The Galt Hospital/ Museum celebrated their new exhibit— 100 years of the Galt, by losing the keys to the building — again, Sept. 26.

 

Actually it was the culmination of a publicity stunt which re-enacted the actual opening of the new building back in 1910, when Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier and Hospital  board chairman Peter Naismith couldn’t find the keys to the building.

 

After a variety of speeches from  various dignitaries including Mayor Bob Tarleck and Senator Joyce Fairbairn, Galt Museum and Archives curator Wendy Aitkens outlined the history of the building from hospital, to nurses school, to palliative care home to  the building’s current incarnation as the Galt Museum and Archives.

Over the past month, the Galt has been releasing  clues to the location  of the key to to the Museum, a reference to an incident 100 years  ago when the  actual key  to the museum was misplaced during the grand opening.

 

Ray Waddle, who found the  key from following the clues, officially opened the museum.

 

 Actors Charlie Christensen and Dwayne Petluk portrayed  Naismith  and Laurier respectively, with the latter speaking in a French- Canadian accent and delivering Laurier’s actual speech according to the 1910 Lethbridge Herald, Laurier delivered with a few references to more modern references to Tim Hortons and the like.

 

 As a good sized crowd entered through the original doors, they were greeted by volunteers dressed as nurses,  some of them actual nurses who attended the Galt  nursing school, answered qustions and told interested observers fascinating trivia about the building and the history.

 

 They had numerous games for children outside and entertainment inside including the Lethbridge Cloggers.

 The new exhibit includes a variety of items including nurse uniforms, an old operating bed, medical instruments and the blueprints for the 1928 expansion of the Galt. The new exhibit runs until Dec. 5.