Wetaskiwin District Heritage Museum Centre & City of Wetaskiwin Archives

While most of our artifacts are safely stored in our non-public collection rooms, many are on permanent display in our third-floor galleries. They have become fixtures in our day-to-day lives and there are times even I forget how special they are. For example, this pulpit and pew. Their story goes back almost as far as the community of Wetaskiwin itself. Their original home was the little white church along Hwy 13. Built in 1894, this modest building was the first Roman Catholic Church and Separate School for the district. It first stood where Sacred Heart Church is today and was later moved to the corner of 47 Ave. and 47 St. where it served as Bethel Lutheran Church from 1912 to 1966. The building was eventually donated back to the Catholic Church and moved a third time to its current location in the 1970s so that it could stand beside those in the old Catholic Cemetery who would have used it. In 1976 it was designated as a Historic Resource in the Province of Alberta due in part to the knowledge that Fathers Lacombe and Leduc celebrated mass in in this church while visiting Wetaskiwin. These are the pulpit and a pew they would have used.
Do you enjoy your weekly Heritage Moment? The Heritage Museum is currently facing financial difficulties that could jeopardize our current programming. We welcome monetary donations of any size and can provide tax receipts for $20 or more. Visit us at 5007 – 50th Ave. or our website at http://wetaskiwinmuseum.com/donate/ to make a donation on-line.