Partner Feature: Jasper Yellowhead Historical Society
We’re proud to partner with the Jasper Yellowhead Historical Society (JYHS) for this year’s Gran Fondo Jasper — celebrating the heritage, stories, and people that shaped the community we ride through.
About the Society
The Jasper Historical Society held its first meeting in January 1963, working closely with Jasper National Park on projects such as installing a commemorative plaque at Athabasca Pass and preserving heritage sites like Palisades Ranch and the Pocahontas Cemetery.
Renamed the Jasper Yellowhead Historical Society, the organization later established its first office and archives in the basement of the Jasper Library. In 1977, JYHS became a registered non-profit charitable organization with the mission to:
Encourage the study of Alberta and Canadian history, especially as it relates to Jasper and its surrounding region
Preserve stories and artifacts from the area’s Indigenous peoples, missionaries, fur traders, explorers, and settlers
Document the early history of Jasper townsite and its citizens
Protect and mark local points of historical interest
Establish and operate a museum dedicated to Jasper’s past
Building the Museum
The Society began pursuing a dedicated museum space in 1978. In 1985, they purchased a partially completed building on Pyramid Lake Road. By 1990, the lower floor — housing offices and archives — was finished, followed by the opening of a retail outlet and Temporary Gallery in 1992.
A few years later, thanks to a Federal–Provincial Infrastructure Grant and over $80,000 in community fundraising, work began on a Permanent Historical Gallery, which now showcases the rich human and social history of Jasper.