This museum opened to the public in 1985 as the Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology. In 1990 Her Majesty Queen Elizabth II graciously agreed to designate this museum as a Royal Museum, so its name changed to the Royal Tyrell Museum.
This plaque at the entryway to the Royal Tyrell Museum commemorates the inauguration of the museum's new name on 14 September 1991 by the Honourable Gordon Towers, the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta.
The plaque reads as follows:
"[Coat of arms of the province of Alberta]
On the occasion of the visit of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Alberta on June 28, 1990, Her Majesty graciously consented to assign the designation "Royal" to this museum, which shall henceforth be known as
ROYAL TYRRELL MUSEUM
This plaque was unveiled by His Honour the Honourable Gordon Towers, Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta on
SEPTEMBER 14, 1991"
From Wikipedia: (
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"Thomas Gordon Towers AOE (July 5, 1919 – June 8, 1999) was a Canadian politician, Member of Parliament (MP) and the 13th lieutenant governor of Alberta.
Federal political career
A farmer by profession, Gordon Towers was an unsuccessful Progressive Conservative candidate in Red Deer in the 1963 and 1965 federal elections, losing to the Social Credit Leader Robert N. Thompson both times.
Towers made a third run for the seat in the 1972 election after Thompson, by then a Tory, unsuccessfully sought a seat from British Columbia. This time he won, and was re-elected four subsequent times in 1974, 1979, 1980 and 1984. He did not run in the 1988 election following a heart attack in 1987.[3] From 1984 to 1986, he was the parliamentary secretary to the solicitor general of Canada. From 1986 to 1987, he was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of state for science and technology. Towers was a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1978, and a delegate of the Canadian Branch, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, to the 29th Parliamentary Seminar, which was held at Westminster.
Gordon Towers introduced several pieces of legislation to Parliament regarding representation, including the 1982 Private Members Bill C-223 which proposed Parliament continue to limit its membership to 282 until Canada reached a population of 50 million. All of Towers' private member bills died on the Order Paper.
Lieutenant governor of Alberta
On the advice of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Towers was appointed lieutenant governor of Alberta by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn on March 11, 1991. Towers served in this post from March 11, 1991, to April 17, 1996, when his successor Bud Olson was sworn in as the 14th lieutenant governor
In 1993, Towers broke with tradition and refused the advice of Economic Development Minister Ken Kowalski and did not approve an order in council for a $1.5 million grant program. The program would have granted a substantial government loan for the restructuring of a motor hotel, and Towers exercised his right to withhold approval based on insufficient documentation. Towers insisted the lieutenant governor "is not just a rubber stamp". Towers eventually approved the order in council on March 1, once a full explanation had been provided.
In another unusual move, Towers opened the Fourth Sitting of the 22nd Alberta Legislature with a "90-minute state-of-affairs address" rather than the traditional speech from the throne. Towers' reasoning for the change was that the session would last only a couple weeks until the 1993 Alberta general election was called.
Later life
Towers created controversy when he called for the resignation of his successor as lieutenant governor, Bud Olsen, after he held the 1997 New Year's levee in Medicine Hat, becoming the first time the province's levee had been held outside the capital city of Edmonton. Towers went so far as to appeal to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for Olsen's removal from office after Olsen remarked he "doesn't give a damn" what Towers thought of him breaking the tradition.
Gordon Towers died in Red Deer from complications of diabetes on June 8, 1999. He is buried in the Red Deer Cemetery."
And more on the Royal Tyrrel Museum here: (
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"The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the study of ancient life. In addition to featuring one of the world’s largest displays of dinosaurs, we offer a wide variety of creative, fun, and educational programs that bring the prehistoric past to life.
The Museum is operated by the Government of Alberta under the Ministry of Culture.
On August 12, 1884, Joseph Burr Tyrrell (TEER-uhl), a geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, found the 70-million-year-old skull of a carnivorous dinosaur near present-day Drumheller. Tyrrell’s find was named Albertosaurus sarcophagus (“flesh-eating lizard from Alberta”) in 1905 by American Museum of Natural History palaeontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn.
So significant was Tyrrell’s discovery that when our Museum opened its doors to the public on September 25, 1985, it was named the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. (The “royal” appellation was added in 1990.) Originally intended to serve primarily as a scientific facility, the plans soon changed to include a large public gallery and display area that attracts more than 430,000 visitors annually.
In addition to being a centre of excellence for palaeontology, the Royal Tyrrell Museum displays one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaurs, and has become world-renowned for engaging exhibits and public education programs."