Our History
In 1996, the Bengough & District Museum was established.
Following a public meeting
to gauge interest in preserving
the history of Bengough and its
surrounding area,
the Museum was born.
Lisa Lix, Peter & Linda Barry,
Lola Hesjedal, Dwight Morrison,
Debra Ashby, Pat Craven,
Beulah Bailey formed the first board.
In 2000, Dick Thompson joined
the board, taking on the
responsibility of constructing a
coal mine site in the town park.
Robert Unterreiner also contributed
to the museum. He created
and donated a display model
of two coal mines
that had been in the vicinity.
We appreciate all the
community members who have joined
the board throughout the years.
Thank you for your
dedication to the museum.
Lisa Lix was one of the founding members of
the museum board. She took on the task of developing "Policy & Procedure" manuals as well as documenting, accessioning and entering hundreds of historical artifacts on the computer. program. She was also a driving force behind the coal mining research project.
Lola Hesjedal spent many hours and days documenting items being received in the museum. Her extensive knowledge of Bengough's history is reflected in many item
descriptions on our artifacts.
Edolph Orheim
For many years, local resident
Edolph Orheim has been a
major contributor to the
start-up of the museum including
the donation of the town bell.
His wealth of knowledge and experience has provided
invaluable information for many
of the collection items.
Among his contributions was the donation of the original coal cars
from the Mattson Mine east of Bengough and
the Viceroy Coal Mining Company northeast of Viceroy.
His final donation to the museum was a large collection of Indigenous artifacts
and Hudson Bay tools, a fitting end to his lifelong passion of collecting and trading antiquities.
Bengough & District Museum Stories
What are people saying about our museum and area?
Check out these videos to find out more.
Southern Stories checks out our museum,
Farmer Coal Mine Park and the Gateway Music Festival.