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Fernie has been intimately tied to society’s need for coal. The abundance of this resource attracted a wave of immigrants to the Fernie area beginning in 1897. Fernie’s first residents were mostly enterprising men who were single or working away from their families. “Old Town,” a disorganized cluster of hastily built business buildings and miners’ houses located just north of the mouth of Coal Creek, was their home
With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1898, the mining of coal began in earnest. Opposite the CPR tracks and to the north, the new town of Fernie took shape. Mine workers built more substantial houses for their families, pioneer businessmen hired contractors to build their estates, retail stores and office buildings. The rapid construction of Fernie generated the development of sawmills, hardware stores, blacksmith shops and other building suppliers.
Since its formation in 1897 as a collection of roughshod log structures built to support the coal mines, Fernie has attracted a great diversity of people and cultures. Fernie’s history is filled with events of only local interest, set within the framework of a larger world. From the beginning, one unifying theme runs through this history — a participation in and love of sports. This exhibit and its storyline attempt to illustrate this through images and the collective memories of the people who lived them.
