Olympic City
1988 – Present Day
Infrastructure
During this era of Calgary’s history, the city filled in with more neighbourhoods in every quadrant. The city grew outward so fast that the need for a complete ring-road bypass highway became desperate.
Planning for the ring-road can be traced to the 1950s when the province sought a bypass highway around southwest Calgary. A provincial study in 1974 looked to Sarcee Trail to fulfill the bypass. However, delays caused by the 1980s downturn, efforts to preserve the Bow River shoreline, and the growth of the city meant the northwest section of the ring-road was pushed further to the west.
Meanwhile, to the south, the ring road and the Weaselhead Flats Natural Area were in direct conflict. Here, Sarcee Trail, Glenmore Trail and Stoney Trail all arrive at a junction. Today, a bridge over the wetlands sees the ring-road proceed to Highway 22X/Spruce Meadows Trail. The bridge was recently named after fallen Canadian soldier Corporal Nathan Hornburg.
The Weaselhead (“moll-inistsi-in-aka-apewis” in Blackfoot, meaning “elbow many houses”) is located on a delta in the Elbow River that was formed when the Glenmore Reservoir was created. It links the north and south of Glenmore Park. It has multiple oxbow lakes, wetlands and trails. It has two beaches, one being clothes-optional. It was a vital area for the nearby Tsuut’ina nation and became a park area in 1965.
Environmental reviews and negotiations with the Tsuut’ina about building the ring-road were ongoing well into the 1990s. Calgarians too continued arguing for the preservation of older communities and their riverine shoreline parks. The result was that the proposed bridges for both Sarcee and Shaganappi Trails were scuttled due to overwhelming opposition. Consultations on the city’s Transportation Plan (the “GoPlan”) took several years, with groups such as Calgary River Valleys seeking no new river crossings along with denser neighbourhoods and more transit options.
However, Calgary continued growing. The ring-road would now definitely cross the Bow River where COP is located, and it would bisect a portion of Tsuut’ina Nation. A package was presented in 2009 to the Nation to facilitate a plebiscite, which is required by federal law. The proposal was rejected and negotiations were moribund while the province and city looked for alternatives.
When the Nation re-opened talks, a pathway was found to construct the bypass on Tsuut’ina lands. Another plebiscite was held in 2013 and the plan was approved. Since then, development has occurred at Buffalo Run Shopping Centre just off Tsuut’ina Trail.
In the meantime, planning for the Tuscany community mandated the construction of the first leg of the ring-road, between Crowchild Trail and Highway 1, which was itself divided into two parts from Scenic Acres Link NW. Tuscany was built out starting in 1994 around ravines reminiscent of the landscape of its namesake area in Italy.
To get this leg of the road over the Bow, a new kind of bridge building technique was used called incremental launching. This was the first bridge of its kind in Canada and it offered an environmentally sensitive way to construct the bridge away from sensitive areas.
The next leg of the ring road built proceeded from Crowchild to Deerfoot, with construction proceeding for the “East Freeway” at the same time. After that, the next step was the construction of the southeast section of the ring-road.
In 2000, city administration agreed to turn over responsibility of both Deerfoot and Stoney to the province. It would now oversee and manage construction and maintenance on the two critical highways. The Federal government agreed to co-fund the ring-road, but the province eventually had to step in and fund cost overruns.
In 2003, Deerfoot received an extension past Highway 22x (now Stoney Trail/Highway 201) to connect to Macleod Trail/Highway 2A at De Winton. This last piece of the puzzle ended the zig-zag route through Calgary that had previously characterized parts of Highway 2. When the last lights were removed at Douglasdale Boulevard in 2005, the entire length of Deerfoot became a freeway.
It’s now a critical part of the CANAMEX Corridor, connecting Alaska to Mexico City. The highway was renamed the Queen Elizabeth II highway in honour of Her Majesty, who visited Alberta to celebrate the centennial of the province in 2005. I went to the Saddledome with a friend to attend a performance and to see Her Majesty in person.
On 19 December 2023, the southwest portion of the ring-road opened. Today, Tsuut’ina Trail connects Stoney Trail to Highway 8 (Glenmore Trail) and to Highway 1 (16th Avenue N). This was the last of the five legs of the ring-road, which were constructed section by section over 30 years. The rest of Stoney Trail circles the city, at last providing a bypass route for heavy transportation and a more convenient and efficient way to navigate the city. There’s still more construction to come, including a bridge over Stoney Trail for Memorial Drive.
Let’s look at Calgary’s other transportation options.
The C-Train network grew slowly after the Olympics, and then more quickly in recent years. Just past the university is Brentwood, which received a station in 1990. The northwest C-Train line proceeds in the middle of Crowchild Trail, with stops at Dalhousie (ca.2003), Crowfoot (ca.2009), and Tuscany (ca.2014).
The south line was extended to Canyon Meadows and Fish Creek-Lacombe stations in 2001. Then two more south stations, Shawnessy and Somerset-Bridlewood, were added in 2004.
The northeast line received a new station in 2007 at McKnight-Westwinds. Stations at Martindale and Saddletowne were completed in 2012.
In 2009, after just 28 years of operation, the C-Train celebrated its one billionth passenger, who was randomly selected on February 18th.
A whole new line was added to the network in 2012, the West LRT line. It proceeds from 7th Avenue over 9th Ave, the train tracks and 14th St SW to Sunalta Station. It continues to the middle of Bow Trial, then proceeds underground at Westbrook Mall and emerges alongside 17th Ave SW at 37th St and ends at 69th St station. Upon its completion, the C-Train’s total length reached 56.2 kms.
