Library at Trinity College Dublin

I recently finished a course through the National Institute of Genealogical Studies on the basics of Irish research. Anyone who has tried to find family in Ireland knows of the obstacles that are the realities of Ireland. What I didn’t know, was that there are so many resources still around.

I love Ireland – my husband’s family is still there and I cherish the time I spend there. But it is a different country. One cannot approach Ireland believing that because it is an English speaking country, for many years under British rule, that it is anything like Britain. It is not. In many countries where the British ruled, the people absorbed much of the British culture and adopted some of the ways of Britain, with regards to government and record keeping, things that genealogists rely on to find info about their ancestors. The Irish sort of did, but not entirely. Irish culture was strongly matrilineal. Irish women often retained their birth names. Any time during a child’s minority, the mother could “name a father” for the child. In this way family relationships became very wide reaching and sometimes had little to do with actual blood relationships. The culture was bardic and much of the early record keeping was done in the form of poems and recitations about families or tuaths. To this day, I can get more information about family relationships from my husband’s cousins than I can from the records that exist. In some ways, the family relationships in Ireland remind me of the family structures in the First Nations communities around Calgary. Children are “fostered” but are in no way less members of the family that the natural born children. This way is changing in Ireland, but within my generation, there are still family members who are “like brothers”. All this is, of course, preamble to the actual methodology I use to find my ancestors but, it’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to.

Anyhow, the best advice I can give to any researcher looking for their family in Ireland is get yourself a really good how-to manual and make yourself familiar with what records are available. We have a number of books that are invaluable to the Irish genealogy researcher. How to trace your Irish ancestors by Brian Mitchell and Tracing your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham.

Another invaluable resource for Irish researchers is a reference book specifically to assist researchers in locating records: Irish records: sources for family and local history by James G. Ryan. The book tells you what records there are and where they’re held. This is a very good starting point because I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to assist genealogists looking for records that simply don’t exist (or haven’t been found yet – we can always hope)

We also have a good selection of manuals on how to find and access the different records available such as civil registration, monumental inscriptions, and testamentary records, as well as guides for researching in specific areas of Ireland. You can find these in the catalogue by searching the terms Ireland Genealogy.

Although challenging, researching your Irish forebears can also be very rewarding. Ireland has a rich and colourful history, both at home and here in Canada. In a visit to a Wexford graveyard, I discovered the burial site of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and met an wonderful local historian who filled me in on the families in the area and a Calgary ex-pat who, coincidentally, had worked with my father and my brother (these things always happen in Ireland – I believe it is magic) So, hard work though it may be, there is that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – left by leprechauns or fleeing rum-runners, I’m not sure, but it is there and it is worth the work.

Keep in mind that our genealogy Saturdays kick off again in September (the 24th to be exact). If you're really stumped or would just like to discuss your project, come on down.

Cecil Hotel, 1912

Postcards from the Past PC 947

You’ve probably noticed by now that we have changed our website. Moving to a new website is very similar to moving to a new house. Stuff gets moved around. If you’re here, you have already found where the blogs are living. The new website puts the newest blog entries, no matter which blog they are from, at the top of the list. For the others you can click on the “Blogs” heading and you will see a list of all of them.

Another thing that has changed is the location of our digital library link. It used to be on the Calgary Public Library front page and was available from the Community Heritage and FamilyHistory blog as well. Now to find it you need to click on the link Books and More, where we’re listed in the main menu and in the menu along the left side of the page. As well, if you’re checking out some databases in the E-Library, there is a link to Community Heritage and Family History on the left hand side. The link will take you to the digital library and the blog.

