Beltline condo developer ordered to fill excavation pit by November
Sinkholes near stalled project stir safety concerns
By Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary Herald September 12, 2010
CALGARY -- The sky-high yellow crane looming above Autilia Nunziata's Beltline rental property is a constant reminder of the stalled condo construction making neighbours miserable...
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calga ... z10E99tKHX
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calga ... z10E8riM18
Statistics: Posted by newsposter — Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:55 pm
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http://www.calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/vi ... =1990#1990
Statistics: Posted by newsposter — Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:44 am
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I only attended King Edward for one year, but it is a year I will always remember. That school year comprised the 1946-47 term. That year saw Calgary's three high schools (Western Canada, Central Collegiate and Crescent Heights) overflowing with students, and no room to accommodate out of city students. Accordingly incoming Grade 10 students from the farming communities of Glenmore (where the Pattons resided), Midnapore and Shepard together with farming communities/satellite towns and villages such as West Calgary, Ogden and Bowness had nowhere to go.
The Calgary Board of Education had to take drastic steps, so decided the the fourth floor of King Edward School together with its' four classrooms would be an ideal locale. We did have a goodly number of "city kids" from South Calgary who were also required to attend King Edward. This "melting pot" of students turned out to be an incredible mix, and we all bonded in short order. I believe this Grade 10 idea was repeated for the following school term. Total enrolment approximated 80- 90 students.
The teaching staff couldn't have been better and we were rewarded in that area by Miss Jagoe, Miss King, Mr. Kirk and Mr. Morrison. P.N.R. Morrison was a hard-working City alderman and became a vocal organizer of the provincial C.C.F. party, later to become the N.D.P. To his credit Mr. Morrison never brought his politics into the classroom.
I'm not sure how students were assigned to the classrooms, but I think alphabetizing went on to some degree. We enjoyed a full range of activities involving various clubs such as Camera, Press, Handicraft, Glee, Badminton, Drama and Track and Field together with a Student's Council.
Mayor J. C. Watson wrote in our yearbook "The Echo" that it took ambition and dreams to build the Canadian way. In my estimation that also applies to a magnificent sandstone structure - King Edward School
To me as a "farm kid", King Edward was a special place as I was able to interact with "city kids" together with farm and country students. It softened the way for my entry into the "foreign" atmosphere of city high schools.
Clarence "Clancy" Patton
Statistics: Posted by kjohnson — Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:29 pm
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http://www.chinookcountry.org/kristi/KH ... Pt%202.pdf
Statistics: Posted by kjohnson — Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:17 am
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Part 1:
http://www.chinookcountry.org/kristi/Ki ... Pt%201.pdf
Chinook Country Historical Society has posted the second installment of the History of King Edward School. This article is centered more on the personal experiences of the students and teachers who attended King Edward over the years.
Part 2:
http://www.chinookcountry.org/kristi/KH ... Pt%202.pdf
Statistics: Posted by kjohnson — Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:19 pm
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Its windows and doors are now boarded up. Graffiti defaces its front
porch. The front yard fence has gone. Weeds are taking over in the
litter-infested front yard. It has been a year since its remaining occupants were forced to move out. And yet the house still reflects a certain elegance of early 20th century Calgary, one of a rapidly shrinking number of vintage homes in a city where developers' wrecking balls continue to wipe out much of the city's heritage.
But the house at 1723-9th Street SW is more than another old house.
"This house holds a lot of musical history within its walls," the young man moving out of the house told us in late 2006. "It was the home of Billy Cowsill, you know."
Billy Cowsill was the lead singer and guitarist for the family musical group, The Cowsills, from Rhode Island that achieved international fame in the late '60s with such hits as The Rain, The Park & Other Things, Indian Lake, and the title song from the rock musical, Hair.
The Cowsills appeared on the Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson shows, and provided the inspiration for television's The Partridge Family. The group eventually broke leaving some members estranged from each other for several years.
Billy emigrated to Vancouver in the 1980s where he fronted The Blue Shadows, known for their Everly Brothers-like harmonies. But Billy also continued to indulge his vices in those years, going so far as to describe the Shadows as "three vegetarians and a junkie."