Large Facilities
A southeast C-Train line is currently in planning, which would extend from downtown past Inglewood and Ramsay and eventually projected to reach the South Health Campus (SHC) Hospital at Seton.
The SHC was built at a cost of $1.31 billion starting in 2007 and completed in 2012, with the hospital fully operational by 2016. Today it handles 800,000 ambulance visits per year and serves 200,000 outpatients annually.
Seton was built around the facility starting in 2018. It’s a fully planned mini-city, with rec facilities, library, schools, offices, parks, hotel, retail space, banks, services, restaurants and, yes, a medical centre. Because of its distance from the core, it was necessary to provide residents with every amenity, including for surrounding communities and future ones, such as Rangeland to the south.
The hospital was conceived after the province decided to demolish the Calgary General Hospital. It would have been too expensive to upgrade the downtown facility, and services were available/transferred to Foothills Hospital (ca.1966) in the northwest, Peter Lougheed Hospital (ca.1988) in the northeast, and Rockyview Hospital (ca.1985) on Glenmore Reservoir in the southwest.
On 4 October 1998,the Calgary General Hospital was imploded. I was living in Texas at the time, but my family and I were able to watch the demolition of the hospital over this new thing called the Internet. It was the largest hospital in North America ever decommissioned and demolished (up until Hurricane Katraina damaged a hospital in New Orleans in 2005.
The demolition put a freeze on Bridgeland-Riverside for about 5 years, until new multi-use developments were completed. These now surround Murdoch Park, which has a playground, soccer field, basketball court and a new community centre and garden. It’s named after Calgary’s first mayor, George Murdoch. It also contains a memorial to the hospital, a long wall marking the original location of a hospital wall and is built with salvaged concrete and bricks.
Today, Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association is seeking a way to give back to those who built Calgary and to offer a new investment to those who build it still. A gazebo and park are planned to remember the neighbourhood’s health services past and to look toward a future of healthy living and community spirit. What better way to recognize and remember the duty and service of Calgary’s General Hospitals.
Other hospital developments around Calgary include a new Children’s Hospital. In 2006, the prairie provinces’ largest children’s hospital opened on the lands of the University of Calgary. It was designed specifically to cater to children’s care, with the exterior resembling colourful toy building blocks, and the interior centred around families.
Downtown Calgary received an outpatient urgent care centre in 2008. The Sheldon M. Chumir Centre is located on the site of the Col. Belcher Veterans Hospital, which itself was built on the site of Pat Burns’ manor. It’s named after an Alberta civil rights lawyer and MLA for the area. In 2017, a supervised drug consumption site was located in the facility, attracting numerous policy controversies related to the provision of social services and neighbourhood safety.
Another addition to the downtown area was the new Central Library, which opened in 2018. It’s a four-storey, oval-shaped building with translucent windows and a large central atrium and skylight. The entrance is framed by wooden arches, a shape inspired by the chinook winds. It won an award from the American Institute of Architects.
The library system itself has greatly expanded over the last few decades, with facilities added in many communities, including Signal Hill, Shawnessy, Crowfoot, Country Hills, Saddletown, Quarry Park, Sage Hill, Rocky Ridge and Seton. These are needed, since Albertans borrow a higher amount of books per capita than other provinces.
The Central Library was part of the revitalization effort downtown’s east side where it meets the East Village area, and is located above a tunnel for the southbound C-Train. The East Village is a brand new, mixed-use neighbourhood sandwiched between the rail tracks and river and Fort Calgary and Calgary’s downtown.
Its vibrancy as part of the older warehouse district and whisky row declined over the years. When MacLeod Trail became a major thoroughfare in and out of downtown, and when the northeast C-Train line was installed, the area was cut off from the rest of downtown. The decline of Victoria Park across the tracks further eroded the area “behind” the Municipal Building.
Redevelopment began with plans approved in 2005. A stormwater treatment pond was first constructed along what is now the Jack and Jean Leslie Riverwalk. New pedestrian bridges link the walk to St. Patrick’s Island and to Inglewood.
Several mixed-use commercial and residential towers were added alongside the older apartment buildings. By 2017, the area had attracted $2.7 billion worth of investment. During construction, stone circles and fire hearths were uncovered, dating back 3300 years.
The area is part of the larger Rivers District, which is currently undergoing significant development. The Rivers District takes in the East Village, the area that once was Victoria Park, Stampede Park, and adjacent areas along both the Bow and Elbow Rivers. It’s envisioned as a lively destination for Calgarians and tourists. A future central train station may also be built in the area.
Part of the Rivers District is already up and running, such as Studio Bell and the National Music Centre. It’s the first national institution dedicated to music in Canada. The building houses the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and an impressive array of musical artifacts. The Centre incorporates the King Edward Hotel building, which was removed brick by brick and rebuilt as part of the Centre.
The area’s redevelopment goes hand-in-hand with major changes at Stampede Park.
The 2024 Stampede saw the opening of the renovated BMO Centre. It was originally built in 1981 and was known as the Round-up Centre. When the Stampede Corral was demolished, the BMO Centre was slated for a $500 million expansion and renovation. It’s now Western Canada’s largest convention centre and holds Canada’s largest indoor fireplace. Outside the building is the new 56-tonne Spirit of Water sculpture by UK artist Gerry Judah.
Also recently opened is the SAM Centre. It’s a year-round attraction that hosts Stampede’s history and tells the stories of those who celebrate, uphold and cultivate Stampede City. Go on down and see Guy Weadick’s saddle and learn all about the Stampede (you can also read June’s article).
