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

Entrance to the Harbour

"From Old Books" website

As mentioned before on this blog, your library card allows you in-branch access to Ancestry Library Edition. While this is a wonderful database for genealogy, Ancestry LE isn't just useful for family research. This database can also be used for researching the origins of items or documents. Do you have a signed painting or a cross-stitched sampler with a name on it? Or have you inherited an autograph book, or a photograph or postcard with writing on the back? With a little digging, you may be able to find out more about the item, and about its original owner. Ancestry LE can also be used for researching notable individuals if you are writing a book or a paper, or if you are just nosy like me. (Or "inquisitive", if you prefer). Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), Charles Dickens, The Bronte’s, Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, and Charlie Chaplin all appear on census records available through the database. On the 1861 census for England, Queen Victoria appears as "Victoria R", and her household includes three and a half census pages of servants, including a "coffee room maid"!

But back to researching objects. We have a small book in our Local History collection; Solitary Hunter or Sporting Adventures on the Prairies by John Palliser, published in London in 1859. I picked up this book one day to see what it was about, and inside the book, in elegant handwriting, is the inscription:

Hubert Heath Sabben

with Papa's and Mama's Love,

April 25th, 1862

And at the top of the page, written in pencil by a child, it says Hart, 1895.

I came across this inscription purely by accident, but this small scrap of information in this little book piqued my interest.

Just who was Hubert Heath Sabben? Was he an early pioneer to Canada? Did he live in England, where the book was published? Did he come to Canada at a later date, bringing his book with him? We aren't sure when this book joined our collection, and there is no indication of how we came to have it, so I thought I'd have a look for him in the Ancestry.com Library Edition database. I entered Hubert Heath Sabben's full name, and got several matches for him. According to birth records, Hubert Heath Sabben was born in the June quarter of 1853, at Portsea Island in Hampshire, England. (Some British records are organized in "quarters", or three month periods, so Hubert was born in April, May, or June of 1853.) The inscription April 25, 1862, indicates that the book could have been a gift for Hubert's ninth birthday. It is possible that the elegant handwriting in the book belonged to one of his parents, John or Elizabeth Sabben.

I then checked the census records for Hubert Heath Sabben, and found him in 1861 with his parents and brother, Frederick, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, a naval city on England's south coast.

On the 1871 census, Hubert was 18 years old, and was a navigating midshipman on the ship "Basilisk".

On the 1881 census, Hubert was a navigating lieutenant a ship called the "Crocodile". He is one of a crew of 95 men on that ship.

On the 1891 census, Hubert was a navigating lieutenant on a ship called the "Wye". It was very interesting to note the different ranks and sheer number of men on this ship!

I found a marriage record for Hubert Heath Sabben to Mary Rebecca Hart in the December quarter of 1884, and a record for their son, Hubert Hart Sabben, born in 1885. This is likely the "Hart" whose name is written in the book. Perhaps the book was given to him in 1895 for his tenth birthday.

In the database I was also able to find other records of Hubert Hart Sabben's life, including his name on naval medal rolls and the index for his will in 1904. Ancestry LE also has records for son Hubert Hart Sabben's service in World War I.

Both Sabben men died in England, so I still don't know how this book made its way to the library's collection, but from the information that I was able to find, it appears that Hubert Heath Sabben and his son H. Hart Sabben followed James Palliser's lead, and became adventurers!

Locomotive 5934 in Mewata Park, 1962

Alison Jackson Photography Collection, AJ 0197

I have been in Calgary all of my life. When I was born my parents lived in Killarney and we moved to Glendale when I was 2. For all of my adult life, I have lived within one mile of where I started. I have seen a lot of change in my community. When we first moved to Glendale, the community hall where I would later attend kindergarten had just been built in a ravine which had once been a slough and an active breeding ground for mosquitoes. Now there is a gorgeous community centre and the drainage problem has mostly been taken care of.

