Recently, I was writing up some talking points about various artifacts in the museum and my Mom was helping me with the research. I wanted to know how old the big ornate lodge chairs were in the lodge room and she did the research on them and found some interesting information. The Independent Order of Oddfellows was started in England around 1723. The Old Fellows Lodge was formed in Hartney in 1893. In 1905 their building was burned and all their records with it. They moved to new rooms in the Hartney Town Hall when it was built in 1906 and we are assuming that is when the furniture was purchased. It is also likely the date the carpet that now adorns the lodge room in the museum was purchased. They suspended their meetings during the First World War and allowed their rooms to be used to billet soldiers. In 1918 it was used as an emergency hospital to care for Spanish Flu patients. (Imagine transporting sick people up and down those stairs and carrying their waste and water needs to the top floor of the old Town Hall!). In 1941 their rooms were used as a meeting place for a Home Ec course from Sept. to Dec. In 2002 the Odd Fellows sold their lodge building and made a deal with the museum committee to rewire the upstairs of the museum and put in a suspended ceiling in exchange for a room to store their and the other lodges regalia. The committee agreed and you can visit that room on the upper floor of the museum,
What’s happening at the Museum?
The virtual tour has been filmed and the initial results look outstanding. We still have some editing to do to it and are looking forward to the finished product. Our website is being designed and in the next few months it should be ready to be launched. A Soldier’s Wish is available at the Civic Centre and the Coop Store in Hartney.
What we are looking for at the Museum
. If you are wanting to tour the museum, please call Dawne McKenzie at 858-2071, Barb Lee at 252-2358, Jack and Eleanor Vandusen at 858-2064 or Pat Phillips at 858-2127. We are looking for people with interesting stories of Hartney to be interviewed for memories project.