The Stampede reached an attendance record in 2011, when 1.2 million people attended. That year, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, today’s Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, were in attendance. The Stampede set another record in 2012, its centennial year. This record was only surpassed last year, when 1.477 million people attended (I crossed the turnstiles at least 5 times that year just to make sure I got all the best Stampede food options, including way too many corn dogs and mini donuts).
Of course, the new hockey stadium under construction will transform the area. It’s a modern facility meant to replace the Saddledome, which cannot accommodate modern concert performances and which no one stepped forward to renovate and preserve.
Scotia Place remains a contested project for the city considering that negotiations went through many starts and stops, generating acrimony between the partners involved.
The final deal announced in 2023 will cost $1.22 billion, with a new arena, indoor rink and indoor and outdoor plazas as part of the proposal between the city and Flames ownership. The outdoor plaza will include the heritage Stephenson and Co. Grocery Block from 1911. A community rink and other infrastructure costs are being covered by the province.
Last but certainly now least is the centre of justice in Calgary. In 2004, construction began on the largest court facility in North America, the Calgary Courts Centre. The province wanted to consolidate courts into one building to find efficiencies.
The building was designed to harness natural light and reduce the stress of judicial proceedings with a transparent, welcoming entrance. During construction, an underground stream to the Bow River was discovered.
The building’s towers are modelled after the scales of justice, with 20 storey and 24 storey towers joined together by a 26 storey atrium. The facility houses the three levels of the Alberta court system, the lower Alberta Court of Justice, the Court of King’s Bench and the Court of Appeal of Alberta. After that, it’s off to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa.
Corporate Calgary
Two major events in 1996 showcase the economic changes: Canadian Pacific Railway moved its headquarters from Montreal to Calgary, and WestJet Airlines established its head office in Calgary.
Plenty more changed about Calgary in the Olympic era. For one, the economy diversified from oil and gas resources into other areas, like finance, transportation logistics, technology innovation and service industries.
CPR was founded in 1881 in Montreal. In November 1995, the railway announced it was moving its headquarters to Calgary in the next year, bringing over 800 jobs with it. The move was made since, according to CPR, 80% of its business was conducted out West.
However, the move got caught up in debates about the sovereignty of Quebec. The province had voted narrowly to stay in Canada in the October 1995 referendum, a result that reverberated across the country and over the next decade. I remember our family displaying in the front window a sign that read “Our Canada includes Quebec” that we retrieved from the newspaper (whether a similar sign would go up today in the event of another referendum is a story for another time).
CPR first moved into Gulf Canada Square, a glass office tower. To save money, in 2012 it left downtown Calgary and moved into a new building at the location of its train engine repair shop in Ogden, which closed after 100 years of operation. Built in 1887, Locomotive 29 had been parked outside CPR’s HQ until all 91,000 kilos of it was moved to Ogden. In 2023, CPR merged with Kansas City Southern Railway to become CPKC, the only single-line rail corporation ever to link Canada, the USA and Mexico.
Calgary also became (again) the headquarters of a national airline. In 1974, the Government of Alberta acquired Pacific Western Airlines, which moved its HQ to Calgary. It operated until 1983 when it formed part of Canadian Airlines. The airline maintained its home in Calgary until the Government of Canada approved its acquisition by Air Canada, headquartered in Montreal, in 2001.
A new low-cost air carrier began in 1996 called WestJet. Calgary is its base of operations and its first flight was to Vancouver. It originally served five destinations in Western Canada (hence its name) and expanded by adding smaller cities underserved by the two, then one, national carriers. What started as a short-haul carrier has today expanded to flying 25 million passengers to over 100 destinations around the world.
To handle the increased traffic, the Calgary International Airport has undergone several renovations and expansions. In 2011, the airport received the longest runway in Canada as well as a tunnel underneath it as part of the new Airport Trail, which links Deerfoot Trail to Metis and Stoney Trail along the north side of the airport. It’s now the main access point to the airport’s terminals (replacing Barlow Trail). A new cargo facility was built in 2016 as well as a new international terminal with 24 new aircraft gates.
In 2004, Calgary became the headquarters of Canada’s second largest oil company, Imperial Oil, which today is majority-owned by American company ExxonMobile. Despite being home to an entire industry of oil and gas start-ups, the globe’s energy companies had only established branch offices in Calgary during its many resource booms (Imperial Oil announced is was leaving Calgary in 2025).
The move followed another event that further elevated Calgary’s status as Oil Capital. In 2000, the World Petroleum Congress was held in the city. It’s a gathering of industry leaders, governments and academics involved in the energy sector. This was the first time the event was held in Canada. The Telus Convention Centre was hastily expanded to accommodate the Congress, leading to the demolition of some heritage buildings or the incorporation of their facades (we’ll discuss the treatment of heritage buildings in more detail next month).
The 1999 Seattle anti-globalization protests during a meeting of the World Trade Organization were fresh on everyone’s mind. Calgary was not spared from rallies and seminars held by groups opposed to ongoing oil and gas development. Up to an estimated 2500 people descended on downtown. The Congress returned to Calgary in 2023.
Calgary’s economic strength also appeared in what is today called Hollywood North. I intended to list some of the major movies filmed here and in the surrounding area, only to learn there are so many! So, instead of a comprehensive list, you’ll get a window into the author’s tastes. Titles filmed in and around Calgary include Cool Runnings, How the West was Fun, Shanghai Noon, Interstellar, Rate Race, Jumanji: The Next Level, and of course I cannot forget the local cult classic, FUBAR.
On second thought, I think there’d be an avalanche of annoyed emails if I didn’t mention some other well-known movies that were filmed locally but most of which I’ve never seen (sorry).
