The Thomsen Cabin

With funding from a Heritage grant as well as family and friends of the Thomsen’s, the museum now has on our site, the Thomsen log cabin from its location about 3km west of Dickson.

Elmer (Al) Thomsen built this log home by hand, in 1930, using logs that were harvested from the existing farm site. The construction is of interest, as the majority of building done during this time, had already progressed to using lumber, rather than logs.

Al lived there with his wife and family until 1937, moving on to other jobs. He eventually invented, patented and successfully manufactured sorting systems for offset printing presses in the late 1940’s and in the 1950s making him very successful. Later he invented and patented the Thomsen Ice Edger technology still  in wide use today.

Members of the Thomsen family are dispersed but there are still several residing in Central Alberta including Helen Lewis, Ardis Bramall, Irene Bliss, Lorne St. Clair and Nick Nicholson. Nick worked very hard with the move and the restoration of the cabin.