Museum History
During 1967, Canada's centennial, a something sparked people’s interest in the household accessories, clothing, tools, and in the way of life of the early settlers of every district from coast to coast. Across Canada, they held exhibits, parades, teas, and social events with the Centennial theme, during which the artifacts from yesteryear came down from dusty attics and barn rafters. Meanwhile, in the Virden district an old brown house stood empty on Government Road on the outskirts of town at 21-10-26. It held a great treasure: a plethora of Victorian artifacts. Among the partyers were Jack and Ann Madge who began to appear at the Centennial events wearing Grandma's and Grandpa's finery from the 1880's - elegant costumes, billowing skirts, frock coats, top hats and bonnets. We marveled at the lasting beauty of these antiquated garments. In all of the marvelling, it suddenly occurred to those in the community that the past was terribly important. During this celebration, we unexpectedly fell in love with the Victorian era and, almost as suddenly, the Birthday Party was over for Canada. All of the family heirlooms across the country found their way back into the dusty attics. However, for Manitobans, it was a different story because their own provincial Centennial was just 3 years away! Plans were soon underway for another party.
The year was 1884. Mr. and Mrs. John Thomas Madge with their ten children and all their worldly goods, came from Honiton, England to settle and farm along the Pipestone Creek. Nearing Manitoba's Centennial year, descendants of theirs, Jack and Ann Madge, began to make plans for retirement to the West Coast. With moving plans being made, their thoughts drifted to the old brown frame house filled with family artifacts. Inside the house, there were numerous large black packing cases that had carried the belongings of the Madge family across the seas. They contained a wealth of household goods including furniture, a rosewood piano, some lovely homemade furniture, clothing, books, photographs, farm implements, and an ox yoke. In all, 300 artifacts were gathered together that had nowhere to go.
The Madge family approached the Virden Town Council with a request and a bequest. They requested that a museum be put together to house significant artifacts from the area, and bequeathed to them the historical items from that old house, stipulating that they must not leave the province of Manitoba. (The Madge family donated another 360 items the following year, for a total of 760 donated artifacts!).
Faced with this most generous offer, the Mayor and Councillors approached five Virden citizens whom they considered sufficiently interested in the project. The council requested that they head up a steering committee to tackle the enormous project. All of the five accepted the challenge. In the spring of 1969, a 9 member Board of Directors was formed. They were set to the difficult task of compiling, restoring, acquiring, cataloging, and displaying a house to depict the way of life in the 1880's suitable for presentation to visitors.
Several suitable older homes were available, inspected, and considered for the groups insurmountable task , but they chose the beautiful brick house at 390 King Street West. The house, situated on a corner lot, had plenty of landscaped grounds that ran to the Scallion Creek, housed tennis courts and croquet greens, as well as the usual hen house, stable, carriage shed and gardens. The house was originally built in 1888 by J. F. Frame who was an early hardware merchant, but has held numerous owners and tenants over the years. The Town of Virden purchased the house and property and the Board of Directors prepared the museum to open.
In July of 1970, during Manitoba's Centennial celebrations, the Pioneer Home Museum of Virden and Districts was officially opened. The opening ceremonies even included a ribbon-cutting ceremony performed by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Madge of Victoria! Not long afterwards, artifacts came from near and far as loans and donations to keep the group of volunteers busy acknowledging, cataloging, and exhibiting the new items throughout the historic museum.
Today, the museum is still open to the public and looked after by a volunteer Board of Directors. However, the collection have grown dramatically. In nearly fifty years, the museum’s collection has gone from 300 artifacts to over 11,000! Furthermore, two additions have been made to the original house to house this collection.