These include Legends of the Fall, Exit Wounds (which shut down Centre Street Bridge for filming), Brokeback Mountain, Resurrecting the Champ, Unforgiven, Inception, Passchendaele, The Revenant, Seventh Son, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. In case I’ve missed an important title or one of your favourites, feel free to post them in the comment section below.
This means many famous people have arrived in and experienced Calgary .One prolific actor who stopped through Calgary before becoming a global star is Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock.
Dwayne played university football but didn’t make the NFL. He found himself playing for the Stamps on a pittance – in his memoir, he recalls foraging for used furniture and dirty mattresses behind a seedy motel with some of his teammates. He was part of the practice squad but was cut two months into the 1995 season. He went on to wrestle in the WWF and the rest is pop culture history.
All this movie talk makes me want to apply to be an extra on set. Maybe one day I’ll be ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.
One last major change to mention about Calgary’s economy occurred when the provincial government sold off Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) in 1991. It had been managed by the Department of Public Works and then a crown corporation. By the 1990s, Alberta’s troubling budget situation and the move toward more economic competition led the government to privatize the corporation. It formed Telus Communications as a holding company to facilitate the transfer. It later merged with BC Tel to form the Telus Corporation we’ve familiar with today.
Higher and Higher
A rebounding economy meant Calgary’s downtown grew larger and higher. Let’s review a few of the notable additions.
In 1988, Canterra Tower (today known as 400 Third) was completed. It’s 45-storey and is a Post-Modern style building with glass curtain walls.
In 1991, the TD Canada Trust Tower (formerly the Eaton Centre Tower) was built. Its 41 storeys was built on the site of Eaton’s flagship Calgary store, with some of the original walls retained as facades. Today it contains most of The Core Shopping Centre along with Devonian Gardens.
Then there’s the twin towers of Bankers Hall. These 52-storey towers became the tallest twin towers in Canada upon the completion of the second tower in 2000. The first was completed in 1989 and it incorporated the historic six-storey Hollinsworth Building, built in 1912 with one of the finest terra cotta exteriors in the province.
From a distance, the tops of the towers are meant to represent cowboy hats. At its base along Stephen Avenue were installed the Trees. These are large metal sculptures, six in total, along both sides of the street that were meant to replicate a grove of trees, including how trees act as windbreakers.
Calgary received two of its tallest buildings in the last several years. The first was The Bow Building. At 774 ft, the building became taller than the Suncor Energy Centre (formerly Petro Canada Centre) when it was completed in 2012. It was built to house the headquarters of EnCana (now Ovintiv, based in Denver), the second largest natural gas producer in North America. It would have been taller but because of concerns about shadowing the natural landscape around the Bow River (for which the building is named), its height was limited.
The world’s third largest and Canada’s largest continuous concrete pour in the world at the time was completed for The Bow’s foundation, at 36 hours. Due to financing issues during the 2008-09 financial crisis, the project was briefly halted. While the main project did finish, the second tower was cancelled.
The 1930 York Hotel building was demolished to make way for the Bow. Most of its bricks were saved as well as art deco friezes. These were supposed to become part of a new facade, but the cancellation of the second towers means they are still in storage.
Outside The Bow is the Wonderland sculpture. It’s a work by artist Jaume Plensa that depicts a human head. He also designed another piece on the north side of the building depicting the artist hugging a tree.
The Bow was Calgary’s tallest building for 6 years. In 2017, Brookfield Place was completed. It stands at 810 ft, becoming the tallest building in Canada outside Toronto. It’s the headquarters of oil and gas company Cenovus. This project too consisted of a second tower that was not completed.
An iconic building also now graces Calgary’s skyline, the TELUS Sky building, also known as Calgary House. It’s a mixed use building that contains offices, retail space and residences on the upper 32 floors.
Calgary House is one of those newer towers that changes shape as it extends upward, with a rectangular base that slowly reduces in size and “pixelates” to create small balconies and terraces. The 1928 Art Central building was demolished to make way for the new tower. Both the north and south faces of the tower are equipped with LED strips that host light shows every evening. The collapse in oil prices in 2015 meant the tower had difficulty filling up, with only 60% occupancy by April 2020.
It goes to show that Calgary remains heavily influenced by world economic conditions, with construction ebbing and flowing over the past couple of decades. The fall in oil prices wasn’t as severe as in the 1980s, but Calgary did experience a notable downturn in 2015 and 2016, with downtown office vacancy rates staying stubbornly high at over 20%. Because of the geographic concentration of office spaces in the Downtown Core, and their connection via the Plus-15 network, high vacancy can have a reverberating effect throughout the area.
Even today, Calgary’s downtown is beset with high vacancy rates, creeping as high as 30% recently, in part due to further downsizing brought on during the Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdowns. Efforts are currently underway to diversify the downtown away from only office spaces. Several buildings are undergoing conversions to residential spaces, including Calgary’s first skyscraper, the Barron Building.
Another project will see the University of Calgary expand its downtown footprint. The old Nexen building, which had sat vacant from 2019 when Nexen moved into The Bow, will soon become home to the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.
Not only office towers but residential skyscrapers also started appearing in Calgary. The Beltline is the first area to receive these kinds of towers.
Currently the highest residential towers in Calgary are West Village Towers I and II (the complex has a third, shorter tower). Completed in 2022, these towers are inspired by designs in Dubai and have distinctly slanted, translucent roof lines that are reminiscent of mountain peaks.
On the other side of the core are the Guardian North and South Towers, twin 44 storey buildings completed in 2016. Going back in time means going shorter, and we arrive at the 34 storey Arriva Tower with its glass and steel structure featuring brick and sandstone finishes to reflect the Warehouse District where it’s located. The pointed crown at the roofline is a new distinctive feature of Calgary’s skyline.
