Miles’ Hill Becomes Richmond Hill
Sometime in the 1820s, Miles’ Hill was renamed Richmond Hill. The oft repeated story is that it was so named after a visit to the area by Governor General of British North AmericaCharles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond on July 13, 1819. However, another well repeated story is that the area’s first schoolteacher, Benjamin Barnard, was from a Richmond Hill in England, and taught all his classes the folk song The Lass of Richmond Hill because he was nostalgic for his old home. The popularity of the song with locals may account for the new name. Most authorities, including the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names report the honouring of Charles Lennox as the origin of the name.
Nineteenth Century Draws To A Close
In the 1880s, the churches replaced the taverns as the centre of the social scene in Richmond Hill. An August 1881 edition of The Liberal remarked “Few villages of equal size or importance within the Province, have manifested so much activity and energy in church enterprise as our own.” Richmond Hill in 1881 had a large Presbyterian church, adjacent to St Mary’s Anglican Church. Across Yonge Street stood a Methodist church and a smaller Roman Catholic church was also found in Richmond Hill. An investigation by The Liberal found that over $25 000 had been spent on church projects in 1880 while Richmond Hill’s population stood at less than one thousand souls.
The 1880s and 1890s were economically bad for Richmond Hill. The Patterson brothers firm, a manufacturing of farming implements and a major employer in Richmond Hill moved their operation to Woodstock after the town council there offered a $35 000 bonus if they would, which allowed their growing operation to construct a much needed rail spur. The Patterson brothers factory moved to Stratford in the winter of 1886/1887. The community experienced the economic decline that was occurring all across Ontario at the time, although perhaps not as strongly. The Trench Carriage Works and Newton Tanning Company remained major employers. The population declined, from 850 in 1890 to 650 in 1900. But many of the main stores along Yonge Street stayed open.
Lone Pine Film History Museum: Cowboys Guns & Stagecoaches
During my time in Lone Pine, preparing for my trip up Mt Whitney, I had a couple of days just to explore the city and surrounding area. I was glad of this as I had no idea how much cool stuff this small town had to offer. From the Alabama Hills to the Lone Pine Film History Museum, Lone Pine is more than just the portal to Mt Whitney. The Lone Pine Film History Museum is a great place to soak in the rich history of the hundreds of cowboy films that were made in this area, and to relive the nostalgia of the old silver screen. At a $5 requested donation to enter, this museum has a lot of fun stuff to look at, and it well worth the cost. Here is all the information.
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Museum Of Western Film History
Founded in 2006, the Museum of Western Film History collects, preserves and exhibits a broad and diverse collection of western film memorabilia. The museums honors the men and women of the silver screen who interpret the lives of the American Cowboy. In addition, the museum collects and shares information about movie making in the regional area of Inyo County.
The Museum of Western Film History’s digital collection at California Revealed consists of texts from the 1920s. The collection includes photo albums depicting Hollywood movie sets, actors, and actresses.
History Of The Museum
Founded in 2006 the museum, located in Lone Pine, California collects, preserves and exhibits a broad and diverse collection of western film memorabilia associated with the American western film genre. Film programs, artifact preservation and exhibits, including interpretive projects and displays, provide narrative support for the movies, actors, directors and producers and importantly, the landscapes that served as a canvas for their stories.
Our exhibits and archival documents are the core of educational programs created to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of our American West and local landscapes. The Museum attracts visitors from around the world that have sought out our unique museum to gain better understanding of the western film and the history that has permeated American and worldwide cultures.
The Museum collection, one of the largest and most significant in the United States, is complimented by a publishing arm that supports the Museums mission with complementary works. In addition we hold our annual Lone Pine Film Festival that features three days of screenings, panels, western authors and Hollywood professional presentations, and geographical movie site tours featuring the landscape of the Alabama Hills and the Eastern Sierra. This landscape is the venue to over 400 films and over 1000 commercials. Individual events throughout the year provide additional resources to enhance the museums mission.