In the mid-90s, he was rescued by members of Calgary's music scene, including Neil McGonigill and Jann Arden. Newly sober, Billy formed The Co-Dependents in the late '90s, a country-rock quartet that was much-loved on Calgary's thriving roots-music scene.
Cowsill died on February 18, 2006 at his Calgary home, at the age of 58. The news of Billy Cowsill's death must have struck his family particularly hard, as they were gathered in Rhode Island holding a memorial service for his younger brother, also a member of The Cowsills who had been found face down in the mud under a New Orleans wharf four months after he had disappeared following hurricane Katrina.
When news of Billy's death filtered through the Calgary music scene, his rich legacy was fondly recalled. "My wife and I, some of our happiest times came listening to Billy," Gerry Garvey, former manager of the now King Eddy blues bar told Heath McCoy of The Calgary Herald.
"You'd see him and he looked like this grizzled old Keith Richards-guy. But he'd open his mouth and he sounded like an angel."
McCoy's interview with McGonigill, weeks before Billy's death, confirmed the forgotten legend's enduring popularity on the Calgary scene. "I started bringing him here in the mid-70s and people just loved him," McGonigill said. "College kids, punk rockers, grannies, they all loved him, even when he swore like a trooper."
D'Arcy McGee - Director of Calgary Heritage Intiative
Statistics: Posted by kjohnson — Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:22 pm
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City of Calgary Archives # CalA PP-03008
http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cit ... dermen.pdf
Albert Earl Aikenhead [graphic records] . -- 1 photoprint: b&w; 8 x 10 (21 cm x 26 cm) . -- 1948-1949.
Biography of Albert Earl Aikenhead:
Dr. Albert Earl Aikenhead was born at Brucefield, Huron Country, Ontario, on 1882 April 24.
He received his education at the County School, Clinton Collegiate and the University of Western Ontario from which he graduated in 1907. In addition to his studies there, he captained the football team. His internship took place at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario. From 1909 through 1912, he practiced at Hensall, Ontario.
He arrived in Calgary in 1912 along with his wife whom he married in 1909. Shortly thereafter, he established his own medical practice. In 1922, he helped found the Calgary Associate Clinic along with
four other doctors, D.S. McNab, D.A. Lincoln, J.S. Murray and G.D. Stanley. He belonged to the Calgary Medical Society, Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association.
Dr. Aikenhead retired from active practice in 1947 May. A half year later, he was elected to City Council as an Alderman. During his term from 1948 through to 1949, he concentrated on plans to obtain a new General Hospital for Calgary. His main objective was being able to provide Calgarians with the best in hospital services.
Dr. Aikenhead belonged to the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club of which, he was past-President of the Glencoe Club.
He was the last surviving member of the five founders of the Calgary Associate Clinic at the time of his death in 1954 May.
The following book by Dr. McDougall includes a chapter on the Calgary Associate Clinic: http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=5028
Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Sat May 20, 2006 1:39 pm
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Tribute to Dr. Henry Mackid by Dr. J.N. Gunn:
http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/picrender. ... obtype=pdf
The younger Mackid, Ludwig Stewart Mackid, continued in the practice for many decades. More information will be added here...
