What to See in Wetaskiwin - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. The Reynolds-Alberta Museum is a agricultural, industrial, and transportation museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. The museum is situated on an 89-hectare property containing the main museum building, an aviation display hangar, and its storage facility. The museum's aviation display hangar also houses Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.

The museum was initially conceived by Stan Reynolds, who had amassed a large collection of agricultural machinery, airplanes, and automobiles during the mid-20th century. During the 1980s, Reynolds donated 850 artifacts to the government of Alberta for the purposes of showcasing these items in a public museum. The provincial government opened the Reynolds-Alberta Museum to exhibit these items to the public on 12 September 1992. The institution was named after Reynolds, who eventually donated over 1,500 artifacts to the institution before his death.

The museum collection presently contains over 6,600 agricultural, industrial, and transportation artifacts. The majority of the artifacts are held in the museum's storage facility; although a number of artifacts are either on exhibit in the museum's main building and aviation display hangar, or on tour.^[1]

Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, based in the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada, commemorates and honours those whose accomplishments in aviation contributed so much to Canada's development as a nation. Founded in 1973, the Hall of Fame has honoured thus far more than 200 aviators, engineers, technicians and administrators.

Due to its size and geographical location, Canada has had to rely upon aviation much more than other countries. With so much territory unsuitable for surface travel, it was up to aviation to unite the country and bring the distant regions the opportunities for social and economic progress that would make them part of Canada. The unique combination of pioneering aviation and pioneering development of the country resulted in many outstanding examples of heroism, skill, tenacity, courage, wisdom, and luck, and many great stories to be told. The best of these stories are described in the Aviation Hall of Fame.

Stories are told on four by eight foot panels with portraits, citations, photographs, and memorabilia. The Hall has an extensive collection of personal items and memorabilia related to inducted members, including such material as licenses, logbooks, uniforms, insignia, medals, trophies and awards, documents, correspondence, scrapbooks and photographs. The reference library contains approximately 2,500 books and over 12,000 periodicals related specifically to Canadian aviation. Items are loaned to other museums in Canada for exhibit purposes, and may be accessed by researchers and visitors, by appointment.

The Hall of Fame also awards the Belt of Orion and the Order of Polaris each year at its annual induction dinner, to an organization notable for its contribution to Canadian aviation.^[2]

Museum in Alberta, Canada. The Alberta Central Railway Museum is a railway museum located south-east of the City of Wetaskiwin, in Central Alberta, Canada. The main building was designed as a scaled-down version of the City's 1907 Canadian Pacific Railway depot. The depot includes a waiting room, baggage room and telegraph office, as well as exhibits and railroad artifacts. Railroad equipment includes locomotives, a sleeper car, passenger coach, freight equipment, cabooses, freight cars and a snowplough. Attractions include a model train layout of the original Wetaskiwin railyard. The museum also features a 1906 Alberta Grain Co. grain elevator which was moved from Hobbema. The elevator is known to be Alberta's second-oldest grain elevator in the Province. Rides are given on a one-mile loop of track.^[4]