generations lived in this house over the course of its life. The clay between the logs on the outside is called “Chinking.” It is made of clay, mud, straw, and sometimes animal dung to keep out the wind and make the house warmer. Originally the floor was dirt, though as the years progressed improvements were made to the house such as the addition of a wooden floor.  

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The Scout hall

The Scout Hall was built in 1931 as a meeting place for scouts and girl guides. It was also used as a meeting place for the community, hosting dances and other events. It was even a school and a medical clinic during World War II. Many years later it was the museum’s main building. The Scout Hall has certainly done much service to the community!

The Holly Springs School

This schoolhouse is from the Holly Springs district northwest of Evansburg. The original structure was built in 1916 but burned down. This is the third Holly Springs School, built in 1941. The school was used until 1956 but is now renovated to look like it did in the 1940s. It houses artifacts from various decades.

This one-room schoolhouse was built at a time when schools were 10km apart so children could walk. Many students were homestead kids and many were kept at home when work was required. Grades were often repeated because of this. Grades 1-8 were taught in this building.

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