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Miles’ Hill: The Nineteenth Century Dawns
At the start of the 19th century, English speaking and German-speaking settlers were trickling into the areas of Vaughan township and Markham township that would later become Richmond Hill. By 1801 the area was known as Miles’ Hill after Abner Miles and his son James Miles, who were prominent settlers. Miles had arrived in the area in 1800 from York, Upper Canada where he had run a general store on King Street. He opened a general store on Lot 45 on the east side of Yonge Street, and started a potash plant on Lot 45 on the west side of Yonge Street. That same year, he was elected tax assessor and tax collector for the townships of Vaughan, Markham, King and Whitchurch. He soon opened a tavern on the south-east corner of Yonge Street and Major Mackenzie Drive. After Abner Miles’ death in 1806, his son James took over his father’s businesses and role in the community. James Miles fit well into the role of a community leader. He was a local magistrate and justice of the peace. He was also a lieutenant in the York Militia during the War of 1812.
During the War of 1812, General Isaac Brock ordered all available men in Miles’ Hill to form a company. The men assembled at the farm of United Empire Loyalist James Fulton, and Brock came to personally inspect them. They were formed into a company of the 1st Regiment of York Militia. The company spent the fall and winter of 1812/1813 in York, Upper Canada waiting for an attack, but it never came.
Happy Trails Are Back Again Museum Of Western Film History Seeks New Trail Boss
While COVID-19 has impacted all during the last two years, Museums across the country have been hit hard by limited travel of consumers. For Inyo County, the decline in Highway 395 traffic has effected many of the mainstream businesses including our Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. The Museum shuttered briefly in 2020, but found an opportunity as others to reach its community and supporters online.
The October, Lone Pine Film Festival, an annual tradition since 1990 celebrating over 500 films shot in the Lone Pine area and Eastern Sierra over 30 years, may not have taken place in the Alabama Hills, but found its audience in providing an Online Film Festival, titled, Western Watch Party and featured the World Premiere of the 4K restoration of Mackintosh & T.J., starring Roy Rogers, in cooperation with Visual Data Media Services.
The Line Up included many Western Classic films as well as online presentations with Cheryl Rogers Barnett, Larry Maurice, Rob Word, William Wellman, Jr., Jay Dee Witney, and Lone Pines Alabama Hills movie location tours. It was not the usual film festival, but a large supportive online audience kept the tradition alive from the comfort of their own living rooms.
But, as the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song says, Happy Trails are now in the future.
A full job description can be acquired by contacting:
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Closure Sale Redevelopment And Reopening
By the mid-1990s, the observatory remained the largest single-mirror site in Canada, but it was considered small by modern standards. The cutting edge of Canadian university astronomy studies was involved in some of the world’s largest observatories: the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and the Gemini Observatory. None of these telescopes are located in Canada. After the UTSO was closed, in 1998 the Canadian Astronomical Society, a society of university astronomers, published a long range plan emphasizing the study of the origins of structure in the universe, a task well-suited to cutting-edge telescopes but ill-suited to the DDO. The long-range plan suggested the future of observatories such as the DDO lay in public outreach programs and training. In 2005 Canadian universities joined a partnership to build the Thirty Meter Telescope, expected to cost more than $1 billion.
In September 2007, the University stated it planned to sell the DDO property owing to light pollution.
On 20 July 2016, the RASC-TC declined to continue negotiations to lease the property for exclusive use and to continue to provide outreach programs at the heritage site. This led to the Town inviting proposals from 35 organizations to continue programming and maintenance of the site. Five applicants submitted proposals, including the York Region Astronomical Association , the RASC-TC, and the DDOD.
Toronto Purchase And Early Settlement
The Toronto Purchase took place on September 23, 1787 between the British and the Mississauga Indians. The purchase was understood by David Smith, the Surveyor General for Upper Canada to include the Richmond Hill area. The Mississauga Indians had a different understanding of the northern limit of the purchase. Conflicts arose between the Europeans that began to move into the area and the Mississaugas. The area was first surveyed by for Lieutenant-GovernorJohn Graves Simcoe in 1794 while he was constructing Yonge Street. By 1797, the Mississaugas in the area had left for the regions of Niagara and Peterborough. A meeting between British officials and Mississauga chiefs in 1805 clarified the northern border placing Richmond Hill within the land of the Toronto Purchase. At this time, the land that later became Richmond Hill was divided between Vaughan township west of Yonge Street, and Markham township east of Yonge Street.
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The Demise Of Tonto Or Hollywood Meets The Sioux
Select costumes from 15 Iconic Westerns, chosen for their Authenticity and Historical Accuracy. These costumes set the standard for the portrayal of Native Americans for the first time in the history of Film making.
