The Rossland Aerie was instituted on March 24, 1899, just 21 days after #6 Aerie was instituted in Vancouver. On the upper façade of the Aerie is a plaque which states "Est. 1898". An Eagles member told us that the plaque referred to the establishment of the Aerie, which means that either they got the year wrong or it was established in 1898 but not instituted until 1899. In any event, with the demise of Vancouver #6, the Rossland Aerie is now the
oldest Aerie in British Columbia.
Their present building is certainly not their original, as this block was gutted by fire in March of 1929, the only buildings left standing being the Bank of Montreal on the west end and the post office, on the east end. Though the post office was sufficiently damaged in the fire as to lose its upper storey forever, both buildings are still with us. The rest of the block, including this building, was filled in by the end of 1930.
Originally, the Aeries in British Columbia were administered by Grand Aerie until 1906-07 when the Washington State Aerie was established, which then administered the region until the 1945-46 term when the British Columbia Provincial Aerie was chartered on July 17th, 1945. The original six Aeries in British Columbia were #6 Vancouver, #10 Rossland, #12 Victoria, #15 Nanaimo, #20 New Westminster, and #22 Nelson.
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