The Galt Museum & Archives collects and displays the stories of human history in southern Alberta. The historic brick building is the main addition to the first full hospital in Lethbridge. The funding for the hospital was provided by Elliot Galt in 1907 and the Prime Minister of the day, Sir Wilfried Laurier turned the key at the hospital’s official opening to declare it open in 1910. Many southern Albertan residents were born here and died here. Some of these deaths have led to the Galt being one of the most renowned haunted places in Alberta. What’s an old hospital without a few ghosts?
The Galt also hosts a garden of native prairie plants on our grounds. The plants are placed similar to how they would grow in the river valley: shade tolerant species on the slope against the north wall of the museum, the most drought tolerant species on the steep, southwest-facing slope.
The current special exhibit on display in the museum is Cinescapes: Movies in Southwestern Alberta. Cinescapes invites visitors to explore the history of movie entertainment, from production to exhibition, as movies evolved from a side-show novelty into one of the most popular forms of mass entertainment. The exhibit showcases artifacts from the local commercial and independent film industry, examples of cinema technologies, a feature on Lethbridge’s “picture palaces” through the twentieth century, and hands-on activities that engage visitors of all ages in some of the mysteries of movie-making.
