Historic Maps of Calgary

[5seconds]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

Thanks for all the kind words. You look at Calgary in 1951 and suddenly understand how certain bottlenecks were already set in stone. No city planner would have been planning for the million plus people we have today; it would have been very far forward thinking about 500K in the city at that time of 129K.

1951 marks the first time (since the 1914 Mawson plan) that the City did a master plan for future growth, although only an interim report was ever delivered. It said that a population of 220k was sustainable at the then-present city boundaries at 11 people per acre densities.

Interesting quote from the 1951 report:

Perhaps a more pertinent question than, "How large can the city grow?" should be the question "How large do we want the city to grow?" There is perhaps an optimum size beyond which the topographical character of the site and the existing road and utilities systems will impose on future growth. Undoubtedly such limitations can be overcome to permit unlimited growth, by costly road widening and utility projects. But would such large expenditures be justified or would preconceived decentralization provide a better solution for growth beyond a reasonable maximum?

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

Thanks for all the kind words. You look at Calgary in 1951 and suddenly understand how certain bottlenecks were already set in stone. No city planner would have been planning for the million plus people we have today; it would have been very far forward thinking about 500K in the city at that time of 129K.

You can see that the construction for the new highway 1 on 16th Ave is just beginning at this point at Barlow & 16th. 16th Ave TCH, would have seemed to be all that would ever be needed and a huge improvement over 17th Ave/9th Ave/10th St/16th Ave/Banff trail route!

What also struck me is how comparatively ugly the city would have been at the time. I'm sure other cities were similar - rail yards and industrial along several prime river locations in town. Expectations were different then.

You would think that only in the age of satellites and jet planes that anyone would have thought to write anything on the roof of their building. But even in 1951 when flying was expensive and a lot slower, you can find an arrow pointing to "Calgary 2 M" on top of one of the tanks at the Lynwood Ridge refinery.

At that point, there was no confusion - Edmonton Trail really did go to Edmonton. What I didn't know is that a rail spur line went to the McCall Airport. At least the earth works continued off into the NE ending around Stoney and 64th. I assume it served the air force during WWII, but the only thing I can think of for a NE spur is a temporary line to bring in fill for the airport. The line isn't even listed in "Lines of Country: An Atlas of Railway and Waterway History in Canada", so it might have been very ephemeral.

1951 also marks the transition from building grid streets to curvilinear. You can see the new houses in Renfrew and Currie Barracks going up with curvilinear streets. It's hard to believe that some of these houses have already been torn down for infill. Speaking of the military, you can see at this time it had a huge impact on the Calgary economy. The buildup is just about at it's zenith and would already be declining in areas like McCall field.

I still have one mystery development I have no idea what it is - the patch small houses and slightly larger sized buildings north of 17th Ave NE, in fact the scar remaining from that development is visible to the present. Motor park perhaps?

I'm not clear where you mean, could you post a link to google maps zoomed into the same spot?

[Policy Wonk]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

You would think that only in the age of satellites and jet planes that anyone would have thought to write anything on the roof of their building. But even in 1951 when flying was expensive and a lot slower, you can find an arrow pointing to "Calgary 2 M" on top of one of the tanks at the Lynwood Ridge refinery.

That type of thing was everywhere, they served as a form of navigational aide.

What I didn't know is that a rail spur line went to the McCall Airport. At least the earth works continued off into the NE ending around Stoney and 64th. I assume it served the air force during WWII, but the only thing I can think of for a NE spur is a temporary line to bring in fill for the airport. The line isn't even listed in "Lines of Country: An Atlas of Railway and Waterway History in Canada", so it might have been very ephemeral.

I would suggest you contact the Transport Canada archives, but Harper defunded Transport Canada's archives to save less than $300,000 a year. In the 1960's Transport Canada commissioned exhaustive histories of every airport in the country, the history is sixty volumes in length. If there was a rail spur it will be in there, plotted and explained in great detail. Glenbow should have a copy as should U of C.