The following book by Dr. Gerald McDougall includes a chapter on the Mackid practice: http://www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=5028
Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Sat May 20, 2006 11:54 am
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Dr. J.N. Gunn
This biography of Dr. Gunn is from A Biographical and Social History of Early Mount Royal by David Mittelstadt (Mt. Royal Community Association 2002). http://www.mountroyalstation.ca/MRdraft2.1.pdf
Dr. J.N. Gunn was every inch the gentleman physician of Mount Royal. He was a senior partner of Gunn, Hackney, Shore and Robbins, the city’s pre-eminent eye, ear, nose and throat specialists and well known throughout Canada. The physician had been a soldier, coming back from the First World War a well decorated lieutenant colonel. And he was held in esteem as a sportsman who hunted, fished and bred prized hunting dogs. When Gunn died suddenly in 1937 from a heart attack, over fourteen hundred people attended his funeral, which featured full military regalia and former Prime Minister R.B. Bennett among the honorary pallbearers.431
The good doctor was born in Beaverton, Ontario and attended the University of Toronto, graduating with a medical degree in 1902.432 He practised with his uncle, Dr. William Gunn, a famous surgeon, and was accepted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1903. Two years later, he went to Vienna to specialise, and upon returning to Canada in 1907 came out to Calgary. Gunn quickly became established as the leading physician in his field in the city. He had joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a reservist in 1909, and when the war began, Gunn was made a major and sent overseas. In 1916, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the 8th Field Ambulance unit. Gunn acquitted himself well and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After the war, he remained active in the militia, acting as assistant director of medical services for Military District 13, and organising the 8th Field Ambulance. Gunn took his military experience to the St. John’s Ambulance Association and was an integral part of the organisation, serving as president for two years preceding his death. His work with the association was recognised with a decoration in 1936 from Lord Tweedsmuir, the incumbent Governor General.
Outside of medicine, Gunn was an ardent outdoorsman. He was an expert fly fisherman, and a charter member of the Calgary Gun Club. He bred top hunting dogs, frequently winning prizes at field dog trials. Ever the organiser, Gunn helped found the Alberta Fish and Game Association and was vice-president of the Calgary Fish and Game Association. Hunting and fishing were not his only outdoor interests: he was a member of the Alpine Club of Canada for over twenty-five years. Although he was a keen hunter, Gunn also became interested in wildlife photography, and in later years neglected his guns in favour of his camera.
Gunn had gone back to Ontario for a bride, marrying Anna Elizabeth Martin of Exeter in 1910.433 Mrs. Gunn was as prominent as her husband, a keen social worker with an interest in health care. She sat on the first Calgary hospital board for eleven years, was head of the Victoria Order of Nurses’ Calgary branch for four years, worked with the Red Cross and was also involved in the St. John’s Ambulance Association. Her work in the community was recognised with her enrolment in the Order of the British Empire in 1946. As a young woman, Anna Gunn had trained at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in soprano voice, and was much in demand in Calgary as a soloist. The Gunns had two daughters and a son. Ian became a doctor, while one daughter, Jeanette, studied nursing and married painter Douglas Motter. Mrs. Gunn died in 1966. The Gunns lived at 856 Hillcrest Road from 1921 to 1949.434
431 Calgary Herald, August 30, 1937, “Over Thousand Attend Funeral of Dr. J.N. Gunn”
432 Ibid, August 27, 1937, “Death Takes Dr. J.N. Gunn, Sportsman and Surgeon; Passes Suddenly at Home”
433 Albertan, January 7, 1966, Calgary pioneer dies at 81”
434 Henderson’s Calgary Directory
Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Sat May 20, 2006 11:37 am
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Dr. Charles E. Bouck
This biography of Dr. Charles E. Bouck is from A Biographical and Social History of Early Mount Royal by David Mittelstadt (Mt. Royal Community Association 2002). http://www.mountroyalstation.ca/MRdraft2.1.pdf
Bouck, Charles E
On the occasion of his death in 1944, hundreds attended the funeral of Dr. Charlie Bouck.131 Many were his patients, as Bouck had one of the largest surgical practices in the city, and was known for his skill as far away as the world famous Mayo clinic.132 But more importantly, they came because of his tireless house calls, his countless trips to farms and small towns in southern Alberta, and his refusal to send a bill or accept payment from his less well off patients.
Born in Iroquois, Ontario in 1886, Bouck came west with his parents in 1903.133 His father was a building contractor. After finishing high school in Calgary, Bouck returned east to attend the University of Toronto, where he earned his medical degree in 1911. He came back to Calgary to begin his practice. After three years overseas in uniform with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Bouck took a post graduate course in Scotland before coming home, and was made a fellow in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Returning to Calgary in 1920, he resumed his practice in the Underwood Block. He soon established a reputation as an excellent surgeon, but perhaps more importantly, Bouck became known for his generosity and genuine concern for his patients. It was not uncommon for Bouck to leave formal dinners to respond to a call, or interrupt his bridge games, the busy doctor’s only hobby.134 In the age before state medical care, Bouck was loved and respected his willingness to treat the sick irrespective of their ability to pay.
