The Carbon Farmers’ Exchange is a 99 year old heritage building housing a museum and small art gallery. The Exchange was at one time a hub for the small community, showing Saturday night movies and holding dinners and dances. The building was constructed in 1915 - a year after almost all of the town of Carbon was destroyed by fire.
A short, scenic drive up Highway 575 out of the Drumheller valley sits a treasure tucked down within another valley.
The beautifully preserved Farmers’ Exchange in Carbon is a ninety-nine year old heritage building housing a museum and small art gallery, and includes a lovely garden at the back of the museum.
The Farmers’ Exchange was built in 1915 when coal mining in the area was booming.
Originally called the Nash and Burnett store, it was built after Carbon’s fire of 1914, when almost all of the town was destroyed by the fire.
As Mabel White, 93, recalled to the museum’s Marvel Nash, the fire started in the old ice house at the back of her mother’s ice cream shop.
The town’s community hall was also lost in the fire, and Nash and Burnett became the town hub for banquets, dinners, dances, and movies.
The main floor of the building had the general store known as the Farmers’ Exchange.
In 1917 Jack and Len Poxon purchased the store, and the store was tied in closely with community life in Carbon in the 1930s and 1940s.
Len later turned the Exchange into a furniture store, which stayed as a family business until 1974 - almost 60 years.
Pieces of everyday life from bygone eras can be found at the exchange, including memorabilia from the area’s coal mining and ranching history.
The building also houses The Prickly Pear Art Gallery, which offers a small selection of paintings, including watercolors, photographs, prints and pottery for sale.
The Farmers’ Exchange museum is open mid-May to mid-September, Tuesday through Saturday.
