Rossland Museum Updates 🪏

July 16, 2026

The Museum is open year-round! Summer Hours: open 10 am to 6 pm, seven days a week. Guided tours of the outdoor exhibits (included in admission) at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm daily through June, July, and August.

Plan Your Visit

Renewal Project Updates: Breaking Ground

We’re thrilled to share that progress continues on our Renewal Project: Phase 2 – the Mine Experience. We’ve been working on this project for a while — so where are we now?

Historic Places Days 2026

Did you know the Museum is a designated site of the national historic event: the Kootenay Mining Region? We'll be open by donation 10 am to 6 pm this weekend, July 18-19, to celebrate Historic Places Days.

Haven't experienced one of our guided tours yet? Now's your chance! We offer historical tours of the outdoor exhibits at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm daily through the summer. Included in admission - and free for members!

Ask-A-Geologist Summer Sessions

Our Ask-A-Geologist program is back! Stop by the Museum on select Saturdays from 1 pm - 3 pm this summer and pick the brain of one of our Friends of the Roger Terhune Geology Club geologists!

Bring your burning geological questions and your mystery rocks and minerals for identification! Explore some of the specimens in the RMDC geology collection, learn about Rossland's amazing geological history, and uncover the incredible stories hidden beneath your feet.

Scheduled dates:

Saturday, July 25th - Jim Chapman (geologist - mineral exploration)
Saturday, August 8th - Frank Fowler (geologist)
Saturday, August 22nd - Anelda Van Staden (geometallurgist)
More dates may be added, so stay tuned!

BC Day at the Museum 2026

Looking for the ultimate family plan this BC Day? ☀️ Stop in to the Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre for some exploration and family-friendly fun!

📅 Monday, August 3rd
⏰ 10 am – 6 pm
🎟️ Open by Donation!

We’ve got a wonderful lineup of activities for all ages:

🏽 Outdoor Games: Challenge the family to SpikeBall, croquet, and more!
⛏️ Strike it Rich: Try your luck at gold panning and catch our gold-panning demos.
🚂 Explore & Climb: Step inside our historic caboose or hop into a real fire truck!
🫧 Giant Bubbles: Keep the kids amazed with our spectacular bubble wands.
🧊 Beat the Heat: Head inside to cool down with crafts, activities, and an epic scavenger hunt!

Our popular outdoor guided tours will be running throughout the day. Come celebrate BC Day with us — we can't wait to see you!

(P.S. Can’t make it Monday? We’re open daily all summer from 10 am to 6 pm, with guided tours included with admission at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm daily!)

Columbia Basin Culture Tour: Student Showcase

Curious about what our summer students have been up to? Make the Museum part of your Columbia Basin Culture Tour to find out all about it! Whether working on research projects, cataloguing artifacts, or offering summer tours, our staff have had a busy season! Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the collections storage, learn about the resources in the archive, and find out more at our annual student showcase. We'll be open by donation all weekend, Saturday and Sunday, August 8-9th, so stop in to learn about the history and culture of Rossland.

Plus, join us for a daily property tour (11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm all summer long) or amp up your Columbia Basin Culture Tour weekend with some on-site family-friendly crafts and activities!

2341.0133 Rossland Swimming Pool Grand Opening, August 1932

Do you know the story of Rossland’s swimming pool? The idea was first formally proposed in the spring of 1932. In the months that followed, the Swimming Pool Committee quickly raised funds and organized volunteer labour to build the pool we know today.

The construction of the pool – 30 x 90 feet in size holding approximately 85,000 gallons of water – required over a thousand sacks of cement, 7500 feet of steel, and approximately 30,000 feet of lumber. The project was estimated to cost $7,200 in all – a huge sum for the community during the Great Depression! More than two hundred individual donors joined in the project. Some chipped in 25¢ or $1.00, while others, like the Hunter Bros. department store, contributed a whopping $100 to the project.

Local industry and individuals also pitched in to make the pool a reality. The Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company loaned a concrete mixer to the project, the West Kootenay Power & Light Co. supplied heating and lighting, and the Rossland Miner reported that the volunteer "workmen have displayed a spirit of cooperation in this matter never before seen in Rossland in a similar undertaking which will be for the benefit of the whole community, especially the children." The City of Rossland donated the land for the project as well as the staff time of City Engineer O. L. Colbourne, who, as the Mayor remarked at the opening ceremonies, "has given of his best from the first hour the work commenced, until the completion."

The pool was formally opened with a ceremony on August 8th, 1932, just a few short months after the idea was formally proposed. It remains one of the longest-running outdoor swimming pools in BC - and a testament to the power of the Rossland community.

Do you have photos or memories of the Rossland swimming pool? Let us know! We would love to add more recent pool-related photographs and stories to our collection.

A2024.000.052.034 Rossland Swimming Pool, circa 1950

More about the Rossland Swimming Pool

Collection Highlights

1987.35.4 - Square Ice Cream Scoop

The square scoop style was introduced by the Automatic Cone Company in the summer of 1925.
Special cones were created to go with the square scoops.
Popularity of the square scoops dropped off in the 1930s in favour of the convenient round scoop and traditional cones we see today

2019.1.1 - BC Firefighters Museum Wine Bottle

Sumac Ridge Estate winery produced a limited run of their Special Selection wine for the opening of the BC Firefighters Museum in Rossland, July 1992
The BC Firefighters Museum officially opened on July 11, 1992 and operated in the historic Rossland Fire Hall (2115 Queen Street)
When the Museum closed down after a few years, its collection was mostly transferred to the Rossland Museum

Explore the Collection

We have free sunscreen!

We’re excited to announce that we have new sunscreen dispensers! Thanks to a partnership with Save Your Skin Foundation, we can now offer free SPF 30 sunscreen to the public – available outside the front entrance to the Museum and at the front desk. Stop by to check it out and save your skin!

Save Your Skin Foundation (SYSF) is a patient-led organization dedicated to the fight against non-melanoma skin cancers, melanoma, and ocular melanoma through education, advocacy, and awareness initiatives across Canada.

Learn more about the Save Your Skin Foundation

Gift Shop Highlights

We’ve added a few new ski-themed items to the Museum Shop lately – perfect for anyone who’s longing for winter! First up, Grey Mountain Grind T-shirts from the Klister Klub to commemorate the iconic race, which was originally held in 1943-46 and revived briefly during the 1980s! Next, we’ve got new magnets – made from images of the “Welcome to Rossland: Home of Canada’s Highest Ski Lift” sign which used to welcome visitors to town. Stop by to take a look!

Shop Online

In Case You Missed It

First Annual South Columbia Regional Heritage Fair

On June 12th, 2026, Grade 3 and 4 students gathered at Glenmerry Elementary School for the first annual South Columbia Regional Heritage Fair. Presentations covered an incredible range of topics and showcased the hard work, creativity, and enthusiasm that the students brought into learning and sharing their local history!

Goooal! New Outreach Exhibit at the Prestige

With the FIFA World Cup taking place in Vancouver, we could think of no better time to explore Rossland’s soccer heritage! Goooal! Soccer in Rossland will be on display at the Prestige Mountain Resort from June to September 2026. This temporary exhibit explores the anecdotes, athletes, and community spirit that have made and continue to make the sport great.

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