As well as denoting the site of the first school to be built in the Lacombe area, the cairn, erected in 1945, honours the memory of the early pioneers of Lacombe and District, who erected the first school on the site in 1893. The school and all traces of it are long gone, the site now the scene of a car dealership. Photos of the school at the
Lacombe Municipal Heritage Survey show the school to have been a small one room schoolhouse built of logs, with a gable roof and a small porch, or cloakroom, at the entrance.
The cairn itself is a broad, squat obelisk fashioned of split field stones, mortared in place. On the street facing side is a grey granite plaque bearing a carving of the original school and the following text:
THIS CAIRN ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF LACOMBE TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF LACOMBE AND DISTRICT, WHO IN 1893 BUILT THEIR FIRST SCHOOL ON THIS SITE
PIONEER CAIRN
50 AVENUE
1945
Historic Site #49653
The Pioneer Cairn was erected on 50 Avenue by the citizens of Lacombe in 1945 to “honour the memory of the early pioneers of Lacombe and District who in 1893 built their first school on this site”. The first school was a one room schoolhouse built to educate the children of the Lacombe community and the surrounding areas.
From the Lacombe Municipal Heritage Survey