Week of May 23, 2024

Strathma's Kitchen Exhibit

40 years ago (May 23, 1984)

“County defends its dogcatchers”

Dogcatchers were put in place to control unleashed and loose dogs on public property, but 40 years ago Strathcona County dogcatchers were facing accusations of harassment. Some county residents had been accusing dogcatchers of illegally luring their dogs off of their private property. One county resident said a dogcatcher drove back and forth in front of her acreage gate until her dog came out and the catcher took it for being at large. The county bylaw-enforcement officer said his employees know it’s illegal to lure dogs off of private property and said if it happened the employee would be disciplined. He also defended the dogcatchers saying, “Dog patrol is a really tough job … they’re sort of damned if they do and damned if they don’t.”

30 years ago (May 26, 1994)

“Cozy kitchen recreated”

30 years ago, the Strathcona County Heritage Foundation recreated an early 1900s-style kitchen for a display in Festival Place. The centre piece of the display was a Home Comfort wood-burning stove that belonged to Bob and Alma Hildebrand. The stove was delivered to the Hildebrand’s home in 1914 by horse and wagon. Displayed alongside the stove was a Hoosier Cabinet, Edison Gramophone, butter churns, and an early 1900s sewing machine. The Heritage Foundation’s goal with its kitchen display was to bring back pleasant memories and teach youth about their grandparent’s lives. The objects on display were to be sent back to their owners, with the goal that one day the Heritage Foundation would have a storage facility to keep them in. Some of these artifacts would come back to the Foundation and form the basis for the Strathcona County Museum’s collection. Today you can see the Hildebrand’s Home Comfort stove as the centerpiece of a cozy kitchen once again at the Strathcona County Museum & Archives.