Height and density also began arriving in other historic neighbourhoods. Buildings up to 15 storeys are appearing in historic neighbourhoods like Bridgeland and Kensington, with more and higher buildings planned. Considerable debate has followed these changes to historic neighbourhoods, with prior limits of 4 storeys for Kensington reversed in 1989 as the area became more and more popular.
Changes up in the air have come with new developments at ground level. 17th Avenue is morphing into a high street with heritage and modernity mixing altogether. Its “green heart” is Tomkins Park, a plot of park donated to the city by Henry and Elinor Tomkins in 1916. It was rededicated to Tomkins Square in 1988. A Gazebo was added in 2000 that hosts outdoor music shows. Historic homes across the street have since been demolished to make way for a new 8 storey development.
Another public space in the area is Lois Szabo Commons. It’s a newer park with a variety of seating and the ability to host performances.
Lois was one of the founders of Calgary’s first gay club, Club Carousel. Prior to the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969, 620 Club was operating in a basement. A flashing light was used to inform party goers that police were present (homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969). Dancing would stop or gays and lesbians would switch to the opposite sex.
After decriminalization, the gay community felt emboldened and established Club Carousel. It started in 1970 and was the first cooperative, private membership-owned gay club in Western Canada. The police tried to stop a gay bar from opening but the courts rejected this effort. Lois volunteered with the club, which sparked other efforts to support Calgary’s gay community.
Softball was an activity undertaken by many lesbians across North America, including Calgary in the 1960s, when two teams were active. A favourite spot to go after a game was the Cecil Hotel, a notorious locale for prostitution, drugs and crime. It was forced to close in 2009 and was eventually demolished. Another location for the community was A Woman’s Place Bookstore, first located in the Beltline, then Marda Loop before it closed.
Another location for underground activities was Memorial Park. Downtown decay affected the area, forcing Remembrance Day celebrations to move in 1970. This deprived the park of its most important function. Overgrown trees and hedges were favourable to gay cruising and sexual anonymity. The park was redeveloped in 2010, with more war memorials and commemorations also added.
Resources for Calgary’s gay community formed throughout the 1970s, included social services, church activities and theatre productions. These were active into the 1980s, when the HIV/AIDS crisis hit. The first case in Alberta was reported in 1983, and soon the gay community was raising money and awareness. In 1988, Calgary’s first pride festival was held, with family picnic, workshops and concert.
Then in June 1991, Calgary’s first official gay and lesbian parade/rally was held, attracting 400 people. Mayor Al Duerr had declared the city’s first Gay Rights Week, the third Canadian city to do so. This was a remarkable milestone for same-sex attracted people seeking equality (which I appreciate very much even as I wonder about the corporatization and political undertones of more recent marches).
Parks and Heritage
There have been several additions to Calgary’s park system over the decades.
One of the most notable is Dale Hodges Park. Bowness resident Dale Hodges served on City Council for over 30 years. Upon his retirement, city council surprised the councillor by renaming East Bowmont Park after him. The park honours his contribution to creating parks throughout the city as well as establishing the Enmax Legacy Parks Program, which funds the park system.
The park is unique in North America because it’s simultaneously an urban park, a stormwater treatment area and a public artwork installation. Completed in 2018, stormwater from eight northwest communities flows slowly through water structures that serve to filter the water before entering the Bow River. It also contains cycling and walking trails as well as a pond, marsh and streams for wildlife. They were all designed to reclaim the area from the Klippert gravel pit and restore native habitats. It also became a key nature corridor extending from Baker Park to Edworthy Park.
Another new addition to the Bow River shoreline was the Jack and Jean Leslie River Walk. It’s part of the East Village redevelopment. It consists of a 2 km section of the Bow River pathway from Centre Street to the 9th Ave Bridge over the Elbow River, and incorporates the George C. King pedestrian bridge over to St. Patrick’s Island Park.
The island itself underwent extensive refurbishment in part planned to coincide with East Village redevelopment and another part to repair flood damage. In 2013, heavy rainfall in early spring helped surge meltwaters from the Rocky Mountains’ snowpack. The water approached Calgary, overwhelming the dams on the Bow and Elbow Rivers, which led to a state of local emergency and evacuations. Some 110,000 people were affected as well as the entire zoo, the largest evacuation order in Calgary’s history. Personnel from The Calgary Highlanders were on hand to assist.
The flood was the largest in Calgary since 1897 and cost over $6 billion in damage across southern Alberta. The Saddledome’s bowl was under water and homes and businesses across the inner city were disrupted or damaged. There were several power outages across the city, 16 C-Train stations were closed as were 20 bridges and 30 parks. The Stampede grounds were severely flooded not 2 weeks before the start of the exhibition, leading then Chief Executive Vern Kimball to announce the show would go on “come hell or high water” (I still have the t-shirt).
The story made international news, since I was studying in Brussels, Belgium at the time and watched live images of the flooding on BBC World. My Uncle George was a City of Calgary worker at the time and took part in emergency and restorative work.
Calgarians’ reaction to the flood led to the creation of Neighbour Day. On 21 June 2013, the city asked Calgarians to stay home, particularly the 350,000 people who work downtown. Both school districts were also closed. The day has since become an annual event to celebrate community spirit, resilience and connection in remembrance of the flood and Calgarians’ heroic reaction to it.
There are further improvements to mention about the river shorelines.
Bend in the Bow park is meant to connect Pearce Estate Park with the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and areas further south. With similar concepts as Dale Hodges Park, Bend in the Bow aims to provide wildlife corridors, preserve cultural heritage, and enhance recreational opportunities.