Burns Block, 1964

Alison Jackson Photograph Collection, AJ 83-14

Once you go the Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library you will see that we have changed that a bit, too. You can still find all the great pictures from the Alison Jackson and Judith Umbach collections and Postcards from the Past, but the interface is a little easier to use and offers some options that we didn’t have before. You will see that you can browse thumbnails of each set of pictures without having to leave the landing page. Click on the arrows to advance the images and get an idea of what is in each collection. You can view larger images by clicking on the name of the collection you want to view and using the arrows to roll the pictures back and forth. You will also see a list of new additions to the collection, on the right side of the page. (You can also subscribe to the RSS feeds and be notified of any updates. )

When you’re in the home page for each collection, you can perform a search which will limit your results to that set of pictures only. Also notice that if you want to narrow your search, there is the capacity to search within your results. If at this point, you want to change your search, though, you will have to change the drop-down menu beside the search box to “New Search.” (I found that one out by accidentJ)

The advanced search has also been upgraded to allow a lot more search parameters to be entered such as date, format or photographer just to name a few. This is a vast improvement and allows you to home in on the image you are looking for. This makes our wonderful pictures much more accessible and now you have no excuse not to look at the great stuff we have in our digital collection. Give it a whirl!

York Hotel, before the removal of the facade, 2006

Judith Umbach Photograph Collection

St. Patrick's Church, 1956

Alison Jackson Photograph Collection, AJ 08-16

I was thrilled to receive an email from a colleague who is involved with the St. John Chrysostom Russian Orthodox Church. This is a relatively new parish, which was founded in 2008. The partner church of St. Patrick’s, the Anglican St. Paul’s, offered the parish a home in their restored little church but the St. John’s parish kept growing and has outgrown the little church. The very good news is that the Catholic diocese has given the members of St. John’s permission to rehabilitate the church and use it for an extended period. This is very good news. They have been in contact with the Historic Places Research and Designation Program and are very keen to get to work on restoring the church.

St. Patrick’s was the cause of much despair in the heritage community. It has been neglected for many years and was at very high risk of falling into “demolition by neglect” or of being burned down by vandals. The little church had the dubious distinction of being on Canada’s 10 most endangered buildings list in 2008 in spite of the fact that it had been designated a provincial historic resource. There were many heroic efforts made to do something to save the building, which had been the parish of Father Lacombe from 1909 (or 1906 in some accounts) until his death in 1916. As recently as March, concerns were being raised about the future of the building (see our previous posting at https://calgarypubliclibrary.com/blogs/community-heritage-and-family-history?m=201103&p=815)

With the news from the Russian Orthodox community we can all breathe a little easier. If you are interested in finding our more about this project, you can contact the parish at (403) 257-4899 with your questions or to offer your support. There is also a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14452251805&v=wall) and a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C071VJJPAD8) with more pictures and information.

Parish members removing grafitti from the interior of St. Patrick's Church

Courtesy the Parish of St. John Chrysostom

East Village from Bow Valley College

Judith Umbach Photograph Collection, JU 030518-4

By now you know I am passionate about my adopted neighbourhood. I love the East Village and I am so excited about the developments that are taking place down here. You have all probably heard that our new Central Library will be down here in the Village and I saw on the news today that Bow Valley College had purchased the old Calgary Catholic Board of Education building which is just across 6^th Avenue from us. This is yet another expression of the optimism that many Calgarians feel for the future of this area.

The Calgary Catholic School District building is relatively new, in heritage terms, but it does carry a great deal of sentiment. It was built in 1967 to commemorate the country’s centennial. A few years later, to celebrate the city’s centennial 10,000 students were asked to make terra cotta tiles. These were mounted on an obelisk that stands on the grounds of the building. The CSSD has indicated that they will be preserving and moving the obelisk. The CSSD building has been at the centre of some debate as it is one of the few surviving examples of brutalist architecture in Calgary. Other examples include the building’s neighbor, the Calgary Board of Education building, and the former planetarium (Telus World of Science). The Catholic School District building was a part of an earlier attempt to revitalize the east end of Calgary, a process called “urban renewal” (which is nearly a swear word in the heritage community.) Many buildings of historical interest went down to build these brutalist beauties and now they, themselves face the wrecking ball. But it is ever thus. What is seen now, as an eyesore – as were many of the old houses in the east end (as the area was known) may be viewed differently in the future.