It is still a lovely community, though where horses used to graze is now houses and the pile of dirt from the West LRT construction. I am waxing nostalgic for a reason, though. At the Annual General Meeting of the Calgary Heritage Initiative on Wednesday night, we saw a very interesting video. It was “The Living West” a 1962 production of the Calgary Tourist and Convention Association. It shows Calgary as I remember it as a child (for better or for worse, I guess). It was a very young boom town back in ’62. If you’re feeling nostalgic, or are just curious about our city’s roots, check out the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHpZcImE7Hs

(The rope swing was out behind St. Mary’s School, in the waste ground that later housed the Talisman Centre – it provided many afternoons of entertainment back in the day.)

And if you are truly in a mood to punish yourself with history, try out Calgary’s official song from the 80s (which admittedly is my least favourite decade). Neighbours of the World was released in 1986 following a national competition. The City of Calgary has recently digitized and made available this interesting piece of our history:

http://tinyurl.com/42qnfj5

If you remember the old Calgary (or even Calgary in the 80s), keep in mind that the Federation of Calgary Communities is collecting stories of community associations for its 50^th Anniversary Magazine. See my earlier posting at http://tinyurl.com/3e94nav for more information about how to get involved.

Highlander Hotel, ca. 1961

Postcards from the Past, PC 1580

Calgary Auto Club Camping Grounds on St. Patrick's Island
Postcards from the Past, PC 1603

The Heritage Roundtable on the 23^rd of this month is called “Islands in the stream.” Historians Donna Zwicker and John Gilpin and archaeologist Brian Vivian will talk about the islands that dot the Bow River. Donna has been researching Archer’s Island, which I had never heard of before this. You haven’t either? You should join us at Eau Claire Market Community Room on June 23^rd at 7:00.

There are lots of little islands in the Bow. Some have become well known, St. George’s, for example, houses the zoo. Prince’s Island started out as being more of an isthmus until Peter Prince blew a channel in the river to allow for easier passage of logs to his mill. St. Patrick’s island, once well used as a tree farm and then a campground, is undergoing a restoration to its original use as parkland, as part of the revitalization of the East Village. There was also a third “Saint” island, St. Andrew’s (the three islands in the Bow were named for the patron saints of the then United Kingdom, St. George of England, St. Patrick of Ireland and St. Andrew of Scotland. A fourth island, St. David’s for Wales was mentioned but no other evidence can be found of its existence. St. Andrew’s island has since disappeared – the lagoon between it and St. Patrick’s was filled in, effectively making them one island.)

Something I learned in my research on islands is that islands belong to the Federal government (or Dominion government, as it was called at the time of Calgary’s founding). The Calgary had to ask the Dominion government for the right to use these islands. The city was deeded the islands for use as parks.

There is a lot to be learned about the islands in our “stream” so I am looking forward to the Heritage Roundtable event. I hope to see you there. To register for the event by calling 403-244-4111 or online at http://www.calgarycommunities.com/events.php (just select “Roundtables - Islands in the Stream” from the drop-down menu)

St. George's Island

Postcards from the Past, PC 1701

^{Normal School (home to No. 2 Wireless School during World War II)
Postcards from the Past, PC 187}

The new Duchess of Cambridge has ties to Calgary – tenuous though they may be. It seems her grandfather Peter was a flight instructor for the RAF during the Second World War. He was with the No. 37 Service Flying Training School, which was situated at McCall Field, which is now part of the Calgary International Airport. This school was part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan which saw pilots from the RAF and RCAF train pilots at 107 schools across Canada.

Calgary was actually home to a number of training schools for the BCATP. No. 3 was an RCAF training school which operated at Currie Field. After the end of the war the airstrip was used to train NATO pilots until 1958. At that time it was decommissioned but kept open as an emergency landing strip. When I was young, we used to go to the old strip, which was by then on the grounds of Mount Royal College, and learn how to drive (actually, we learned how to drive fast as we used the area as a drag strip). Some of the hangars, which are on the Currie Barracks site, are still standing and until recently the Calgary Farmer’s Market occupied one of them.