One example is the portage west of the Zoo Bridge, called Harvie Passage. Located here was an impassable weir built by the CPR to feed an irrigation canal. In 2018, following flood damage repairs, a whitewater park was opened.
It contains a high water channel for kayakers and paddlers to traverse a series of short swifts followed by calm pools. Rock structures below the weir have eliminated the deadly recirculation, although the north channel requires a high skill level to traverse. To the south is a narrow channel for recreation and accessing the shoreline.
Another example is the new pathway on the north side of Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. In March 2022, work began to reconnect the lagoon in the Sanctuary to the Bow River. The Logjam bridge was built to provide a pathway around the area, which is also designed to minimize the risk of damage from any future flood.
Flood mitigation work has also proceeded along both sides of the Bow. Permanent steel sheet barriers, concrete walls and earthen berms have been installed along low-lying areas, such as along Memorial Drive and Riverfront Avenue SE. Jaipur Bridge at Eau Claire (named for Calgary’s sister city in India), and the 9th Ave Bridge between East Village and Inglewood, have both been upgraded.
As well, the provincie is considering expanding the reservoir at Ghost Lake (rather than create a new dam that would have flooded Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park).
Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park was created in 2008 from the land of rancher Neil Harvie. He sold 3200 acres of land to the Government of Alberta below value to conserve the land and protect it from development. It offers protection of fescue grassland along with pathways that offer spectacular views of the Bow River Valley and Rocky Mountains.
The upgrades along the river pathways go in hand with the extensions to the pathway system. Today, there are over 1000 km of pathways in the city, the largest urban pathway network in the world. A recent expansion was the Rotary/Mattamy Greenway, which began in 2010 and now encircles the city with 145 km of pathways connecting 55 communities.
In terms of heritage, Calgary has both protected and added to its heritage, although we continue to lose heritage buildings at a rapid pace (more on this next month).
In 1992, the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre was opened. It was meant to insulate Chinatown from the skyscraper construction occurring next door and to protect the area’s identity. It has hosted Chinese New Year celebrations every year since. A Chinatown Festival was started in 2001.
Its Classical Chinese design is unique to Calgary. The centerpiece is the Dr. Henry Fok Hall, modelled after the Hall of Prayers in the Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China.
The 70 foot high ceiling is decorated with 561 dragons and 40 phoenixes and supported by 4 columns with gold ornamentation representing the four seasons. Tiles used in the dome’s construction are from the same company that decorated the Temple of Heaven 600 years ago. The building also contains a library, classrooms and auditorium as well as a restaurant and artifacts museum in the basement.
Chinatown has flourished since and has spread northward across the Bow River on Centre Street. Many buildings now host Chinese or other Asian restaurants, supermarkets and residences. Central Landmark shopping mall at 16th Avenue is a hub, and there’s the Indo Chinese Buddhist Association temple even further north. Calgary’s Chinatown is the 3rd largest in Canada.
In 2014, Calgary’s Sikh heritage was honoured with the creation of Singh Hari Park. Located in Kingsland, it recognizes the first Sikh to permanently reside in Calgary. Harnam Singh Hari arrived in 1910 and gained employment at Eau Claire lumber mill. He eventually rented a small farm where today Edmonton Trail intersects 30th Ave NE. His success continued and he purchased land where today is located the park that carries his name.
Today, Calgary’s cultural diversity extends to almost every place on the planet. In 2008, the Baitun Nur (“House of Light”) mosque opened in Castleridge. It’s the home of Calgary’s Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic movement that originated in the Punjab Province of India in the late 19th century.
It is the largest mosque in Canada. 5000 people attended its grand opening, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who celebrated the moderation of religions in Canada. The building has a 97 foot tall steel-capped minaret tower and large steel dome. Around the building’s exterior are 99 Arabic words used in the Qur’an to describe Allah.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also took important steps to reconcile with Canada’s Indigenous peoples. In June 2008, he offered on behalf of the Government of Canada an apology to the former students of residential schools. Since then, efforts at Reconciliation have seen the development of education programs about Indigenous history and the establishment of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, commemorated every September 30th starting in 2021.
Part of these efforts have seen a change at Fort Calgary. New art installations by Indigenous artists will be added and the former museum showcasing Calgary’s history is being refurbished to include more history. The name of the centre was changed to Confluence Parkland in 2024, with Fort Calgary remaining a national historic site.
There were also other efforts to change names on buildings, but these have proved more divisive than reconciliatory. Let us together add to our historical knowledge and heritage assets rather than take away.
On Nose Hill, a medicine wheel was created by members of the Blood Tribe. It’s meant to provide a peaceful spot to appreciate one’s surroundings, and pay tribute to the historical and spiritual connections to the land. It was created in 2015 during a conference of the Blackfoot Confederacy and takes the shape of the Siksikaitsitapi logo, representing the Kainai, Northern Piikani, Southern Piikani, and Siksika.
The effort to reconcile also extends to land claims. In 2021, Siksika Nation voted to accept a one-time payment of $1.3 billion from Canada over what was deemed the wrongful surrender of 115,000 acres of the Siksika reserve in 1910. Those pesky bureaucrats from Indian Affairs were up to no good on behalf of government policy. They were accused of violating their duty to protect First Nations and instead used unfair and manipulative tactics to receive land surrenders, a process which is outlined in Treaty 7.
Calgary has also received several new additions to the park system, and there is work to add more. In the east, Ralph Klein Park opened in 2011, named after the city’s former mayor. It consists of man-made wetlands to improve stormwater quality, public art, community orchards with pear and apple trees as well as an environmental education centre.
