Fort Museum Fort MacLeod Alberta

From 2014: While conducting research we stumbled across something interesting at a local archive unrelated to the subject at hand. It was an old postcard in among miscellaneous files and seemingly placed there by mistake. It caught our eye, however, and got the gears to grinding. We saw a project in the making and that brought us to the Fort Museum Fort MacLeod Alberta for another BIGDoer.com Then & Now post.

The postcard shows a street scene in the community and there’s a car (tail fins!) parked out front of the museum, while people mill about. We don’t know the date, but using a little deductive reasoning, we can say it’s likely from the latter half of 1950s when the Fort and car were both still fairly new. Sometimes postcards will display the published year, but not always.

Fort Museum Fort MacLeod Alberta: the BIGDoer-mobile ain’t no Cadillac. By Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)

As mentioned, this post is an older one, but it’s been tweaked and updated, while using the original photos. It was badly worded* and needed a bit of fixing.

For the now photos pretty much all the heavy lifting is done in camera. The shot is composed in the viewfinder using a point-of-interest grid formula we’ve developed over time and with this technique we can almost always get it close to the original. Even so there are limitations and this means they will never completely match up, but usually it’s close. We seemed to have gotten the angle wrong here and so the tower doesn’t work – the car could have been positioned better too (didn’t notice either at the time). Typically multiple shots are captured, each from slightly varying positions, and this increases the odds of getting close.

The building seen in behind, both images, is the Museum of the North-West Mounted Police and First Nation’s Interpretive Centre, or simply the Fort Museum Fort MacLeod. This reproduction structure opened in 1957 and a reasonable facsimile of the original 1870s era fort once located a couple clicks away, down by the Oldman River.

If you wish to visit the Fort Museum it’s on the north side of downtown, right on the highway (westbound lane). We have yet to go, but perhaps one day we will. The facility is open all summer and most of spring and fall and select times the rest of the year.

In addition to the museum, the town of Fort MacLeod has a large number of historic buildings in downtown and it’s well worth a visit if you like stuff like that. Who doesn’t?

The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) were a predecessor to today’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who of course are famous the world over.

As you can note, little has changed in the almost sixty years since the original was captured. The Province of Alberta interpretive sign disappeared at some unknown date, but the frame remains. That’s it really and the scene otherwise is quite timeless.

When the postcard image was captured the museum entrance was the door on the right, behind that group of people (one immortalized tying his shoe). Today you enter further to the right off frame. One can see what appears to be the poles of a First Nation’s Teepee to the left of the flag pole and above the interpretive sign in the old photo. Under magnification the sign by the door looks to read: “adult admission 25c”. What outrageous prices! The interpretive sign is too small to be legible.

Who are the people? Well, who knows, but they look to be typically dressed for the time. And when they’re done, they’ll go home to a satisfying dinner of meatloaf. It you’re believe TV that’s all anyone ever ate at the time…well that and gelatin salads.

This postcard appears to be one of a series showing various historic sites across the province and we’ve seen others similar in form and style, showing among other things, the Frank Slide and Fort Edmonton Historic Park. This is a fairly early true-colour card, which became popular starting in the 1940s. Prior to that most colour cards were black and white images painted with a wash of water paints as though to appear shot in colour or simply done in monochrome.

The car in the old image is a mid-1950s (1956 specifically, we think) Cadillac, a classy well appointed ride that then or today, would be a real head turner. You need to be someone to drive that kind of car or so it was eluded to by GM’s marketing. Note the “futuristic” tail fins which were quite popular at the time. It’s a convertible, which works great in Canada for those six to eight weeks of summer, but it’s not so fun come January.

The car in the now photo was the then current BIGDoer-mobile and a plain never-to-be-a-classic 2011 Chevy Cruze. Interestingly both vehicles are a close shade of blue, and of course, both are from the General, but that’s where the similarities end. One’s for the well to do and the other, for riffraff like us. We got rid of this car years ago and like the current incarnation, it was legendary where it’d take us. The badge says Chevrolet, but should read Jeep.

If you have an old postcard like the one used here and would like us to visit the location seen to find out what things are like today, and then post it to this website, let us know. We can accept actual cards (they will get returned) or scanned copies. Most old postcards are in the public domain.

*Not that we’re any good at even now, but there have been slight improvements.

Know more: (new window): Fort MacLeod Alberta Fort Museum.

Drop on by from time to time for more interesting content posted regularly.

They’re saying…

”This team is documenting old Alberta before it disappears…” Terry Elrod.

More like this…
Serendipity @ The Rock (Frank Slide).
Loverna SK Then & Now (x2) – Twice the fun!
Rowley Alberta then and now – CNR Station.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: contact us!

Date of adventure: September, 2014 and the 1950s.
Location: Fort MacLeod, AB.
Article references and thanks: The Museum of the North-West Mounted Police and First Nation’s Interpretive Centre, Fort MacLeod Alberta and CadillacLaSalleClubofCanada.com

At the Fort Museum Fort MacLeod Alberta.

We shoot multiple shots and pick the closest one.