A brief history of our hometown: Carstairs

Aerial View of Carstairs looking south

Carstairs is believed to have been settled in the early 1800s. A Survey map shows the location of the Sam Scarlett Ranch with the Rosebud River and the Calgary – Edmonton Trail crossing the land. By 1890 the railway and telegraph between Calgary and Edmonton was being constructed and the first employees that can be recollected were Mr. Main as the Station Agent, Billie Warren as Section Foreman (about 1902), and Chester Steams, Steam Engineer and Pumpman in 1905.

Have you ever been to the Roulston Museum?

The Roulston are working on several new projects at the museum. One very visible change is on the museum grounds. We are currently working towards moving the Historic McCaig House to a new foundation – south-east of its current position. This move will allow for the future Carriage House move and for continued development of the museum and grounds.

A little less visible is the work ongoing with the museum collection. Staff and volunteers are working on reinventory and cataloguing of the entire collection. We are also working towards separating out all archival material – in order to create a proper research archives, which will be housed within the Pointen Reading Room. On a similar line, The

Roulston is pleased to announce a p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h t h e University of Alberta to preserve and digitize our Carstairs newspaper collection.

Exhibits & Exhibitions: The South Gallery is gearing up for a massive change-over. Over the coming months we will be re-developing the hall to help tell prehistory and early history of the region. Exhibits will include: The Old North Trail, C&E Trail & Stagecoach Line, Sam Scarlett, The Stopping House, The Coming Railway & Carstairs Station. If you are interested in learning more or volunteering your time to help, please stop by the museum to let us know.

The Roulston Museum

1138 Nanton Street Box 1067 Carstairs, AB, T0M0N0, 403-337-3710

manager@roulstonmuseum.ca