Take time to explore Banff’s historic and cultural sites
by Rob Alexander
The Bow Valley’s culture and history is a complex tapestry stretching back nearly 12,000 years to its earliest known sites of human habitation. Since then, the tapestry has grown as at least five different groups of Native people (Kootenay, Sarcee, Peigan, Stoney and Blackfoot) travelled through the area, followed by a myriad of explorers, missionaries, the first tourists, surveyors and railway builders, prospectors and adventurers. Every group left its own indelible mark on the Bow Valley region, adding to this complex and exciting tapestry, which can be explored in our many museums and cultural sites.
This is the first in a two-part series in which locally-born and raised journalist Rob Alexander explores the history that has created the vibrant Bow Valley of today, beginning with Banff. As the centre of Canada’s first national park, the Banff town site is home to a number of remarkable historical and cultural resources that range from high-caliber museums and historic sites to The Banff Centre, an internationally renowned facility for art, music and dance.
The Banff Centre
Sitting on a shelf along the base of Tunnel Mountain overlooking the town, The Banff Centre has been the backbone of Banff’s artistic community for over 70 years. The institution had its start as The Banff School of Fine Arts, an educational facility that gave students the chance to learn and hone their artistic talents in areas such as pottery, photography, weaving, painting, drama and dance. The Banff Centre has since grown into much more, expanding its vision to include the arts, leadership development and mountain culture, but its true strength lies in what the facility offers to arts-minded Bow Valley residents and visitors. Throughout the year, The Banff Centre hosts more art shows, dance and music recitals and concerts than any one person could possibly attend.
Cascade Gardens is a lovely spot to visit in Banff, and a very popular spot for photo taking.
Banff National Park Administration Building and Cascade Gardens
At the south end of Banff Avenue is the site of one of the most heavily visited view points in the town site: the Cascade Gardens and the administration building for Banff National Park — both of which were designed by Ontario architect Harold C. Beckett in the mid-1930s. Beckett drew his influences for the impressive limestone façade of the administration building from the Tudor Revival and threw in a rustic styling to give the building a more appropriate flavour for a mountain setting. Paths wind through spectacular flowerbeds, pools and waterfalls, all of which follow the smooth contours of a gradual hill behind the administration building. A section of the garden sits squarely in front of the building, framing the famous view down Banff Avenue toward Cascade Mountain. Occupying part of the administration building is Canada Place. The interactive museum operated by Parks Canada was designed to “celebrate the diversity of Canadian heritage” and is located in the building’s east wing. Early summer, the Siksika, or Blackfoot, First Nation erects a teepee on the grounds immediately behind the administration building. This brightly coloured teepee serves as the Siksika Nation Interpretive Centre, giving Siksika interpreters an opportunity to explain their people’s role in the Bow Valley. To learn more about the role of the First Nations people in the Bow Valley, follow the Bow River upstream to the Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian.
Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian
The Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian grew out of the close ties Norman K. Luxton, a newspaper man, entrepreneur and Banff legend, had developed with Aboriginal people in the Bow Valley region over a nearly 50-year period. Luxton began collecting Native artifacts when he opened his Sign of the Goat Trading Post, Taxidermy and Museum, which still stands near the Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian. The Sign of the Goat continues to be a treasured historic site in Banff. Luxton’s museum, currently run by the Buffalo Nations, is the oldest museum dedicated to Aboriginal people in Alberta. Further up river from the Luxton museum is the Cave and Basin National Historic Site, the foul-smelling sulphur springs that led to the creation of Banff National Park in 1885.
The 1883 discovery of the Cave and Basin mineral hot springs led to the founding of Banff townsite.
Cave and Basin National Historic Site
Three railway workers discovered the sulphur springs in the late fall of 1883 while prospecting along Sulphur Mountain’s slopes. The Cave and Basin evolved from coarse timber bathhouses next to the “basin” to a large stone structure that for many years housed an outdoor pool. The cave can be accessed through a main building, while walkways guide visitors around the site.
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The Banff Park Museum is a National Historic Site and one of Canada’s oldest natural history musems.
Look carefully for tiny snails in the hot springs, but do not touch or disturb them as the snails are endangered and found only in the hot pools at the Cave and Basin. Exhibits interpreting the park’s history can be found inside the main buildings.
Banff Park Museum National Historic Site
Across the Bow River from the administration building, joined by the Bow River bridge, — also a historic structure built in 1923 with the face of an unidentified Stoney chief — is the Banff Park Museum National Historic Site: one of Canada’s oldest natural history museums. Parks Canada closed the museum for seven months in 2002 and 2003 to renovate and restore the aging timber-frame structure built in 1903. Preserved in glass cases inside the museum are more than 5,000 animal, plant and mineral specimens found in the Rocky Mountains. Among the museum’s collection is Canada’s first bison diorama, complete with a cow and calf. Many specimens date back to 1895. For those more inclined toward art history as opposed to natural history, stroll down to the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies just around the corner from the Banff Park Museum.
Town of Banff Heritage Corporation
The Banff Heritage Corporation is a unique endeavour by the Town of Banff created in 1996 to promote and protect its history. It offers walking tours of the town’s 44 historic buildings and sites and brochures can be picked up at the Town Hall. The corporation is coordinating the Doors Open Banff program on June 19 and 20, giving everyone an opportunity to enter many of Banff’s historic buildings, including some private residences.
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
The Whyte Museum is easily one of the most remarkable historical and cultural resources in the Bow Valley. The museum offers a broad range of exhibits, encompassing current and historical work — paintings, photography, artifacts and installation pieces —along with archives, heritage buildings and numerous historical items that document early life in the Rocky Mountains. For the curious at heart, much knowledge and information can be gleaned about Rocky Mountain heritage from a trip to the archives. The museum is home to 4,000 pieces of art, including photography, mixed media, painting and sculpture, about 4,400 books and enough archival material to cover half a kilometre, if all the documents were laid side-by-side. The Whyte also offers a number of talks, presentations and heritage walking tours.
Bankhead
The discovery of coal seams at the base of Cascade Mountain led the Canadian Pacific Railway to establish the coal mining town of Bankhead. Bankhead lasted all of 17 years, before the railway closed the town in 1922 during an economic depression. Today, an interpretive trail winds through the mine site, past huge slack heaps and foundations of old mine buildings, including the tipple and walls of a lamp house. Up the hill from the mine site is the concrete foundation, including the stairs, of the Bankhead church. Bankhead is accessible from the Minnewanka Lake Road, north of the Banff town site.
The Bow River Bridge on Banff Avenue depicts a regal Native chief.
If you go:
The Banff Centre: open year-round, ticket prices at the Banff Centre vary according to event, with most in the $15-20 range.
Cascade Gardens and Canada Place: admission free, open June to September. Luxton Museum: open year round, admission ranges from $6 for adults to $10 for families, with children’s and seniors’ discounts available.
Siksika Nation Interpretive Centre: admission free, open July and August.
Cave and Basin National Historic Site: open year round, admission ranges from $4 for adults to $10 for families, with children’s and seniors’ discounts available. Tours included with admission.
Banff Park Museum National Historic Site: open year round, admission ranges from $4 for adults to $10 for families, with children’s and seniors’ discounts available. Tours included with admission, most days.
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies: open year round, admission ranges from $6 for adults to $15 for a family of four, with children’s and seniors’ discounts available. Tours range in price, some are free with admission.
Useful Websites:
The Banff Centre:
Parks Canada (Banff National Park): www.pc.gc.ca
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies: www.whyte.org
Rob Alexander was born and raised in the Bow Valley and is currently working on a historical book about the community of Exshaw, located east of Canmore.
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