His dedication may have proved his undoing. Bouck’s health was undermined by his work, and he died of a heart attack at the age of 58. He passed away at his home in Mount Royal. Bouck had moved into 1014 Prospect Avenue in 1932.135 His widow Phyllis remained there until 1959 before moving to Wolfe Street.
131 Calgary Herald, July 24, 1944, “Hundreds Pay Last Tribute to Dr. Bouck”
132 Ibid, July 20, 1944, “Funeral Saturday for Dr. C.E. Bouck”
133 Ibid, July 21, 1944, “Charlie Bouck. MD”
134 ibid
135 Henderson’s Calgary Directory
Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Sat May 20, 2006 11:21 am
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Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:31 pm
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Bulshin and Belzberg Residence
717 14th Ave SW
Built in 1910
(
damaged by fire, August 8, 2011: http://www.calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/vi ... =2676#2676 )
The building is a single-family home built in 1910 by Alexander M. Stewart, and was later the home of Max Bulshin from 1919-1947. It was then the home of Mendel (Max) Belzberg (brother to Abraham, the founder of Christy’s Arcade) from 1949-1988.
Alexander M. Stewart was an Express Messenger with Dominion Express. He lived at the home until 1915, when it became the residence of John W. Russell, the Inspector of Pubic Schools, from 1916-1917. It was vacant for one year before it became the home of Max Bulshin.
Max Bulshin (1887-1953) was a local area merchant, and his family resided here from 1919-1947. During that time, he ran a store at 308 8th Ave SE, and later at 351 14th Ave SW, where Max’s wife Jennie worked as a clerk. The Bulshin family moved out in 1947. The following year, Edgar R. Howard was the resident.
In 1949, the house became the home of Polish immigrant Mendel (Max) Belzberg and his wife Lena (1906-1968). They had four daughters: Jean (married Richard Barron, youngest son of Jacob Bell Barron); Lillian (Segal), Doni (Stern), and Mimi (Sorokin). Max became involved in the furniture business through the influence of his brother Abraham. Abraham opened the Calgary Brokerage Exchange (later Christy’s Arcade Furniture) and was later the proprietor of the Acme Furniture Company. Max is listed as an employee of Acme Furniture in 1932, and later as its proprietor.
Max was also a member of the Polish-Jewish Family Loan Association (established in 1931), which provided interest-free loans to the Calgary Jewish community, particularly families who had escaped Europe during WWII. His wife Lena died in 1968, and Max was remarried to Corinne Gutnik in 1971/72. Max and Corinne continued to live at this house until Max died in 1989.
The Belzberg name became very well known through the business ventures of Max’s three nephews: Hyman; Samuel; and William. Hyman took over for his father Abraham in the furniture business as the proprietor of Christy’s Arcade Furniture. Samuel became involved in business and real estate by creating First City Financial Corporation.
The building is an early example of middle-class housing in the Beltline. It reflects the Pre-WWI building boom experienced by the city, when southward expansion toward and beyond Lougheed House was experienced.
The house is at Lot 12 and the W of Lot 13, in Block 104, Plan A-1, in Section 16.
The gable-front style home exhibits an enclosed ground level porch, an off-centre entrance, and a prominent gable facing the street. During the 1980s, the home was divided up in to suites.
Located next to another fine example of a gable-front style home, the buildings help retain some of the original character of the area around the historic Lougheed House, and provide a comparison of early gable-front style homes.
Samuel J. P. Blair Residence
715 15th Ave SW
Built in 1911
The building was the home of Samuel J.P. Blair and his family for seventy years. He was an Alberta pioneer, and a prominent figure in the Alberta Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Mason-related fraternity of men and women, for over thirty five years.
