Preeceville museum celebrates 20 years of preserving history

PREECEVILLE — The Preeceville and District Heritage Museum celebrated its 20th year with a relaxing, fun evening that featured ice cream sundaes, floats, banana splits and a lot of reminiscing in June.

The museum was established in 2005 to preserve the heritage of Preeceville and the district.

The idea of a museum began back in 1985.

Members of the Preeceville Historical Society, who published the Preeceville history book Lines of the Past, reasoned that a museum would be the next logical project. In 2005, a delegation approached town council with the idea of establishing a heritage museum in the old nurses’ residence.

The group proposed that this idea would preserve a heritage site, create a major tourist attraction for the town and highlight and preserve the unique heritage of Preeceville.

Town council agreed with the idea and the museum was born.

The ownership of the museum remains with the Town of Preeceville. The museum is sponsored by the Preeceville Economic Development/Tourism Committee and operated by the Preeceville and District Heritage Museum Board. The museum board collects, preserves and exhibits collections of artifacts, documents, photos, maps and books.

In the beginning, the museum featured 11 rooms and has since grown to 22 “theme” rooms.

The museum is usually open from the May long weekend to the September long weekend.

The building is fully wheelchair accessible.

The museum has hosted school, senior and hostel groups, for which board members dress in old-time attire. “Last year we proudly showed off our museum to the entire Seneca Root Museum Association, which is comprised of all the small museums in west-central Sask. The delegates were very impressed with the number of theme rooms we had for our artifacts and exhibits,” stated a release from the museum.

The museum has had visitors from all over Canada and many overseas countries.

It was reported that most of the wiring has been upgraded, and eight heaters were installed to keep the building frost-free.

An outdoor clay oven was added in August 2009.

The museum building has a unique history — it was built in 1940 in Yorkton. It served as a dormitory for pilots in the Commonwealth Pilot Training Program during the Second World War.

“Young men from all over the British Commonwealth came to Yorkton to learn to fly before they were sent overseas. There they became fighter pilots who served in the Battle of Britain and Europe or bomber pilots who became part of Bomber Command that did a good job disabling the Nazi war machine,” according to the museum's media release.

“After the war, the buildings were empty and were offered to any community that needed them. The nurses and matrons of the old hospital had accommodations all over town, so the hospital board decided to apply for the pilot quarters. In 1948 the buildings were brought to Preeceville in sections and placed on a full basement that was constructed prior to the arrival of the sections.

“The building was heated by steam heat and provided very adequate housing for nurses, nursing aides, matrons and other hospital personnel until 1970. After this, rental suites were occupied by the public, and office space was also rented out."