Displays Include Dances With Wolves, Geronimo, Son of the Morning Star, and Longmire, among others.
Gateway To The High Sierra
For more than a century filmmakers have cast the Alabama Hills in hundreds of movies set in the Eastern Sierra Mountain region along U.S. Highway 395. The Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, California is where your High Sierra adventure begins. Dedicated to chronicling western film history and its impact on American Culture, the Museums 10,000 square feet exhibit a broad and diverse collection of western film memorabilia. Film programs, artifact preservation and exhibits, including interpretive projects and displays, provide narrative support for the movies, actors, directors, producers and most importantly, the landscapes that served as a canvas for their stories.
Lone Pine and Whitney Portal, in the shadow of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S. and the Eastern Sierra at 14,505 feet and the vast Horseshoe Meadow at 10,000 feet are your gateway to remarkable outdoor experiences for individuals and families that will be shared for a lifetime.
For Mountain climbers, Mt. Whitney and numerous other peaks challenge high peak adventure. The Alabama Hills provide diverse opportunities for bouldering, horse-back riding, mountain-biking, rock climbing and scrambling.
Highway 395. Your gateway to adventure begins in Lone Pine, CA and offers options to all compass points. A few of these include:
South to the Native Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns, The Olancha Sand Dunes and the Indian Wells Lava Flows and Fossil Falls.
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Old Update From 201: New Exhibits On Django Unchained
I went up to the museum again in August of 2012. It has been updated with a new central exhibit to the Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained. They had the medical wagon being driven in the trailer that had been donated to the museum, as well as a signed copy of the script by a couple of actors and the director.
Also, the person who was working there gave us a map of the Alabama Hills and showed us where some of the main spots for filming were so that we could go check them out.
All in all its a cool museum, and a great stop on any road trip up the 395.
Shop Our Trading Post
Our goal is to extend the visitors experience into the ambience of an original Trading Post on the Nambe Pueblo:
A jackpot of a gathering of authentic Indian and cowboy material culture, everything made by hand by local artists and craftsmen from the surrounding pueblos and communities, as well as vintage and antique artifacts.
Navajo weavings, pueblo pottery, micaceous cookware, baskets, Plains Indian Bead and Quillwork, Historic Paintings, vintage pawn jewelry and the contemporary jewelry of Jennifer Jesse Smith, antique saddles, clothing, Pendeltons, buckskin, beads, and much, much, more. One of the last historic trading posts of the Real West and the first stop on the High Road to Taos.
Our store staff is also pleased to provide personal concierge shopping services and assist you with finding that perfect item.
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What Other Similar Attractions Are Recommended In Lone Pine
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Early Life And Education
Mowat was born May 12, 1921 in Belleville, Ontario and grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario. His great-great-uncle was Ontario premier Sir Oliver Mowat, and his father, Angus Mowat, was a librarian who fought in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. His mother was Helen Lilian Thomson, daughter of Henry Andrew Hoffman Thomson and Georgina Phillips Farley Thomson of Trenton, Ontario. Mowat started writing, in his words “mostly verse”, when his family lived in Windsor from 1930 to 1933.
In the 1930s, the Mowat family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where as a teenager, Mowat wrote about birds in a column for the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. During this time he also wrote his own nature newsletter, Nature Lore. In the 1930s Mowat studied zoology at the University of Toronto but never completed a degree. He took his first collecting expedition in the summer of 1939 to Saskatoon with fellow zoology student Frank Banfield collecting data regarding mammals and Mowat focusing on birds. They sold their collections to the Royal Ontario Museum to finance their trip.:219 Before enlisting Banfield published his field notes in the Canadian Field-Naturalist. Mowat published his when he returned from World War II.
Visit As A Group And Enjoy A Tour
We welcome adult and student tours. Reservations can be made for guides and special tours by contacting the museum three weeks in advance of your visit. When you take a tour, youll gain a deeper knowledge of Western and Native American cultures. To schedule a tour today, please call 505-455-2819 or email: medicinemountain@gmail.com.
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What Sets Us Apart
The Museum of Western Film & Costume is the only museum of its kind in the Southwest and the only museum in the country to feature Native American film costume and regalia.
Our Museum collects, conserves, and exhibits outstanding Western Costumes, as well as Native American art and cultural objects.