Samuel J.P. Blair was born in Truro, Nova Scotia in 1864 and married Jennie Martha Fisher (1865-1948) in 1887. In 1890, Mr. Blair arrived in Medicine Hat, and in 1892 he came to Calgary with his wife and son, Gordon (1889-1966). On first arriving in Calgary, Samuel worked as a real estate dealer. In 1900, the Blair’s daughter Helene was born.
Samuel Blair bought the East half of lot 13 and all of lot 14, on Block 104, Plan A1 from J.L. Johnston in 1910.
In 1911, the home was built and the Blair family lived there beginning in 1912. It was also around this time that Samuel became an important force in the development of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Alberta. The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonically-related fraternity of women and men. The Order is not, however, part of the Mason fraternity but membership is based on Masonic affiliation or relationship. The order is now the largest Fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women belong.
In 1911-1912, Mr. Blair held the position of Worthy Grand Patron for the Mountain View Chapter in Olds, the oldest Order of the Eastern Star Chapter in Canada. It was also the Mountain View Chapter that took the initial steps towards the formation of a Grand Chapter for the Province of Alberta. In 1913-1914 Blair was elected to the position of Grand Secretary for the Grand Chapter of Alberta Order of the Eastern Star. He would hold this position every year until his death in 1948, making him the longest position- holding member in the history of the Alberta Chapter. His wife Jennie was also involved with the Order, holding the positions of Associate Grand Conductress, Grand Conductress, and Worthy Grand Matron. The Blairs also remained very involved as Part Worthy Grand Matron and Part Worthy Grand Patron within the Order. There are also records of the Blairs holding events for the Order, such as a tea, in their home at 715 14th Ave.
Samuel Blair was also a member of the Alberta Accepted Free & Ancient Masons and the Shriners of the Al Azhar Temple.
During the 1920s Samuel worked as traffic manager for Wood, Vallance & Adams and as the treasurer of the Calgary Conservation Association. He retired in 1930.
Following Samuel and Jennie’s deaths, the home came under the ownership of their son Gordon C. Blair. He lived there with his wife Elizabeth and worked as an accountant until his death in 1966. After Gordon died, Elizabeth remained in the home until her death in 1982.
The building is a good example of a wood-frame gable home built during the Pre-WWI period, and is a lasting example of middle-class residency in the area. It shows the growth experienced by the area surrounding the Lougheed House during the beginning of the 20th Century. The house front faces the Lougheed house and surrounding gardens. The building remains as an example of the middle-class single-family housing.
The gable-front style exhibits an off-centre entry (typical of gable-front style homes), ground-level porch, and a prominent gable facing the street. This street-facing gable and covered porch create the prominent details of the façade. It also incorporates a small cross-gable on one side to create a shallow wing. The porch exhibits decorative brackets and spindle-work. The interior of the house has been renovated. During the 1980s the home was divided up into suites.
The building helps to retain some of the original character of the area around the historic Lougheed House. Located next to another fine example of a gable-front style home, the two structures help to retain some of the original character of the area that surrounds the historic Lougheed House site and provide a comparison of gable-front style homes.
The house also provides an example of the trend in the Beltline area to convert single-family dwellings in to multi-suite apartment-style homes.
** Thank you to the Beltline Communities of Victoria and Connaught and Alexa Collopy for contributing to this research.
Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:59 pm
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The Western Hospital was a small private hospital that operated in Calgary from 1912 to 1941 in two buildings, the second of which survives to this day at 302, 14th Avenue SW. See CHI's research below. If you can add any information about the Western Hospital or the history of the house please send a note to info@calgaryheritage.org
From 1912 to 1923 the Western Hospital was at 351 – 13th Avenue SW, across from the First Baptist Church. You can see a photo of this building, now demolished, in the Glenbow archives using the keyword search term “Western Hospital”. Here is the link to the archives: http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosSearch.aspx By the mid-twenties this building became a mortuary. It was demolished sometime after 1955. From 1923 to 1941 the hospital was in a converted house at 302, 14th Ave SW, on the NW corner of 14th Avenue and 2nd Street SW, across from Haultain school. The house still exists, pictured above.
Original owner-occupant, H.P. Norton
302, 14th Avenue SW was built in 1909 as the home of H.P. Norton. A small ground floor addition on the western side of the house almost to the property line was added by 1911 according to fire insurance maps. The exterior of the house seems virtually unchanged since then.