The No. 4 Training Command was moved to Calgary from Regina to Calgary in 1941. They set up shop in the newly renovated sixth floor of the Hudson’s Bay Building downtown. They stayed there until 1944 at which time they were amalgamated with the No. 2 in Winnipeg.

Another part of the BCATP was the No. 2 Wireless School. It occupied what is now Heritage Hall on the SAIT campus and an airfield near Shepard. Two BCATP students flying out of the Shepard substation were killed in an accident in a Tiger Moth and received the George Cross, the highest non-combat award for courage. In the years after the war, the air strips became drag strips, known as Shepard Raceway. The hutment, originally built to house the troops as they were training became emergency accommodation for returning veterans after the war but conditions became so unhealthy, they were demolished, amidst much controversy, in the 1950s.

There is a lot of information available about the training schools. We have newspaper clippings and books about the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at the library. Maybe you would like to brush up before the visit of the Duchess to her grandfather’s old stomping grounds.

No. 2 Wireless School Float in the Stampede Parade, ca. 1941

Postcard from the Past, PC 87

Chinatown, along Centre Street, 1967

Alison Jackson Photography Collection, AJ 0509

We have been very lucky to be the host of some excellent programs in the Heritage Matters series. The next one may be the best yet. On Thursday June 2 during the lunch hour we will be hosting Mr. Victor Mah, the Honorary Chairman, Calgary Cultural Centre and Chinatown Centenary Community Champion.

He will talk to us about the history of Chinatown and the plans for its future development. Our Chinatown is the fourth largest in the country and has been an integral part of the city since the beginning. It has recently celebrated its 100^th anniversary – but that was only the anniversary Chinatown in its current location. There has actually been a Chinese area in Calgary since it was a NWMP fort when unemployed railway workers, denied the money to return to China, set up restaurants, grocery stores and laundries roughly where the Glenbow is now.

Calgary’s second Chinatown was on the other side of the railway tracks in the area around 1^st Street and 10^th Avenue SW. This one didn’t last either. As Calgary boomed in the early part of the 20^th century, the railway depot was put up on 9^th Avenue SW and the price of land in the area skyrocketed. Because the Chinese were tenants, not owners, they had the land sold out from under them. It was then that the land around Centre Street was purchased by Chinese merchants and the Chinatown we now know and love began to develop. It was not without controversy, however, as the racism that was evidenced in the 1890s during the smallpox epidemic had not diminished. Cooler heads prevailed (the police chief and the medical health officer, for example) and the Chinese were allowed to remain.

This wouldn’t be the only challenge faced by Calgary’s Chinatown, but over the years, it has continued to flourish and today is a vibrant reminder of the Chinese pioneers of Calgary.

So join us in the New and Notable area on the Main Floor of the Central Library at noon on June 2 for Mr. Mah’s presentation. You can register in person, by phone at 403-260-2620 or online at http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/programs.aspx

(You can read about the history of Calgary’s Chinatown in Paul Yee’s book Chinatown: an illustrated history of the Chinese communities of Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary…..as well as other titles. Find them by searching the catalogue using the terms Chinatown Calgary history)

Dragon Float in Chinatown, 2008

Judith Umbach Photography Collection, JU 000923-8

I have been invited to give a brief presentation to a local service club on the why’s and wherefore’s of genealogy. The how-to stuff will be easy. What I have been pondering is the “why” of genealogy. I think I know why I am researching my family. I am nosy – I love gossip. Even gossip that is 100 years old, which is probably why I enjoy reading the society pages of the old newspapers. You wouldn’t believe the stuff they’ll tell you! I suppose I am also curious about how my family got here. What would cause people to pull up stakes and come to a country that was essentially a wilderness? When my ancestor came to Ontario, he had to clear the land on which he would settle. His experiences would have been very similar to those of the Catherine Parr-Traill and Susannah Moodie. And by their accounts it was not a lot of fun.

