Garden of the Gulf Museum celebrates 60 years in Montague
The brick building has stood in the community for 130 years
Overlooking the Montague River, the red bricked building that houses the Garden of the Gulf Museum has sat in the Town of Montague for 130 years.
The P.E.I. museum, itself, is celebrating its 60 years and is considered the Island's first community museum.
"We are very lucky that we have a lot of support from the business community and local residents and we have been entrusted with the care of all these amazing historically unique artifacts from the area. So we hope to continue that for many years to come," said the museum's development coordinator Jayne Ings.
Ings said they will be holding a celebratory tea in the town of Montague to celebrate the museums 60th on Aug. 10.
She hopes some of the community members will come dressed in clothes from 1958.
The building was constructed in 1888, as the Montague Bridge Post Office and Customs House.
The original cost of the construction — $6,315.47 — included $100 for intricately carved decorative stonework.
It was purchased in 1954 from the federal government for a dollar by a local community organization with the plan of turning it into a community museum.
The grand opening was held with the governor general Vincent Massey in 1958. CBC News even sent a crew from Halifax to report on the museum's opening.
Now, the collection has grown to more than 5,000 artifacts, mostly donated from local community members.
People are also collecting things on current events that could one day end up in the museum.
Meanwhile when the Montague town hall was destroyed on Thursday by fire, one of the things the Montague Fire Department were able to save, along with computers and town files, were some of the historical pictures on the walls.
Ings is hopeful that they will continue to be preserved, along with the story of the town hall's fire itself.
"I went by the town hall the other morning and took some pictures which will be added to our records and 50, 60 years from now people will be looking at some of those pictures ... another way that we will be contributing to local history for years to come," said Ings.
No one was injured and the staff are now working out of a temporary location at the Rural Action Centre.