Norton lived there until 1911, then moved to Sunalta and then Mount Royal. He continued to own the house until 1922, renting to a variety of tenants. Norton was a farm implement salesman – first for Nichols and Shepard Co. Ltd. (1909), then as co-manager of Tuec Co. Ltd. (1912), then he ran his own companies, H.P. Norton Co. (1916), and Norton and Lief Co. (1920). In 1920 and 1921 he takes a turn as the manager of the St. Regis Hotel. http://www.regisplazahotel.com After that he disappears from the Hendersons Directories, and sells the house.
Norton’s tenants at 302 14th Avenue:
1912 – Mr. Irene N. Nason
1913 – Bartley C. Nicklin, an electrician for Gracey-Crane Co.
1914 – Norman MacLagan, Manager of Rjay Cigar Stores Ltd.
1915, 1916 – Clarence A. Lynch, streetcar conductor
1917-1919 – Florence Deller, who becomes Mrs. Florence Harness in 1919 (married to Mr. John W. Harness, a salesman at Nickle Boot Shops). In 1919 she moves into a nearby house at 1417 1st Street SW, and operates 302 14th Avenue as a rooming house.
1920, 1921 – Albert Metcalf, taxi driver, proprietor of American Auto Livery.
1921 – Alfred H. Cosby
1922 – Mrs. H.C. Locke
The Western Hospital
In 1923 H.P. Norton sells 302 14th Avenue to nurses Mrs. Veda Dyer Seller (nee Veda Dyer) and Miss Gladys Creeggan, who have been operating the Western Hospital since 1912 from a building on the other corner of the block. Seller and Creeggan move the Western Hospital to this location, and own the building until 1941.
Matrons of the Western Hospital include:
1912-1927 – Veda D. Seller and Gladys Creeggan
1928 – Veda Seller
1929 – Mrs. Gladys Sullivan
1930 – Mrs. M.E. Taylor
1935-37 – Helen E. Fisher
1938-39 – Victoria Ray
1940-41 – Mrs. C. Poynter
The Western was one of a number of private hospitals that came and went in Calgary and mostly disappeared by the 1950s. Most specialized as nursing homes for the elderly or maternity homes. Some of the latter were very small operations in private homes. Some were owned by individuals, but many were run by charitable institutions of one kind or another. They served an important function as the larger hospitals, the city-owned General and the Catholic Church-run Holy Cross hospital, were often overcrowded. [Hospital crowding, the need for modern facilities and population growth let to the building of a new (fourth) General Hospital in Bridgeland site in the 1940s]
The Western is somewhat unusual in that it was privately owned by two nurses, was long-lived, lasting 30 years (including 20 years in the surviving building), and in that a wide variety of medical services were provided there be a variety of doctors from different practices.
It served as a maternity hospital. In 1936 (for example) there were 26 births at the Western Hospital noted in the Calgary Herald out of 145 birth announcements listed for the year.
Eleanor King Byers, author of The House With The Light On, a memoir of Calgary in the 40s and 50s, reports that "Both my brothers were born at Western Hospital: Stan in 1929, delivered by Dr. Charles Bouck; and Don in 1934, delivered by Dr. Albert Aikenhead." Dr. Bouck was a well-known Calgary surgeon with offices in the nearby Underwood Block. Dr. Albert Aikenhead was a founding member of the Calgary Associate Clinic, one of the premier medical practices of early Calgary. See below for more biographical information on these doctors.
Dr. Gerald Milward McDougall, author of three books on the history of medicine and medical teaching in Alberta and Manitoba, was also born at the Western Hospital. Dr. McDougall is a decendent of pioneer Reverend George McDougall and his son John McDougall. Dr. McDougall's father worked for the CPR and his family was under the care of CPR divisional surgeons, the Mackid practice. It is presumed by Dr. McDougall that he was 'delivered' by a Mackid doctor. See below for more on the Mackids.
