The Teacherage
Built sometime before the early 1900s, this small cottage once stood beside the school in Wabamun, providing a home for the local teacher. While the exact construction date is unknown, its location was identified through historic aerial photographs showing a small residence beside the school.
In many rural communities, teachers were expected to board with local families. When a community could afford it, however, a dedicated Teacherage was built, giving teachers a place of their own. This provided both privacy and independence while allowing them to become part of the community they served.
During restoration, museum volunteers discovered that the Teacherage had originally been a simple two-room building. The kitchen was added later, and when the siding was repaired, the vertical trim marking the addition was intentionally preserved so visitors could still see the building's evolution.
The interior has been carefully restored using paint colours matched to the earliest layers found during restoration. Each room reflects how the Teacherage may have appeared during the 1930s.
One unique feature is the back-to-back chimney, which warmed both the bedroom and living room with a single wood stove—an efficient design for Alberta's cold winters.
Today, the Teacherage offers visitors a glimpse into the daily life of the men and women who educated generations of rural children.
Highlights
🏠 Originally a two-room cottage
🔥 Back-to-back chimney heating two rooms
🎨 Paint colours matched from original samples
📷 Original location identified using aerial photographs
🛏 Restored to reflect life in the 1930s
Zeke and Mabel Visit the Teacherage
New here? Meet Zeke and Mabel, your unofficial museum guides.
Now right beside the schoolhouse sits a tiny little cottage that Zeke says proves teachers were either very tidy… or very patient. “That there,” he said, pointing with his chin the way he does when his hands are in his pockets, “is the Teacherage.”
Back in the day, if a community had a bit of extra money, they’d build the schoolteacher a little house to live in. Otherwise, the poor soul had to stay with a local family, which meant minding your manners twenty-four hours a day.
This particular Teacherage came from Wabamun, though nobody’s been able to pin down exactly when it was built. Folks figured out where it likely came from thanks to some old aerial photos showing a small building beside the school that looked just about the right size.
Zeke squinted at the roofline. “Yep,” he said. “That’s about the size of a teacher’s patience by June.”
“As a former teacher, I can confirm that’s a very accurate architectural measurement."
”During roof repairs volunteers discovered something interesting — the cottage originally had only two rooms. The kitchen was added later.
When they fixed up the siding, they kept the vertical trim that marked where the addition happened, so the building’s story wouldn’t get lost.
Inside, the walls had more layers of paint than Zeke’s old fishing boat. So, the volunteers took paint samples from the earliest layers and painted each room one of those original colours.
Now the whole place is set up like it might have looked in the 1930s, when the school next door was still full of students.
Zeke leaned toward the chimney. “That there’s a back-to-back chimney,” he explained. “Used to warm the bedroom on one side and the living room on the other.”
Then he grinned. “That chimney keeps the NewTeacherage so toasty in winter, some visitors forget they’re supposed to leave—and honestly, who could blame ’em?”