East Coulee School Museum

We can’t help it. We’re crazy in love with small town museums. They are the most wonderful of places, repositories of local history, quaint and full of charm, allowing one to step back in time and connect with what used to be. Simply wander about taking in the exhibits, examine, go slow, get in close, snap some pics, look, imagine and immerse yourself. Let it take you there.

For this visit we’re in the former coal mining town of East Coulee taking in the East Coulee School Museum. It’s a good sized venue, the various class rooms each done up with a specific theme. A number touch on coal mining which at one time drove the local economy – one room it’s tools of the trade and in another how a miner’s cottage might appear.

One exhibit shows what a typical classroom might look like back in the day. Those torturous wood desks, forcing you to sit up tall and straight! History books over there, a globe here, pencil sharpener…school is in! It looks right, it feels right.

And over there in a corner, waiting for a mischievous student to slip up, a dunce cap. Thank goodness these were not in use when your author went to school…just sayin’. Got an A+ in “detention” class.

When you need a break there’s the Willow Tea Room for some refreshments here at the museum. Mmmmm, come for Saturday Breakfast.

A couple rooms are for travelling exhibits or rented out for events. Team BIGDoer was here for the premier of >>> Forgotten Prairie < << from Cache Productions, part of a series funded by Telus. It documents a rag-tag group of friends, Chris and Connie of course included, while out exploring a number of picturesque ghost towns (with permission of the owners), found on the Alberta and Saskatchewan Plains one miserably cold early spring weekend. It's powerful and touching stuff, a must see.

On the grounds, an ancient bus seen in the 1989 film “Bye Bye Blues” (a fine flick if you can find it), some coal mine cars and for the kids playground equipment. Those pinchy chains on the old-school swing set. Ouch! And wood splinters in the seat! Back when fun was a dangerous thing.

The East Coulee School dates from the 1930s and was last used into the 1970s. Vacant for a time after, it’s been a museum since the mid-1980s. It took lots of hard work by locals to get it here. Kudos to these dedicated folks. Chris & Connie insist you drop by. And tell them we sent you. Also donate if you can. They can use all the help they can get.

Here’s their website…
East Coulee School Museum: Life in a coal town unearthed
The museum’s open May to September and by request at other times.

The town of East Coulee dates from the 1920s. By the 1940s it was home to several thousands folks, almost all of them tied in some way to the numerous mines that operated within sight of town (The Western Monarch, The Atlas and The Murray being the big ones). Most miners lived in “company” houses.

By the 1950s coal mining was on the decline and by the 1960s was near gone. And with the closing of the last holdout, in the early 1980s, it was completely done for. East Coulee at this point was a near-ghost town. Today it’s bounced back a wee bit and is home to about a hundred and fifty people, give or take, some who are old timers that once toiled away underground.

Just across the river from East Coulee is the >>> Historic Atlas Mine < <<. It's a temple to coal mining, a literal time capsule, and well worth taking in. It's the last of its kind and the last to close in the valley. Just down from it is >>> East Coulee’s historic wood bridge < <<. People are working to see that it's preserved. It's so tied to the town and the mines that operated here.

The museum owns this place: The Humble Miner’s Cottage, locked up since the 1980s when the owners passed and complete with furniture and many household possessions intact. We got to take a peek inside before it was emptied in preparation of the home being stabilized. It’s hoped one day it can be made into an exhibit to be toured – please help them realize this and donate.

If you’re a museum, big or small, and want Team BIGDoer to pay your venue a visit and document the experience, please send us a message. We do this at no charge because we want to help.

Museums of all kinds!
Wandering the Alberta Railway Museum.
CNR #1158 at the Western Development Museum.
Museum Tour: Viking Alberta.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: October, 2017.
Location: East Coulee, AB.
Article references (and thanks): Barb @ East Coulee School Museum.

At the East Coulee School Museum.

A classroom from long ago.

I’d like to buy the world a…

Coal mining artifacts.

A peek inside a Miner’s Cottage.

Waiting on dinner…

Tools of the trade for those working underground.

Ham & Cheese on Rye and a thermos of hot coffee.

The “detention after class” view.

First place!

Cheers!

Steeping out for some fresh air while Forgotten Prairie rolls…

The “Bye Bye Blues” Bus.

Those chains pinched…

It was coal that once drove the local economy.

Presenting, Forgotten Prairie…