Miners’ Union Hall, Rossland, British Columbia

The Miners’ Union Hall in Rossland, British Columbia, was built in 1898 by the members of Local 38 of the Western Federation of Miners. The building served as a space for union meetings and an important centre of union activity, as the union engaged in a determined battle for miners’ rights in the region. A rare surviving building of its type in Western Canada, this late-Victorian Gothic Revival Style building retains excellent architectural integrity and remains an important gathering place for the people of Rossland.

In the late 19^th century, Rossland was experiencing very rapid growth as a hardrock gold mining centre. Mining booms in the Kootenay region resulted in the development of mining industries, the expansion of the workforce, and a subsequent organization of labour. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a union for metallurgy industry workers in western North America, and Local 38, founded in 1895, was its first Canadian branch. This local became one of the most influential and productive in the history of the province. Among other things, it fought for fair and safe working conditions for miners and helped pave the way for the union movement in British Columbia. Its efforts led to legislation guaranteeing an eight-hour work day for miners in the province (1899) and contributed to the enactment of the Conciliation Act (1900), which provided for voluntary arbitration.

The union hall was designed by E.J. Weston, an American architect. The rectangular wooden building has a steeply-pitched gable roof and a central balcony on the upper floor. Its facade is characterized by symmetry and by a number of classical architecture elements, including the windows and doors with triangular pediments, the inset central balcony and its carved wooden ornamentation. The side facades are also characterized by a symmetry that is highlighted by high rectangular windows providing considerable natural light. Original inscriptions, including “1898” at the central gable, “Miners Union” at the balcony, and “Miners’ Union Hall” over the central door, speak to this building’s history.

In the 1960s, a new union hall was acquired in the nearby community of Trail, and the Rossland Miners’ Union Hall fell into disrepair. In the 1970s, the Rossland Heritage Society was formed, and rehabilitation work began on the hall. The building was sold to the City of Rossland and reopened in 1983. The rehabilitation work carried out over the years, mainly in the late-1970s, and more recently in 2016-17, has helped to preserve its defining characteristics. Now a multi-purpose building, it is used by the community as a meeting and reception hall, and as a theatre for plays and other artistic performances.

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