The talk now of brutalist architecture raises some of these same questions. Brutalism lives up to its name because it is quite brutal on the eyes – no one could argue that these concrete structures are traditionally beautiful. In fact, it was the brutalist style that Prince Charles was referring to when he said, “You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe: when it knocked down our buildings it did not replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. We did that.” It is hard to generate love for something that is unattractive – think pandas versus gila monsters – but it is something we must consider when we are looking at buildings. If you are interested in brutalism you can find good books on architectural styles in the library catalogue by searching “architectural styles” in the general search. If you’re particularly interested in Calgary’s buildings, you can search “Calgary architecture”. And if you’d like to see some of Calgary’s brutalist architecture up close and personal, the Calgary Heritage Initiative is going to be holding another “Brutal Bus Tour” in November. Check out their website for more information.

Some Lovely Ladies

Postcards from the Past, PC 957

Do you have family photographs? Photos can be very a helpful tool in piecing together the story of your family. They are MORE helpful if you know who is shown in the image.

The fashions in Victorian photographs can be extremely useful in narrowing down the time frame for when a photo was taken. Younger women, especially those of the middle or upper class, were more likely to keep up with changing fashion trends, so their fashions can pinpoint a very specific time frame. Older women tended to hang on to the fashions of their youth and were slow to adopt new styles, if at all, so their clothing styles may indicate an earlier time frame than the photo was taken. Note that babies or toddlers with curls and frilly dresses are very often boys! We have a reference book in our collection called Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan L. Severa, and it is a wonderful resource for identifying when the details on period fashions were stylish. Another book, Family Photographs, 1860-1945 by Robert Pols can also aid in identifying your photos. We also have several books and reproduction catalogues for retail stores, such as Eaton’s and Sears, which can help identify more recent fashions. (These tend to be a better representation of the clothing worn by everyday people than contemporary fashion magazines would be.)

Sometimes the photographer (often referred to as “Dad”) included a car in the photographs to keep track of the year that the photo was taken. (Now you know why all of your family photographs were taken in front of the family car.) There may be a date visible on the license plate, or you can ask a "car guy" (or girl!) to identify the vehicle. This can help you narrow down a time frame for an image. (My dad and uncles can usually tell you the year and make of the car, who owned it, when he or she sold it, who they sold it to, and what the owner bought next.)

There are books available that list photographers, their studios, and include where and when they were active. Photographers and their studios sometimes moved often, so a book may tell you exactly when a photographer's studio was at a specific address. (The address is sometimes printed on the photograph or cardboard backing.) An example from our collection is the Western Canada Photographer's List (1860-1925) by Glen C. Phillips, available in our Community Heritage and Family History room at the Central Library. Trying an internet search of the photographer's name and location may also be helpful in finding further information.

Are you a scrapbooker? When using old photographs in your scrapbook, it is a good idea to use copies. Cropping photos to fit your scrapbook page may remove details from clothing styles or from the background that can provide information on the location and time frame that the photo was taken. The name of the photographer printed on many photographs can also aid in identification, and this often appears on the back or around the edge of the photograph. Cropping the edges or covering up the back of the photo can obliterate this helpful piece of information.

Protect your photos! Sunlight is very harsh on old photographs, and photos need to be stored in a dry location. Those popular old photo albums with the sticky pages can be very hard on your images, and things can fall out and be damaged or lost, so it’s a good idea to transfer your photos to a new album. You can also scan your images onto your computer to preserve them. This allows you to share them easily with family, print copies, or digitally edit them. Some types of photographs, such as instant Polaroids, may fade over time, so scanning will save your images from being lost or damaged. We have a book called Preserving Your Family Photographs: How To Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images by Maureen A. Taylor if you would like tips on caring for your photographs.

