Barbara Rudkin
Special to the Chief
A special Heritage Tea, including tea/coffee, sandwiches and homemade goodies for $7, will be held on Saturday (Feb. 25) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Brightbill House, which is now located on the grounds of the West Coast Heritage Railway Park, 39645 Government Road.
Originally, this 1937 built house was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Brightbill and family, and was situated where the Squamish Credit Union now sits, on the corner of Second Avenue and Winnipeg Street in downtown Squamish. Harry was a conductor for the PGE Railway, which later became BC Rail and is now CN Railway.
Back about 33 years ago, when the house was slated for demolition and the site to become a parking lot, a small group of historically-minded Squamish citizens expressed opposition to this idea. The suggestion that it be considered a heritage building and turned into a museum actually won the day and for many years residents, visitors and eventually tourists, from the revitalized Royal Hudson steam train that began traveling between North Vancouver and Squamish, had an opportunity to view household items and furnishings displayed somewhat typically of the era in which the Brightbill family would have lived in the home.
The many and varied objects were generously loaned or donated from what people living in Squamish had stashed away in attics, basements and barns. The front room even had a display of some of the flora and fauna significant to our area. A very large painting of the Chief blended into a diorama of our estuary and some of its wildlife.
Eventually, a small "gift shop" counter was added. Volunteers took turns manning this and the tours through the kitchen and bedroom displays.
Years later, when the site was seriously required for downtown development, the municipal council of that time generously had the house moved over to Stan Clarke Park, which spans the blocks between Cleveland and Second Avenues at the south end of downtown Squamish. This park at that time more often than not got called the "Train Park" because of an actual train engine situated adjacent to where the Cenotaph is now located. A few generations of children have clambered over that engine envisioning themselves rollicking along railway tracks with themselves as the driver, clanging the bell for all to hear. When dilapidation made the engine unsafe, it was removed to the West Coast Heritage Railway Park, restored and can once again be visited in its new home.
The museum, in the meantime, ceased to open due to its own dilapidation, a lack of volunteers and funds for heating, security and repairs. It sat boarded up for ten or so years, the artifacts having been returned as much as possible to their owners.
Then, in 1999, when the idea of a railway museum for Squamish took hold and land designated, the Brightbill House was moved yet again. One year later, after extensive restoration, its doors opened again to invite visitors in to view a home furnished as it once might have been in the days of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Brightbill, as part of the West Coast Heritage Railway Park.
If you think that you might like to go for tea in the old Brightbill House on Saturday (Feb. 25) and reminisce of days gone by, then it probably would be best to make a reservation by calling 604-898-9336.
