Trail Curling Club (Association) History

The sport of curling began in the West Kootenay region in the late 1890’s as the area’s mining camps stabilized into towns. The Kootenay Curling Association was formed in 1898 and organized its first bonspiel that year with 18 rinks participating from Rossland, Sandon, Kaslo and Revelstoke.

The Trail Curling Club was formed in 1908 with 52 members.  The Club built a curling rink on Bay Avenue between Helena and Portland Streets, using natural ice.  The first Club President was C.A. Milligan and the first Club Champion was R. Sommerville.  In 1912, the City built the Fruit Fair building for ice hockey and curling (3 sheets provided).  The facility allowed 10-12 games to be played each year, often in slushy conditions.  The 16th Annual BC Curling Bonspiel was held in Trail in January, 1913.  The first Trail rink to win the BC Curling Championship was skipped by J.H. Woodburn, in 1914.

The City of Trail installed an artificial ice plant in the Fruit Fair building in 1925 and the curling arena was expanded to four sheets.  As the population of Trail grew steadily in the 1920’s, membership in the Trail Curling Club climbed as well.  By 1929, the Club had 50 rinks and 216 members, with 13 women’s rinks.

Curling had established itself as a popular winter sport in the community, next to hockey.  Accordingly, the skills of the Trail curlers rose to a level unparalleled by most communities in the Province.  By the 1940’s and the early 1950’s, the Trail Curling Club was the premier club in BC.  Between 1947 and 1957, Trail rinks won the BC Curling Championship nine times.  In 1948, the “Frenchy” D’Amour Rink won the Canadian Curling Championship (the Brier).  The Club moved to its current location in the Trail Memorial Centre in 1951 with six sheets of ice.  Two more sheets were added in 1953 when the Kid’s Rink was built.

In 1974, the lounge area was built upstairs with a bar, a cement floor was poured and new lighting installed.  In 1975, the Trail Curling Club began to lease its facility from the City of Trail.

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