Most importantly, label your photographs!!! I have several in my collection that I know are extended family members of my ancestors, but it saddens me that there is now likely no way to identify who they are. We all have photographs that we can identify because we know the people in them, but our photos aren't labeled. (Even if you aren’t exactly sure who is in the picture, an “I think this is Mary’s daughter” or “This girl is a Barnes” note on the back is a good idea.) Don't let your family photos end up in a box at an antique sale because they are anonymous. Labeling your photographs allows them to be cherished by future generations, and gives you a good excuse to sit down and talk with senior and extended family members. (I’ve done this, and it’s a lot of fun!) I once located a distant relative in Ontario who was kind enough to share with me her collection of photographs related to our common ancestors. One of her unidentified photographs was of a small girl in a white dress. I already had a different photograph of this girl with her parents in my collection, taken at the same time, so I was able to tell the relative the name of the girl in her photo.

Don't discard old photographs! Even if your images are not identified, the information they contain may be useful to a museum, a family member, a historical or genealogical society, or a costumer. Ask around! And remember, just because you can't identify the people now doesn't mean that they will always be a mystery. Someone in your extended family may be able to solve the puzzle in the future. (I recently purchased identified photographs of a young brother and sister at an antique sale, and have located their descendants online. I have since contacted the family to try to get the images back to where they belong.) You can also try posting unidentified photographs online at http://www.DeadFred.com, a website to reunite found photos with their families. It’s a long shot, but you never know!

Street Scene, Calgary

Postcards from the Past, PC 1589

"Lucretia"

Carete-de-visite

I absolutely love old photographs of people. I am lucky to have several photographs of my ancestors and extended family that have been passed down through the years, and I am even luckier that the people in these photographs have been identified. It's wonderful to be able to attach faces to the names on my family tree. I also love looking at the clothing and hair styles, and at the props used in the photo studio. These images are a wonderful genealogical and historical resource.

Many antique and internet dealers have Victorian carte-de-visite (2.5 inches by 4 inches) or cabinet card (4.25 inches by 6.5 inches) photographs for sale. These photographs are plentiful, and tend to be inexpensive, so I have added a few "adopted ancestors" to my collection over the years. (I am always sure to note on the back in pencil that I BOUGHT them, rather than inherited them. No sense causing headaches for future researchers in my family!) These photographs sometimes come with information written on them, but often the only clue to their origins is the printed name and location of the photographer on the mounting card. I'll admit that it saddens me a bit that some of these photographs have traveled far, and have been around for a very long time, only to end up in a random "for sale" box in Canada!

I recently purchased two carte-de-visite photographs of sisters at a local antique sale. The backs of the photos have the printed name of the photographer, "Cramer", and the location of his studio in St. Louis, Missouri. The only other information on them is the first names of the girls written on the back of each photo - "Lucretia" and "Sallie". I liked the photographs themselves anyway, but I was unable to pass up the mystery included in the price. Using their names, and my sleuthing skills, would I be able to figure out who these girls were? (If their names were "Mary" and "Jane", I wouldn't even have attempted to search for them!)

The elder sister, "Sallie", appears to be about 12-14 years old, and "Lucretia" appears to be about 10-12 years old. They are well-dressed, in fashions most likely from the 1880s, and I know from the studio stamp that at some point around that time frame the girls were in St. Louis, Missouri. So now how to find them?

The Calgary Public Library subscribes to a database called "Heritage Quest Online", available in the "History and Genealogy" section of our E-Library. Heritage Quest's main focus is American history, and it gives you access to hundreds of scanned genealogical books, Revolutionary War records, Freedman's Bank Records (for researching African American ancestors) and PERSI (The Periodical Source Index), which is a collection of 2.3 million genealogy and local history articles. This database also gives you access to the full set of U.S. federal census records for 1790-1930, and all of these features can be accessed from home.

The best place to start with a search like this is often the census records. I went to Heritage Quest Online, clicked on the "Census" link, and then entered "Sallie" with no surname. With the girls’ fashions appearing to be from the 1880s, I selected "1880" as the census year to begin my search, and selected "Missouri" as the state.