We can never know the “why” for sure. In genealogy, unless you are blessed to have generations worth of correspondence or diaries from your ancestors, the best we can do is guess. There are resources to turn to, however, to give us a better idea of what life was like for our ancestors and maybe even shine some light on their own reasons for doing what they did. I mentioned Catherine Parr Traill and Susannah Moodie. Their accounts of settling in Ontario, The Backwoods of Canada, Roughing it in the Bush and Life in the Clearings, paint a very colourful picture of what life was like in the backwoods of Ontario as their families struggled to establish themselves in a relatively inhospitable climate. While my ancestor’s experiences may have been a bit different (he certainly wouldn’t have been trying to maneuver through the brush in a full length dress, say – at least I think not) they would have been similar enough to give me an idea of what he had to face just to get started.

So, even if your ancestor didn’t leave boxes of correspondence or volumes of diaries, you can still extrapolate from what we have to give yourself an idea of what their motivations were and the hardships they faced. We have an excellent collection of first-hand accounts of life in early Alberta. You can find many of them by using the search term ‘pioneers’ in the catalogue. You can also try ‘correspondence’ (with the name of place) or ‘diaries’. A quick search turned up the following: The First Dutch Settlement in Alberta: Letters from the Pioneer Years; Wilderness Outpost: the Fort Vermilion Memoir of Mary B. Lawrence and Letters from Rupert’s Land . These are just a few of the first-hand accounts we have of the settling of Canada. We also have a good collection of explorers’ journals, which can give a very interesting view of the country at the point of first European contact.

All this research and reading really helps to flesh out the story of our ancestors. And really, for many of us, isn’t that what family history is all about?

New Settlers, Their First House, Western Canada

Postcards from the Past, PC 1649

A demonstration by the 100,000 Club, Calgary along Centre Street, ca. 1912

Postcards from the Past, PC 1270

Those who know me are aware of my little obsession with cars. I love them (which is a good thing because I am married to a serial collector of weird and wonderful vehicles). We live in a very good place for car addicts because Calgarians love their cars and have since their invention. I suppose it is an extension of the range mentality, the love of horses that still pervades the culture in Calgary.

We went to the first show and shine of the season last week at the Deerfoot Mall. Car aficionados and their vehicles were out in full force. I was reminded (because I am a history geek) of a photo we have in our collection of a very similar exhibition in the early part of the twentieth century. The picture above is of the motor cars of the 100,000 club, a group of city boosters who wanted to see the population of Calgary hit 100,000 by 1915. They put together a number of events to draw attention to the city. Cars, being the novelty they were, were always a good draw.

Tony Cashman, in his book A History of Motoring in Alberta states that Calgarians really embraced the automobile and its attendant clubs because of the lure of Banff. The mountains sat there seemingly at the edge of the city, calling to the intrepid to pack their lunches and head for the town just 85 miles distant. What we didn’t have, however, were the roads on which to travel. Cars need very different surfaces than carts with horses.

The cars in this picture are, I believe, 29 members of the Calgary Automobile Club preparing for their “motorcade” trip to Banff. The task had been achieved by Norman Lougheed, in his father’s touring car in the summer of 1909. He made it in seven hours with only one flat tire. The Calgary Automobile Club group left at 9:00 am and 25 of the 29 cars had arrived by 4:00 pm. The other four cars had to be left where they broke down.

A trip to Edmonton, which was a very daring proposition, could take several days by car. Add into the mix the lack of service stations (the first garage in Calgary was Calgary Novelty Works who specialized in typewriter and automobile repairs – in the ‘teens it was located just about under where I am sitting right now at the Central Library.)

The car has had a very interesting history in this province. The Community Heritage and Family History Digital library includes many photographs and postcards in which the automobile features prominently. We also have a good collection of books that document our love of motoring. Among them are the Tony Cashman book mentioned above, Roaring Lizzies: a history of Model T Ford racing in Alberta by Kelly Jane Buziak and an official tour book produced by the Alberta Automobile Clubs in the early part of the 20th century.