Further north is Elliston Park, named after the Ellis family who lived in the area since the family arrived from Ontario and homesteaded in 1912. The park is the home of the Globalfest fireworks competition and also the site of a BP BirthPlace Forest. Forests like this exist across the city where trees were planted to honour the newborn babies of Calgary in that year. The last was planted in 2009.
And then there’s work proceeding to lobby the province and city to establish Nose Creek Provincial Park. This would connect Calgary to Airdrie along the Nose Creek Valley and would serve as a wildlife corridor as well as protect erratics in the area. Industrial development adjacent to the valley is continuing and protecting it now will serve Calgarians and the environment as the city continues growing.
Constantly Changing
Calgary is a city that has changed rapidly over its history. And it continues to change. Let’s wrap up this month with some of the more recent and ongoing changes.
Calgary’s planetarium was repurposed to become Contemporary Calgary in 2020. Contemporary Calgary is an art gallery featuring new art as well as exhibits from local, national, and international artists. Its first exhibit, Planetary, paid tribute to the former planetarium building with work by 35 local artists.
Calgary received a notable artist building with the construction of the Peace Bridge. Controversial at the time given its cost ($24.5 million) and international origins, the bridge has become an iconic piece of Calgary’s built environment and an important active transportation link between communities. Today, it accommodates 9000 visitors per day.
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design and construct a new bridge, the first over the Bow River in many decades. Calatrava is known for many bridges in Spain as well as several buildings, including the Milwaukee Art Museum, WI and Turning Torso in Malmo, Sweden.
The bridge needed to protect the Bow River shoreline, withstand a 100-year flood, and stay low due to the proximity of the Bow River Heliport. It’s tubular in shape and is made with steel and covered with glass (some of the glass was vandalized and subsequently removed permanently). Its colours reflect those on both the Canadian and Calgary flags.
Another controversial art installation was the free-standing sculpture at the 96 Ave NE bridge over Nose Creek. It’s officially called Travelling Light and was designed by Inges Idee, a German art collective. It’s a 17 metre blue ring, hence its somewhat pejorative nickname, the Big Blue Ring, which is integrated into the row of existing street lamps. While designed to be viewed from far away, its inaccessibility was a major factor in the controversy over how tax dollars are spent (this glorified street lamp cost almost $500,000).
Calgary’s growth has meant its university and post-secondary institutions have seen several upgrades and additions.
In 2019, the Alberta University of the Arts was officially named. It was originally part of SAIT as the art department, the Alberta College of Art. It received its own Brutalist style building in 1973 next to the Jubilee Auditorium. It became its own institution in 1985.
AUArts’ Luke Lindow Library is named after an alumnus, instructor and founder of the ceramics department. It contains 25,000 art and design-related pieces. The university is also home to two galleries that display internationally significant work as well as showcases student works.
SAIT itself received several additions over the years, which were designed to create an urban academic village. One of the additions was the Chinook Lodgepole Centre to support linkages to Indigenous communities. Today it’s called Natoysopoyiis (“Holy Wind Lodge) and is a gathering space and student resource centre. The Art Smith Aero Centre focusing on aviation (named after a bomber command squadron leader) and the Trades and Technology Complex both reinforce SAIT’s specialities.
At the University, one notable addition was MacEwan Student Center in 1988. It houses the student’s union and other services, a food hall, event space and a bar/restaurant, The Den and Black Lounge (I had my first alcoholic drink there).
It’s named after Grant MacEwan, a former farmer, professor, alderman, mayor of Calgary, MLA and the 9th Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. He was notable for his many writings on history, his conservation advocacy, and his dedication to the people of Calgary and Alberta. He and W.O. Mitchell are the only recipients of the Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
To the west of the University’s campus buildings is West Campus, renamed the University District in 2014. It’s the first community in Alberta to achieve LEED-ND Platinum status, a sustainability rating developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to measure energy efficiency, water conservation and other activities. The neighbourhood offers every amenity, access to nature, and proximity to the university.
In 2011, the University of Calgary received a significant donation that established the Taylor Family Digital LIbrary. It’s the most advanced university libraries in North America and holds over 9 million coded objects.
The Taylor Family also donated to Mount Royal University for the construction of the Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts. It’s Canada’s largest musical teaching institution complete with state-of-the-art performance hall.
Over at Banff, the increasing popularity of the park and awareness of conservation issues has made the Rocky Mountain parks the jewel in the crown of Canada’s national park system. Policy changes have sought to balance tourism and conservation as well as the fact vital transportation corridors, the CPR line and Trans-Canada Highway, pass through several national parks.
In 1984, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site was declared by the United Nations organization for culture, UNESCO. Amendments to the National Parks Act in 1988 prioritized the ecological integrity of national parks. Both of these changes recognize the vital importance of the landscape both to wildlife and to the cultural and social fabric of the country.
In 1990, Banff was incorporated as a town to give residents more say in the town’s governance. In 1992, Sunshine Village Ski Resort was expanded but only after several years of court battles with environmental groups. Other expansion plans were stopped when the population of Banff was capped at 10,000. This meant nearby Canmore would see incredible growth over the next two decades.
To deal with the number of vehicle-animal collisions along the highway, the world’s largest wildlife overpasses at the time were constructed in Banff National Park. These enabled the twinning of the highway through the park while reducing collisions by 80%.
A total of 38 underpasses were also built along with 6 overpasses (my Uncle Brad was part of this conservation project). Today, Banff is part of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative that seeks to maintain the integrity of wild spaces all along the Rocky Mountain corridor.
Reconciliation has also arrived at Banff National Park. In 2017, bison were reintroduced to the park. Then in 2025, Piikani hunters returned to their ancient hunting grounds for the first time in 145 years. Over four days, the hunters located a bison and harvested 1300 pounds of meat. This event was part of a pilot project to establish a ceremonial hunt within the park’s boundaries as well as manage the park’s buffalo herd. Further conservation and cultural efforts are supported by the Buffalo Treaty between First Nations across the Great Plains.
Speaking of wildlife, the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has grown over the years. One marquee time was in 1988 when it received two pandas, Xi Xi and Qun Qun. The zoo’s attendance broke all records that year, with 1.33 million passing through, a record that held for the next 24 years. I remember being in line at the zoo to see the pandas, a very long line.
In 2018, two more pandas arrived at the zoo, Er Shun and Da Mao. They were sent back to China early as it was difficult to source bamboo for them during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A newer draw to the zoo is the Penguin Plunge. In 2012, an indoor, temperature-controlled complex opened. It houses four species of penguins – Humboldts, gentoos, kings and rockhoppers. They are a delight to watch as they waddle and dive into the water (my 3-year-old nephew loves to watch them swim).
Most recently, the zoo reopened its eastern exhibits, called Wild Canada. Built in the 1990s, the upgraded facilities include a new polar bear exhibit, otter habitat and a playground. Upcoming changes to prepare for the zoo’s centennial include an expansion and upgrading of its Exploration Asia exhibits.
Last by not least is one area that has seen many changes over Calgary’s history, Eau Claire. As of writing, the former shopping mall has been demolished and the site is being prepared for a new multi-use commercial and residential development (and maybe a C-Train station).
Eau Claire is a bizarre problem for Calgary. It’s located in a pristine corner of the bustling and ever-expanding downtown next to Prince’s Island Park. Yet whatever has opened there since the bus barns moved has not thrived. What gives?
Bad ideas mostly. Sometimes a building can be a mistake and Eau Claire was exactly that, a giant concrete nothing with yellow trim that was kept separate from both the downtown and the park. What started as a marketplace with fruit stalls, boutiques, bagel oven and restaurants slowly ebbed away over the years. Even the Hard Rock Cafe couldn’t survive in that location, even after condos and office towers started surrounding it.
What could have been a tourist and local destination for things new and exciting became little more than a visit downtown to a suburban centre. I say this with the knowledge that Calgary Farmers’ Markets and plenty of other night festivals and markets have boomed over the years. But financial instability and long-term uncertainty for businesses helped to erode Eau Claire’s vibe.
In the end, Eau Claire’s mix of nature and heritage was mostly ignored for the planners’ dream of a new building. It’s a lesson to learn, where respect for heritage by incorporating it into new developments can help keep an area exciting and vibrant.
Whether the current pressure on our historic neighbourhoods will force them to succumb is still an open question, one you can help resolve by keeping Calgary’s history alive (reading articles like this one, for example).
You can also become a heritage advocate, which I’ll discuss in detail next month. In the meantime, you can sign up as a member of CHI. And don’t forget to frequent places of business that care for and keep Calgary’s heritage.
Where to See this Era
Olympic Saddledome, 555 Saddledome Rise SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2W1
Olympic Oval, 288 Collegiate Blvd NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
Canada Olympic Park/Winsport, 85 Canada Olympic Rd S W, Calgary, AB T3B 5R5
Canmore Nordic Centre, 1988 Olympic Way, Canmore, AB
Nakiska Ski Area, 2 Mt Allan Dr, Kananaskis, AB T0L 2H0
Saamis Tepee, 32 Eagle Birth Rd SW, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 7E4
ATCO Field, 18011 Spruce Meadows Way SW, Calgary, AB T2X 4B7
Weaselhead Flats Natural Environment Park, 6615 37 Street SW, Calgary, AB T3E 5M9
The Shops at Buffalo Run, 11501 Buffalo Run Blvd, Tsuut’ina, AB T3T 0E4
Seton, 4995 Market St SE, Calgary, AB T3M 2P9
Murdock Park, 917 Centre Ave NE, Calgary, AB T2E 0C6
Central Library, 800 3 St SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2E7
Jack and Jean Leslie Riverwalk, 656 Confluence Way SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0G1
Studio Bell, 850 4 St. SE, Calgary, AB T2G 1R1
BMO Centre, 1912 Flores Ladue Parade SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2W1
Bankers Hall Shopping Mall, 364 9 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 3E4
Wonderland, 110 6 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 1A6
Tomkins Square, 17 Ave. & 8 St. S.W, Calgary, AB T2T 0A3
Lois Szabo Commons, 936 16 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2R 0T3
Dale Hodges Park, 160 40 Ave NW, Calgary, AB T3B 2Z4
Harvie Passage, 1440 17a St SE, Calgary, AB T2G 4T9
Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, 255001 Glenbow Rd, Cochrane, AB T4C 0B7
St. Patrick’s Island Park, 1300 Zoo Rd NE, Calgary, AB T2E 7V6
Rotary-Mattamy Greenway, https://www.calgary.ca/bike-walk-roll/rotary-mattamy-greenway.html
Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, 197 1 St SW, Calgary, AB T2P 4M4
Ralph Klein Park & Environmental Education Centre, 12350 84 St SE, Calgary, AB T3S 0A4
Contemporary Calgary, 701 11 St SW, Calgary, AB T2P 2C4
Peace Bridge, 795 1 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 5N1
University District, 4410 University Ave NW, Calgary, AB T2L 2K7
Calgary Zoo, 210 St. George’s Drive NE, Calgary, AB T2E 7V6
The New Eau Claire District, whenever it’s completed
Further Reading
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