Welcome to
Waterdown Museum of Hope

History Preserved. Hope Shared.

The Waterdown Museum of Hope’s mission is to deliver captivating stories that have been meticulously researched by students, providing an enriching and educational experience for all. With a respectful approach, we strive to showcase the power of storytelling in promoting understanding, tolerance, and compassion within our community and beyond.

A New Way of Teaching History

Waterdown District High School, sandwiched between Toronto and Hamilton in Southern Ontario, is home to the Waterdown Museum of Hope. Run and guided by students from the Grade 11 Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Course, it has hosted hundreds of student and community visitors. Since its opening in fall 2013, the museum has expanded to occupy three classrooms with over 1,200 artifacts. Important historical artifacts range from found missile shells, medals, letters and uniforms donated by war veterans, to carefully collected artifacts from the Holocaust such as survivors’ stars and hate propaganda currency from the Third Reich.

“This is the authentic learning that should happen every year with history.“

Rob Flosman, WDHS Teacher and Founder of Waterdown Museum of Hope

The museum is a way to reflect history and the way it impacts our community today. History is placed into the hands of students, and they become engaged on a community level. Students are immersed in a study of their own family history and they learn the connections between history with identity, they study the morality of choices individuals made, they ask complex questions, and encounter personal testimonies from some of humanity’s darkest moments.

Visit us at our new location at the Waterdown Legion!

Museum Opening Hours

Please visit the museum during regular Waterdown Legion hours

Admission is free, although donations are most welcome. Our next larger opening with Semester 2 students will be in June, to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Please follow our social media to keep up-to-date with museum news.

Monday 4 – 9*
Tuesday 4 – 9*
Wednesday 4 – 9*
Thursday 1-9*
Friday 4-9*
Saturday 3-9*
Sunday – closed
*subject to bartenders discretion

In 2019, Waterdown Museum of Hope hosted Menno Metselaar, Project Manager of Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. He donated virtual reality goggle of the Anne Frank House for the museum’s Fall exhibit.
Judi Partridge, Ward 15 Councillor, touring exhibits in 2019 with students. Thank you for your avid support of the museum.
Many thanks to Robert Thomas and the Waterdown Legion for their generosity to the Waterdown Museum of Hope. Robert Thomas has been instrumental to our move to the Legion.

Thank you to our 2023 Capital Equipment Sponsors

Your generous contribution allowed us to purchase display cabinets for our move to the Waterdown Legion.

Andy Burnside, Desjardins Insurance / Burnside Insurance & Financial Services Ltd.
• Boers Family, MediaBay Creative • Card Family • Flosman Family •
Innes-MacDonald family of Carlisle • Gloria Jeffreys • Grant and Jen Freeman
• Lang Family • Noel Family, Principle Outdoors Inc. • Obsidian Manufacturing Ltd. •
Shari Stolpmann, CPA, CA, Beckett Lowden Read, LLP • Thomas Family

Additional cabinets generously donated by

This project is funded in part by the City of Hamilton