Cranbrook Community Album

First a summer location used by the Ktunaxa Nation and known as Akisq’aq’li’it, Cranbrook became a stop on Joseph’s Prairie in 1864 for miners traveling to the Wild Horse Creek gold claims. First pre-empted by John Galbraith and then purchased from him in 1885 by James Baker, the site eventually became known as Cranbrook which was the name of Baker’s birth place in England. Deeding half of the townsite to the Canadian Pacific Railway, Baker secured the divisional headquarters of the CPR and the new Crownsnest line built through Cranbrook in 1898.

This Album offers a glimpse of the large number of Cranbrook photos held in the Columbia Basin Image Bank. Partnering with the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel and other image donors the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History has built a website which offers a large collection of images and research material focusing on Cranbrook’s past and present.

Viewers of the Cranbrook Album are encouraged to go deeper into the website and discover a vast array of Cranbrook images, stories and memories.