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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - If you run into a lady dressed in the fashion of a 1930's schoolmarm in the not too distant future, don't worry it's just Mildred Hall on her way to teach a class - or at least someone pretending to be Yellowknife's first school teacher.

Members of the Yellowknife Red Hat Society want to turn Mildred Hall's original, single-room schoolhouse into a museum, highlighting the city's education heritage.

Left to right, Yvonne Quick, B.J. Miller and Mildred Wilke, members of the Yellowknife Red Hat Society, want to turn Yellowknife's original schoolhouse into a museum. - Ben Morgan/NNSL photo

Red Hat member B.J. Miller plans to eventually recreate the experience of teaching in the single-room school house.

"We want to recreate the past, so I'll be in costume representing Mildred Hall," said Miller.

"I'll be preparing a few lessons based on Mildred Hall's favourite subjects and teach them at the museum for any students groups who visit on field trips and that sort of thing."

The old log cabin is Yellowknife's original schoolhouse where the famed Mildred Hall taught in 1939. It is currently located on Franklin Avenue next to the Mildred Hall school and the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 office.

"We want to make it a tourist destination and bring it to the attention of the kids in Yellowknife - especially the ones who go to the Mildred Hall school next door - of the importance of this site and the historic connection to the community," said Yellowknife Red Hat Society Queen Mother Mildred Wilke.

She said the idea came up when Miller first moved to town.

"When B.J. saw it she told me right away what her idea was, she's worked at historic sites before and we thought it was just fantastic."

In 1998, the city's heritage committee designated the site as a heritage building. The log cabin was originally located in Old Town, built in 1937 by a mining company who eventually sold it to the Yellowknife school board to be used as a school.

"It's not a very large building and all the students sat in one room," said Miller. "Mildred Hall used part of that space as her living quarters; it's really amazing when you think about it, she didn't have a lot of room, that's for certain."

The Red Hat Society plans to put a garden around the property, complete with red and purple coloured flowers. They also want to build vintage desks to place inside the schoolhouse, to aid in the authenticity of the museum.

Wilke said the Red Hats hope to have the museum open for next summer's tourist season.

"We're also looking for any old artifacts from that era to include in the museum," said Wilke. She said anyone with artifacts can contact her for more information.

It hasn't been determined if the new museum will operate year round or if it will close during the cold winter months.

Miller said if it was up to her it would be open all year but the log cabin has no source of heat and may have to close during winter months.