The little grey Bassett House, which today houses the Museum, was ordered from the
T. Eaton and Company catalogue in 1906 by the pioneer Bassett family, who operated a freight and stagecoach company in the area. Arriving in prefabricated kit form at the north end of Okanagan Lake by rail, the house crossed the lake from Vernon to Penticton on a stern wheeler and was carried the rest of the way to Okanagan Falls by horse drawn wagon.
Since taking the house over in 1983, the Okanagan Falls Heritage & Museum Society has received a few grants over the years to help in restoration of the Bassett House, the most recent coming in February of 2012, when the Heritage Museum Society received 2 grants for $3000 each.
On the grounds is a historical marker that relates a bit of the story of the building, which reads as follows:
THE BASSETT HOUSE IS A "READY MADE" OR "KIT" HOUSE PURCHASED FROM EATON'S IN THE EARLY 1900'S BY RICHARD BASSETT. IT WAS BROUGHT HERE BY TRAIN, PADDLE-WHEELER AND HORSE TEAM. THE BASSETT FAMILY WAS PROMINENT AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY IN THE STAGECOACH AND FREIGHT BUSINESS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH OKANAGAN. THE HOUSE RETAINS A HIGH DEGREE OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL AND HAS BEEN FURNISHED TO INTERPRET FRONTIER LIFE.
THE OKANAGAN FALLS HERITAGE & MUSEUM SOCIETY SPEARHEADED THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF HERITAGE PLACE SINCE 1983.
Bassett House
Statement of Heritage Significance – Bassett House
The Bassett House is a pre-fabricated structure built in the early 1900s. It was purchased by the Dick Bassett family and shipped in pieces by rail from Winnipeg to Okanagan Landing and then by paddle wheeler down the lake to Penticton and, finally, by horse and wagon to Okanagan Falls, which is the oldest planned community in the South Okanagan. The Bassett family was in the freighting business and handled all the stagecoach and freight hauling business in the South Okanagan at the turn of the century. The house was purchased by the Okanagan Falls’ Women’s Institute in 1982 and donated to the Heritage Society in 1983 to restore and maintain.
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Bassett House:
- It has been restored and converted into a museum by the Heritage Society to educate the children of the community in their local history.
- It is a living history for many of the community’s seniors who frequented the
house in their childhood as guests of the Bassett family and who continue to visit
and work on the house as members of the Heritage Society.
- It is a repository of historical artifacts of the era and of the local people.
- It is a center of interest to tourists passing through the community as it is one of a very few buildings remaining in the area that dates back a hundred years.
From the RDOS Heritage Register