Calgary Auto Club Clubhouse, Bowness (formerly the Hextall House)

Postcards from the Past, PC 941

Calgary Public Market, 3rd Street SE ca 1920s?

Postcards from the Past PC 1375

Well, the day is at hand. We will be starting a Jane’s Walk of the East Village on Saturday May 7 at 10:00 at the Central Library at 616 Macleod Trail SE. Join us on the main floor for introductions and then we will proceed out into the neighbourhood with Walk Leader Clayton Buck, who is a dedicated promoter of this wonderful community of ours. We will also have the opportunity to visit one of our neighbours, the Drop-In Centre, thanks to Jordan Hamilton, from the Centre. We all know that a key risk factor for homelessness is a lack of community. Both Clayton and Jordan are working to build that sense of community here in the Village. I, myself, am very impressed with their efforts. I have worked in the Village for most of my adult life and I can attest to the fact that we now really feel like a community. We are the heart of old Calgary but also the core of the new, hip Calgary. It is a very exciting time to be involved with East Village. Join us on Saturday to get a street level view of what is going on in Calgary’s newest oldest community. (And it looks like the weather will be on our side as well.)

For information click on this link: http://janeswalk.net/walks/view/calgarys_oldest_newest_coolest_community_calgarys_east_village/

There are other walks going on as well. Memorial Park Library in the newly renovated Central Memorial Park is the starting point for “From Sandstone to Skyscrapers” and the Alexander Calhoun Library launches “South Calgary and Marda Loop” led by Harry Sanders and Marje Wing (head of both Memorial Park and Alexander Calhoun libraries) Some of the other neighbourhoods involved are Bowness, Brentwood, Edgemont Ravine, Sunnyside, Hillhurst and Chinatown. There is an edible tour of Inglewood and Ramsay led by Julie van Rosendaal, there is a walk led by Marilyn Williams on “Complete communities by traditional design.” This is just a sampling. Click on this link to get a list of all the walks happening this weekend. http://janeswalk.net/cities/list/category/calgary

My only regret is that I can’t do them all! See you this weekend.

East Village from Bow Valley College, 2004

Judith Umbach Photography Collection, JU 041101-25

Inglewood Community Association in the old Firehall #3, 1960s

Alison Jackson Photography Collection, AJ 1273

I was born and raised here, so, even though my memory is fading somewhat, I do have a recollection of my community back in the old days. I lived on the edge of town, just east of Sarcee Trail, in what was then the ‘burbs. We had acres of open space and horses just across the road. I remember our community centre, which doubled as our kindergarten classroom. I remember watching the dads of the community flood the ice for the two rinks we had, one with boards, for the big kids and hockey players, and one without for us little kids. I remember the Summer Fun Fests, with hat contests and bicycle parades. My community is now over 50 years old and so is the Federation of Calgary Communities.

As part of the celebrations, the FCC is putting together a 50^th Anniversary Magazine that they would like to fill with stories of your community association. If you were one of those dads flooding the ice, or one of the many volunteers who corralled those kids for a bike parade, the Federation of Calgary Communities wants to hear from you. They are offering participants a number of options to share their stories. You can sign up at www.calgarycommunities.com. The Federation has set up a sequence of dates corresponding to the decade your stories come from. You can see them on the site. If you would prefer, you can schedule a one-on-one conversation, conducted either in person or by phone by contacting Rebecca Dakin at 403- 244-4111 extension 204. You can participate either as a group or individually.

Because I work with a historical collection, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of projects like this. I know that as time progresses, what we lose from the record are the experiences of the participants in the events. When we’re doing research we can usually find dates and statistics and news reports, but what we don’t have are the stories of those who were there, and in many cases, this is what we really want to know. So I urge anyone who has volunteered for their community association at any time to participate in this project. It’s your stories that make history.

Bridgeland Riverside Community Association, 2005

Judith Umbach Photography Collection, JU 051008-9