Municipal Historic Resources featured in social media posts, video series and web map

Since Heritage Day 2023 a year ago, we have been featuring a series of social media posts to showcase all of Lethbridge’s Municipal Historic Resources. With Heritage Day 2024 on Monday, August 5, the final entry was posted this morning – thus completing the series.

For each of the 13 Downtown locations, we also produced Heritage Minute videos featuring Belinda Crowson, City Councillor and President of the Lethbridge Historical Society. The videos, which can all be found on the City’s YouTube here, showcase some fun facts at each stop.

“Sharing the history and stories of our amazing designated historic buildings in this video series has been a fun project,” says Crowson. “Moving forward, we collectively need to work to get more buildings designated but also to get plaques up on even more of them so the community can learn and appreciate the stories of these incredible buildings and the people who built them and used them.”

Earlier this year, Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously to designate the Whitney Block as a new Municipal Historic Resource – thus becoming the 30th Municipal Historic Resource in the city. In addition to the 30 Municipal Historic Resources, Lethbridge/Sikóóhkotok has 15 Provincial Historic Resources (several sites have both Municipal and Provincial designation). The city is also home to four Federally-listed National Historic Events and one National Historic Person.

Another new addition to the website is an interactive Heritage Map showcasing locations and information on all of our Municipal Historic Resources. It can be viewed here.

“By having all this historical information updated in more user-friendly and visual ways on our website, we are hoping more people will access it, find it interesting and want to learn more,” says Ross Kilgour, Senior Community Planner. “We are aware of many more buildings in our community that could be worthy of Municipal Historic Resource designation. We are certainly looking to the public and those who may be interested in pursuing historic designation to please reach out to us.”

The Provincial Historical Resources Act empowers Alberta’s municipalities to protect and conserve historically significant places. Municipal Historic Resource designation protects these significant places, ensuring that they are not altered haphazardly or destroyed. Once designated, a Municipal Historic Resource remains the property of the registered owner. Designation does not alter how a property can be used. Law prohibits physically altering (or demolishing) a Historic Resource without the municipality’s written permission. The designation is registered against the title for the property, ensuring that future owners and interest holders understand that the place is designated.

Balancing these additional responsibilities, owners of designated Municipal Historic Resources may apply to the Province for annual matching grants of up to $50,000 to assist with the conservation of their property.

Property owners can apply to the City to have their property identified and protected as a Municipal Historic Resource. More information on the Municipal designation process can be found here. Do you think your building should be protected by the City as a Municipal Historic Resource? To learn more, view the Historic Resources Brochure.

More information on the City’s Historic Building Preservation and Heritage Management can be viewed here.