MacBride Museum gets $450K from Yukon government to expand

The Yukon government is putting $450,000toward the planning and design of an expansion to the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, in Whitehorse.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Elaine Taylor made the announcementTuesdayat the museum, alongside Premier Darrell Pasloski and Keith Halliday, president of the museumboard.

"The Yukon is full of awesome stories but the MacBride Museum doesn't have the space to tell them all," said Halliday.

"And I'm not just talking about the exciting tales you have all heard about the gold rush, but about Yukon innovators, Yukon entrepreneurs. The whole story of the Yukon mining industry, placer and non-placer, has yet to be told. I think all of those things can be part of our new facility."

The museum's centennial log building was built in 1967. The proposed new design will expand on the rear portion of the building to provide more space for exhibits and displays.

"Though it has served Yukoners well these past 40-plus years, the MacBride Museum is, quite simply, full," Taylor said.

"The proposed expansion will provide room for new exhibitions, travelling shows, and safe artifact storage."

The expansion is still in the preliminary planning stage, but Halliday said the new building will be carbon-free and constructed usinginnovative new technology.