There’s a bronze statue of a man in a battered cowboy hat at the entrance to the Remington Carriage Museum. It’s the likeness of its founder Don Remington who never saw the completion of the museum he started.
He rose from the poverty of the Depression era to become a leading citizen of his home town of Cardston. For 33 years Don collected horse drawn vehicles from all over North America and had them shipped to Cardston. He’d work on them in the early morning hours before he opened up his construction business for the day.
When the Queen came to Alberta in 1980 it was Don Remington who provided not only the magnificent landau carriage, but acted as a footman to Her Majesty as well. He looked at home in coachman’s livery outfit or tuxedo, but most folks remember him in jeans, a plaid shirt and that well-worn cowboy hat.
He offered to donate his collection of forty-nine vehicles to the Province of Alberta in 1985. The province added to the Remington Collection with pieces from the Glenbow Museum and other government departments making the Remington Carriage Museum one of the largest collections in North America.
From finding a sleigh for the Cardston Santa Claus Parade in 1954, his lifelong hobby was the inspiration for the museum that bears his name today.
Don will always be remembered as the man whose vision and generosity got the wheels turning for the internationally renowned Remington Carriage Museum. He died in 1987 and never got to see the museum as it is today.