On the 1880 census, there were 5075 women in Missouri named "Sallie". Of these, 643 lived in St. Louis County. Fortunately "Lucretia" is a far less common name, and it appeared only 537 times in the state of Missouri. Still a relatively large result, but only 57 of these entries appeared in St. Louis. A considerably narrower search! When I clicked on the name of the county to view the records, the ages of all the "Lucretias" appeared alongside their names. (Very helpful!) The younger girl in the photographs appears to be around the age of 10-12, but I decided to check those between 8-15 years old. (Victorian clothing styles sometimes make children appear to be older than they are.) These criteria eliminated all but six entries on the list. Could one of these "Lucretias" have had a sister named "Sallie"? I clicked on each possible match in St. Louis, and found that only one on the list, ten-year-old Lucretia Hazard, had a sister named "Sallie", who was twelve in 1880. Their father James is listed as a "merchant", which is a good match for the socioeconomic status indicated by the clothing of the girls. If this is the correct family, these photographs were taken around 1879-1882. These photographs are in very good shape, considering that they are 130 years-old, so they were obviously well cared for before they ended up for sale.

Of course, there is no way to conclusively confirm that these photographs are of the Hazard sisters without further research. It's possible that I could be off in my estimation of the date of the photographs. It could also be a coincidence that the Hazard family had daughters with these two names, and these girls could instead have been members of another family that was passing through St. Louis, or visiting from elsewhere. They may also have been cousins, rather than sisters. However the names of the girls, their ages, the city they lived in, the occupation of their father and the time frame indicated by their clothing are all a match, so it's quite possible that I have solved the mystery! (I have located a family tree online for these lovely ladies, so I’ll try to see if I can get them “home”.)

"Sallie"

Carte-de-visite

Eighth Avenue West

Postcards from the Past, PC 712f

It’s that time of year again. Chinook Country Historical Society’s Historic Calgary Week kicks off on Friday. This year the theme is Trails and Tales and, believe me, are there ever some great stories waiting to be told. The opening ceremonies are at the Southern Alberta Pioneers Memorial building at 3625 4 Street SW at 9:45 am and what follows is eleven days of tours, stories, presentations, songs and over all celebration of this city’s history. There is an excellent line-up this year including our presentation of “Lest we forget” in which we will talk a little about the military heritage of the city and show you some of the very neat things we have for anyone doing research about the military in Calgary or about an ancestor who served with the military. This one is proving to be quite a challenge for us to pull together because we have SO MUCH STUFF! It’s amazing what you find when you start looking. Even though I’ve been working with the collection for eons (literally, I’m a dinosaur) I always find new bits and pieces when I start one of these projects. Our program goes July 27 at 6:00 here at the Central Library.

Another presentation that I am looking forward to is the talk by Brian Brennan on the history of the Calgary Public Library. Brian has written the history of the library for our centennial celebration next year. I always love to hear Brian talk and the subject of this particular presentation is near and dear to my heart. This presentation is at the Memorial Park Library, our very first Central Library (1221 2^nd Street SW) on Tuesday July 26 at 7:00. This is going to be a treat.

There is also going to be a tour of another proud centenarian, our old City Hall. Clint Robertson, one of the city’s Heritage Planners, is going to tell us about the architecture of old sandstone beauty and show us some of the changes that have been made over the years. He will also take us into the City of Calgary Archives. For any of you who are history geeks like me, you have to see what is in the archives. The staff there are the greatest and they have even cooler stuff than we do (well, mostly – our stuff is still pretty cool). City Archives are our partners, along with Glenbow, in the Heritage Triangle (see our brochure) and is a necessary visit for researchers and the history-curious.

John Gilpin will also be giving a talk on the Elbow River and the waterworks question at noon on Monday July 25 at Central United Church. I’ve heard John talk and he is like the Local History Room, just packed with fascinating bits of historical information.

Also on the agenda are two programs for the genealogically inclined offered by the Alberta Family Histories Society at their library at 712 16^th Avenue NW. They will be offering a Genealogy 101 course for those interested in getting started in their family history and they will present “Here’s looking up your address” on Thursday July 28 at 7:00.

