Old Cartoon Map of McBride

    The other day while cleaning out a nest of rolled papers we had been saving, I came across this old cartoon map I had drawn of McBride, probably in the 1980’s.  While it seems that McBride has always been the same, the map shows that there have been quite a few changes to our little village over the years.

    It will probably be difficult to see much detail in the map on your computer, but you might be able to make out some of the numbered locations.

    Number 1 is the train station, which has stayed pretty much the same on the outside.  Inside has changed though with the addition of The Beanery (restaurant, coffee shop) and the Whistle Stop Gallery which sells locally produced arts and crafts.  

    Number 7 shows the old high school buildings.  A new high school was built across the road in the blank area where the map show a clump of 6 trees.

    Number 8 was the location of our old library, which now sits on Main Street, near #17.  I put the logger there because that was where the logging sports used to take place during Pioneer Days.

    Number 13 shows the location of the old elementary school, now replaced by a new school building in the same location.

    Number 19 shows an “A”-shaped building that was the ice skating arena.  It too was torn down and replaced by our present arena.

    Not numbered, but in the blank area between number 15 (the hospital) and number 20 (Koeneman Park) you might be able to make out two cows.  I drew them there with big bells hanging from their necks, because the owner of the pasture at the time was from Switzerland, and had bells on some of his cows.  It was always a delight to hear the tinkling of the bells in the pasture when we bicycled into town.

    In those intervening decades since I drew the map, there have been a lot of other changes to McBride; across the highway from #18 there was a big complex that was built for the Ministry of Forests.  It is now owned by the Village for its maintenance equipment.  Beside the ice arena there is a Community Hall.

    Things do change even in a sleepy village, but one forgets about those changes until they see something that shows how things used to be. 

You can view my photo-realistic paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca