Living Here - History - Treherne Museum
The Treherne Museum, located midway between Winnipeg and Brandon on Provincial Highway #2, offers you a marvelous variety of objects from early life in the area. The museum was left to the Town of Treherne by the late George Alexander (Sandy) Matchett in 1976 and was officially opened to the public in the summer of 1978.
Since it's opening in 1978, the Museum has been enlarged, making it one of Manitoba's most outstanding small town museums. It now has five buildings, boasting thousands of interesting artifacts and displays. One of Sandy's two steel buildings house many interesting collections, including one of the largest gun collections in Western Canada.
We have over 120 rifles dating back as early as the 1700's. Our collection of over 20 pistols includes a matched pair of Wilson English .60 calibre flintlock pistols. They date back to 1765 and are better known as travelling pistols or "Highwayman's Pistols." Mrs. Myrt Smith's collection of dolls from all over the world can also be found in this building. The collection of over 30 dolls was donated by Mrs. Smith in 1979. Other interesting displays include antique furniture, radios, tools, kitchenware, war paraphernalia, Native artifacts and much more.
Sandy's second building has recently been transformed into a tiny replica town modeled after Treherne in the early 1900's. "Sara's General Store" was completed in the summer of 1997 and depicts a typical general store, complete with overstocked shelves of tins, material, crates, sacks and more. In fact, everything that could be found in the general store 100 years ago can be found in our tiny general store today. The "New Deal Cafe" of tiny 'Treherne' was furnished with the tables, dishes and menus of the original Chinese food restaurant of Treherne. Other replicas include the Canadian Bank of Commerce, a church, as well as a one-room school house.
Your next stop at the museum is the pioneer house which was built in 1906 by Dave Duncan and last occupied by Sandy Matchett. The interior has been refinished and remodeled in an attempt to have it look as it may have in the early 1900's. Many have commented on the familiarity of the flowered linoleum and wallpaper as well as the hardwood flooring and tiny kitchen. The four-room, two-level house also includes a parlour, master and children's bedroom.
One of Manitoba's most complete blacksmith shops can be found just behind the pioneer house at the Treherne Museum. Built to resemble the original, the shop is complete with forge, bellows, tools and office. The stationary engine which runs much of the equipment of the Blacksmith is still in working condition and is started up once a year during the annual open house.
The Treherne Museum is also proud of its collection of early farm machinery and agriculture-related implements. A building across the street houses old tractors (recently refinished), Massey-Harris Clipper combine, Waterloo Threshing Machine, tillers, separators, farm trucks and wagons.