Clayton Buck, the indefatigable promoter of this great neighbourhood we are in (East Village) is giving a walking tour of the Village on Sunday July 31. The CHA is giving a tour of Mount Royal, CHI is doing a tour of West Connaught and the Beltline, Mount Royal University is talking about its centennial history, Southern Alberta Pioneers are giving talks about some of the early denizens of the Calgary area, Harry Sanders, another fascinating speaker, is talking about his passion, early hotels of Calgary...the list goes on and on. I wish I could list more but I’m running out of space. You really have to check out the Historic Calgary Week brochure. You can find it at http://www.chinookcountry.org/ Most programs are free, although donations are always gratefully accepted, and most don’t require registration (although there are a few exceptions, due to space limitations – these are noted in the brochure)

Keep an eye out, we will be attending as many of these events as we can fit in – come by and say ‘Hi!’

I.O.D.E. War Memorial in Central Park

Postcards from the Past, PC 1478

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at the Calgary Train Station, May 26, 1939

Postcards from the Past, PC 719

It was a very exciting Stampede Parade this year. There hasn’t been this kind of buzz for a very long time. And much of it, I think, was due to the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was very nice to see this young, royal couple enchanting the crowd and breathing new life into our (nearly) 100 year old celebration.

The excitement raised by this visit reminds me a little of the visit of Wills’s grandparents, Queen Elizabeth, and King George VI. They came to Calgary in May of 1939, just before the world would be changed by the Second World War. Things were looking grim in Europe when the Royal couple came to visit so the city needed it’s spirits lifted. The Royal Visit gave us that. It was an enormous undertaking. Thirty thousand children were brought in to the city from points around Southern Alberta. Each child was given a bottle of milk and lapel pin as well as flags to wave as they greeted the Royals. The city anticipated over 75,000 visitors would come to Calgary, doubling the city’s population. This all for a visit that lasted only two hours.

The itinerary for our royal visitors was jam packed but they managed to squeeze in an unscheduled stop to visit a First Nations encampment at Mewata Park. The said that this was the highlight of their visit. Even though it was not Stampede, the King had asked if it would be possible to witness wild bronc riding. This event had to be scrapped because the enthusiasm of the crowd raised fears that people would panic. There were two chuckwagons on the site, however. It is not known if the King offered to throw a cook stove into the back of one. The Queen remarked to Mrs. Davison, wife of the mayor, “I am only sorry we are not able to see some of your Stampede events in Calgary.”

The visit was covered minute by minute by the local newspapers. There was also a souvenir programme produced for the event which included a map of the route of the parade and an article by Alexander Calhoun on “Calgary, the garden city of the west.” The schedule shows what should have been a two day visit, but was obviously seriously curtailed. This is in our clippings file “Visits of State” in the Local History room. We also have a number of books relating to the royal visit including one from a railway perspective (the tour was made on a special Royal train.) You can find information about this and all of the other royal visits by searching the catalogue using the words 'visits state canada'.

The Story of the Big Ditch by E. Cora Hind

From the Community Heritage and Family History Collection, Calgary Public Library

We here in the Community Heritage and Family History department are extremely lucky in that we get to work with a really cool collection and we also get to meet many very interesting people, both in the library and at outreach events. We always learn something from our customers and sometimes the researchers we meet know more about our collection that we do. This is true of a small piece of memorabilia that we have in our collection – The Story of the Big Ditch by E. Cora Hind. It was pointed out that we are possibly the only repository of this beautiful little suede covered booklet that was issued for a very special event….but first, some background.

Anyone who has driven south of Calgary for any distance is aware of the fact that we are drylanders. The southern part of Alberta, beautiful as it is, was once suitable only for grazing cattle. One can only imagine the dream of a man who looked at this prairie and thought what a wonder it would be if only water could be brought to it. Thankfully, there were men who could see at least what irrigating land would bring in terms of profit. Irrigated lands in Southern Alberta could be sold for nearly twice what non-irrigated lands could bring. As a result, many companies got into the irrigation business in Southern Alberta as an adjunct to their land business. The government was amenable to these businessmen, as it meant that their goal of settling the west could be met, while the expense of improving the land on which settlers would live would be borne by other organizations.