Well known Calgary realtor Gerald Knowlton was born at the hospital in 1933, delivered by Dr. L.G. Alexander. Dr. Alexander was a major medical figure and World War 2 hero who served as a doctor at the Dieppe raid and across Europe. He was recently chosen by the Alberta Medical Association as one of Alberta's "Physicians of the Century": http://www.medicine100.ab.ca/physicians ... xander.htm
W.H. (Danny) Copithorne reports having his tonsils out at the Western Hospital in 1939 by Dr. A.E. Shore of the Gunn, Hackney, Shore and Robbins practice. The practice (originally Gunn and Shore) was a major medical practice in Calgary between the wars, specializing in eye, ear, nose and throat. Gunn in particular is a major figure in Calgary (see below).
In terms of a variety of services, a secretary to Calgary newspaperman/humourist Bob Edwards, a famous drunk, wrote that Edwards used to go to the Western's previous 4th Street location to recuperate after major drinking bouts. Edwards died in 1921.
The hospital at its later location also treated injured oilfield workers.
In the late 1930s-early 1940s one of the Western Hospital’s nurses was Annie McLeod, who is important to the history of nursing and hospitals in Southern Alberta. During the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, McLeod was the Matron of the V.O.N. hospital in High River. The V.O.N. hospital closed when the High River Municipal Hospital opened in 1921, and McLeod stayed on as Matron. Under McLeod, the High River hospital became the first municipal hospital in Alberta recognized as a training school for nurses. From 1921-34 the small school graduated 19 nurses. In 1924 her first two graduates received their diplomas and pins from the Prince of Wales, who had a nearby ranch. The school closed in 1934 and sometime after that McLeod went to work at the Western Hospital in Calgary.
In the late 1930s there was an oil boom in Turner Valley, and some injured oil workers were brought to the Western Hospital for treatment. This got McLeod interested in the Turner Valley area, and in the early 1940s, at the prompting of the Herron oil business, Annie went to Turner Valley and started the Oilfields Hospital in a converted cookhouse rented from the Herron’s Okalta Oils. This is said to be the last private hospital in Alberta set up by a nurse as a business. McLeod died in 1949, but the hospital survived. The Oilfields General Hospital is the name of the Black Diamond/Turner Valley hospital today. Source: “Heritage of Service: The History of Nursing in Alberta” http://136.159.239.228//medhist/page.aspx?id=15896
Here is what Jack Peach, a well known chronicler of Calgary history, had to say about the Western Hospital:
“its owner was Mrs. Barber (note: Barber does not show up in Henderson’s or the tax roles – Peach may be in error.), a registered nurse, and her right hand was nurse Miss Creagan (sic). The hospital they opened on the NW corner of 14th Avenue and 2nd Street West (was a converted) old Calgary residence. The two women transformed the rambling turreted family home into a spotless little hospital to serve about ten patients, with cheerful rooms, and a small, shiny, well-equipped operating room at the back of the house.”
“The meals were good, the service very personal, and the medical services top-notch. Doctors, vocal in their praise, liked the Western because of its equipment and the one-on-one ambiance involving patient, nurse, physician or surgeon.”
Jack Peach’s parents were hospitalized at the Western on more than one occasion. He recalled: “It was my first childhood contact with a hospital, its hushed whiteness, its carbolic smell, the strict visiting hour schedule. Looking back on it, the Western was an intimate, antiseptic island, and the passport to it was a frown directed at me, and a quiet voice with a commanding ‘Shhh!’ designed for small noisy boys.”
Source: Jack Peach ‘Thanks for the Memories’.
Veda Seller and Gladys Creeggan closed the Western Hospital in 1942 and sold the building to retiree John Hurrell. 302 14th Avenue becomes a private residence again.
1942-59 home of John Thomas Hurrell (retired), and his wife Lucille. John dies in 1943 and his wife stays in the home until 1959.
1960-1964 home of Mrs. Mary Watt
1965 – converted to apartments. 8-10 units
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Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:43 pm
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See Development Watch thread for the latest (updated January 2007):
http://www.calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/vi ... .php?t=110
Statistics: Posted by Chris E — Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:45 pm
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