Visitors to the Watt Century Farmhouse Museum in Armour Township will have more viewing space this season.
That extra space is a result of Armour Township erecting a 24 x 48-foot building next to the existing farmhouse museum at 827 Chetwynd Rd.
Diane Brandt, president of the Burk’s Falls and District Historical Society, said the new building will be broken up into five cubicles with each partition hosting thematic subjects.
One section of the new building will be devoted to firefighting techniques and accomplishments of the local fire department, spanning more than a century.
A major draw will be the horse-drawn fire hose reel, which is being stored in the museum garage over the winter.
The firefighting cubicle will also feature trophies won by the firefighters in various competitions, as well as old firefighting gear.
Another cubicle will be devoted to medicine and it features numerous artifacts that doctors would have used in their offices, including old stethoscopes and the doctor’s bag the physician would carry when making house calls.
The new addition will also include some storage space.
Brandt said more than 6,000 artifacts are in the museum’s possession and they are displayed at the farmhouse museum and also at the Wiseman’s Corner Schoolhouse in Ryerson Township, at 112 Midlothian Rd.
The one-room school house was built in 1893 and in 1997 it was transformed into the Burk’s Falls and District Museum.
As for the farmhouse museum, it began life as a true farmhouse in 1902. It was owned by John and Mary Watt and later by one of their children.
In 2012 Northland Power bought the property.
Realizing there was historical value to the home, it formalized an agreement with the Burk’s Falls and District Historical Society in 2015, and that same year on July 25 the Watt Century Farmhouse opened to the public as a museum.
In 2019, Northland Power transferred a portion of the property to Armour Township, which now cares for the upkeep and maintenance on behalf of the historical society.
Most of the artifacts represent the history of Burk’s Falls, Armour and Ryerson.
But some items are from neighbouring communities, like the type of equipment well-known local trapper Ralph Bice of Kearney would have used.
Among the artifacts in the farmhouse museum are an old hand-held stick phone where the mouthpiece and hearing apparatus were separate parts, a phonograph, military uniforms and hundreds of old newspapers.
There was a time when the communities of Powassan, Sundridge and Burk’s Falls each had their own standalone papers and the museum has been able to collect these newspapers which go back to 1917. Brandt says because of their age and fragility they cannot be handled by the public.
It’s Brandt’s hope that one day the museum can muster up the resources and have someone comb through the articles to see what was making local news.
“There’s lots of history there, but no time to go through it,” Brandt said.
Brandt said visitors, both local and from other towns and countries, are in awe of some of the artifacts.
The old fire hose reel definitely gets a wow from people, as does the horse-drawn hearse. The hearse belonged to J. Hilliar who opened the first funeral home in Burk’s Falls sometime during the 1800s.
The hearse is on loan to the museum from a private collector.
Brandt says to qualify as an item for the museum any artifact has to be more than 50 years old.
Brandt adds if a donation is broken, sometimes the volunteers will fix it, but other times they will leave it as it is.
“So, if you have something you don’t know what to do with, don’t throw it out, instead contact us,” Brandt said.
Brandt says the museum is always looking for volunteers and members, and anyone interested in helping out should attend the society’s annual general meeting on March 17.
The meeting is at the Fells Homes seniors’ residence in Burk’s Falls at 7 p.m.
The society website has more information about the society and artifacts on display.