This is, in essence, the reason for the existence of the Southern Alberta Land Company in the early part of the 20^th century. They had land, they wanted to sell it for more than they paid for it, and so they developed a scheme to irrigate a large tract (several large tracts, in fact) of land west of Medicine Hat.

The official opening of the irrigated tract of the Southern Alberta Land Company was to take place on September 12, 1912. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught and the Governor General were scheduled to be in attendance. This lovely brochure was produced but the event never took place. (You can see it online at the Internet Archive - http://www.archive.org/details/storyofbigditch00hind) The intake at the headworks of the project had collapsed in a flood in May. In spite of that, the brochure states that “the intake dam has added greatly to the beauty of the river” and “this gigantic undertaking is all but completed” when in fact the intake had been quite seriously damaged (contrary to what was told to the Financial Post in November of 1912) that the damage was not extensive and “has only delayed the turning on of the water a little”) and repairs would only be started a year later. Building was delayed by the war and many other trials and tribulations hit the company. The story is a long and interesting one and is well documented in the book Prairie Promises: History of the Bow River Irrigation District by John Gilpin (who I must also thank for the heads up on The Story of the Big Ditch)

Calgary City Hall, ca. 1911

Postcards from the Past, PC 1349

Calgary’s Old City Hall turned 100 years old yesterday. It must have been a very exciting time in Calgary and although the newspaper coverage of the opening was somewhat lackluster, it did include the following message from Robert Borden, then leader of the Opposition. He wrote:

“Pray convey to the citizens of Calgary my warmest thanks for the most civil and generous reception which was accorded me today.”

He toured the new city hall and gave a speech that evening at Sherman’s Auditorium Rink. He believed, he said, that the number of people in the auditorium exceeded the entire population of the city at the time of his last visit in 1902. It was estimated that 6000 people attended his speech.

In 1911 Calgary was a city to be reckoned with. The economy was booming. Reports in the paper indicate that the city was going to triple the water supply with the addition of more gravity feed supply pipes. A group of businessmen, eager to have a street car line in their neighbourhood, had offered to build 11 miles of track, running from the Cushing Bridge to the edge of Hubalta and back again, and donate it to the city. Boosters from Spokane were on their way to promote their city in Calgary and to see this wonder of the west. The Calgary Auto Club was in full swing and preparing for their first trip through the Crowsnest Pass into the Kootenay Valley. In order to accomplish this, they would need to ship gasoline ahead to ensure there would be an adequate supply.

As the city grew, so too, did the speculation on land. Numerous ads were place looking for buyers for lots in the new areas, such as Sunalta and Capitol Hill. You could get 4 corner lots in Sunalta for $4800.00. Or, if you wanted to move up to the North Hill, a lot could be had in Capitol Hill for $260.00. However, if you felt flush and wanted to live on the same street as some of Calgary’s more illustrious families, you could by a 9 room house on 13^th Avenue for $10,000. It did include a stable in the back and, the ad said, would make a great rooming house. This was not, obviously, the purchase for the everyday man. Wages for a bonded cashier were $100 per month (and you were required to post the $500 cash bond yourself).

While all of this was going on, the police in Edmonton were confronting bands of demonstrating socialists. They had had to quiet 7 demonstrations by these “rabble rousers” in the past month. The socialists went before a judge, claiming they were “less a nuisance than the Salvation Army” who was allowed to hold public meetings on the street with no problems from the police.

Of course, like all Calgary’s booms, this one would not last. We did come out of it, though, with a beautiful new City Hall. Happy birthday, old girl.

If you would like to see a tour of the beautiful old building, you can watch this video, hosted by Heritage Planner Clint Robertson.

http://www.calgarycitynews.com/2011/02/old-city-hall-to-turn-100-this-year.html

And if you are interested in the clock, you can take a tour of the clock tower at this url:

http://www.calgarycitynews.com/2011/02/old-city-hall-clock-tour.html

Calgary City Hall, 1958

Alison Jackson Photography Collection, AJ 30-08