Manitoba Municipal Heritage Site No. 385
Rapid City Museum and Cultural Centre
4th Avenue
Rapid City
Designation Date: September 11, 2014
Designation Authority: Rapid City (Town)
Present Owner: Oakview (R.M.)
The main school building at the Rapid City Museum and Cultural Centre (formerly Rapid City School, 1902) is a landmark in the town of Rapid City, situated on high ground near the centre of town. A substantial brick school like this one is an indication of a town’s success and growing importance during Manitoba’s Establishment era, and the building is a reminder today of the optimism and rapid growth of early-twentieth century Rapid City. Designed by William Alexander Elliot, an architect then located in Brandon, the basically oblong form common to many such schools is enlivened by projecting gable-roofed bays to either side of the entrance bay, and a variety of window shapes. Visual interest is also provided through the use of restrained but elegant brick ornament, including several string courses of various widths, and the framing detail around the window openings.
The other two museum buildings have been moved from other nearby locations, and have value as once-common features of early twentieth-century life. One is a small, gable-roofed, board-and-batten milk house, and the other is a modest tin-and stucco-clad gable-roofed commercial building with a boomtown front.
