Manual Training School / Bowman Elementary / Bowman Art Centre

Opened on October 10, 1912 by the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada, this building began as the Manual Training School, the first such school in Alberta. Designed by architects H.M. and W.A. Whiddington primarily in the Collegiate Gothic style, it served as a vocational school until 1915, when it was redeveloped as Lethbridge High School. After the completion of the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in 1928, it became Bowman Elementary School, named for C.B. Bowman, an early Lethbridge businessman and public servant who served on the school board and as City Councillor, Acting Mayor, City Assessor, and Secretary Treasurer. Bowman Elementary School closed in 1963, after which the City of Lethbridge purchased the building and used it briefly as a museum before that institution relocated and became the Sir Alexander Galt Museum. Following an agreement between City Council and the Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge, the Bowman Art Centre officially opened on January 9, 1965, with early tenants including the Jolliffe Academy of Dancing, Lethbridge Sketch Club, Oldman River Potters' Guild, Lethbridge Camera Club, Lethbridge Handicraft Guild, and the Playgoers Club of Lethbridge. The Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge kept its office in the building until 2006, and in 2012 the Bowman continued as the Bowman Art Centre. Recognizing its provincial importance, it was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1982 and was one of the first buildings in Lethbridge to receive that status.

Alberta · Canada