A nerd could die of old age there and not see a tenth of it. 100,000+ publications dating from 1825 to the present day. Much of the collection will be/has been destroyed.

Bitter? A little. The US Department of Transportation now has a more complete archive of Canadian transportation material than the archives in Ottawa.

[5seconds]

This plan from 1949 shows the spur on the bottom left. It looks like it stops directly south of the control tower, south of the road.



Image (higher res) on flickr by i. duke

[DizzyEdge]

looks like it serviced this area:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=51.09476...06968&t=h&z=18

[Policy Wonk]

I found the start of the spur, it is still visible immediately north of 40th Ave N.E.

I'm assuming it would have been used to deliver aviation fuel, but i'm not seeing an obvious tank farm.

[93JC]

May have been buried?

[DarkKeyo]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

Thanks for all the kind words.

Thank *you* for the airphoto. This could keep me busy for a very long time

[Dado]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

This plan from 1949 shows the spur on the bottom left. It looks like it stops directly south of the control tower, south of the road.



Image (higher res) on flickr by i. duke

I think you can make out the remnants of an embankment for the spur here:

https://maps.google.com/?t=h&ie=UTF8...220.33,,0,6.14

(the plastic bag is stuck on it)

Originally Posted by Policy Wonk

I found the start of the spur, it is still visible immediately north of 40th Ave N.E.

I'm assuming it would have been used to deliver aviation fuel, but i'm not seeing an obvious tank farm.

They may have fuelled the planes directly from the tanker cars. Cheap and easy.

[5seconds]

An interesting map from 1926

[DizzyEdge]

What I find most interesting about that are the routes out of town, particularly the zigzag route to the NW (I'm not sure if there was a road there pre-crowchild, or if that is actually Eamon Road)

[Ferreth]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

What I find most interesting about that are the routes out of town, particularly the zigzag route to the NW (I'm not sure if there was a road there pre-crowchild, or if that is actually Eamon Road)

The zig-zag doesn't surprise me. A lot of country roads did that too if they were running anything other than N-S, E-W. If they could follow the railway, they could be diagonal. What I find interesting is the #2 at that point turned north of McKnight between the old terminal and the N-S runway, rather than at Barlow.

[93JC]

Looks like route to the NW in red goes up 10th St until 20th Ave, west 20th until 14th St, north to 23rd Ave, west to 16th St, north to 24thAve , west to 19th St, north about a block and then veering NW. Looks like it would have lined up with the present-day Morley Trail NW, and follows the same route as the present day Crowchild north of about 32nd Ave.

Macleod Trail is basically unchanged, save for the zig-zag at Midnapore.

To the NE the red route follows Edmonton Trail north until about 40th Ave, where it veers NE. I think that diagonal section is the present-day 41st Ave NE. It met up with what is now McKnight Boulevard and goes straight north up what would be 14th or 15th St. I think that's Range Road 11. Anyway, you can see McCall Lake as a point of reference, so where it was then is definitely part of the airport now.

To the southeast the orange road is Ogden Rd, more or less on the same route it is today.

To the northwest there's Bowness Road, again more or less on the same route as the modern-day Memorial Drive/Parkdale Blvd/Bowness Rd.

South of that, across the river, is what is now Bow Trail and Old Banff Coach Road. The two roads were once one, having met around what is now Sarcee Trail. Instead of curving around Westbrook Mall the route followed 8th Ave and 33rd St, butting up against what's now Shaganappi golf course. Where the Crowchild interchange is now the road followed the contours of the hill and met up with 12th Ave.

The bifurcated route to the southwest followed 17th Ave west to 24th Street, south along 24th (what is now Crowchild) before splitting. The route that forks off at 26th Ave is Richmond Road. It carried on SW toward what is now Westhills, then jogged south to what is now Highway 8.

The other road that continues down 24th St (Crowchild) veers off to the SW at about 33rd Ave, then back south again at what's now Glenmore and 37th St. That road is obvious loooooong gone.

Centre St went north to about McKnight, before going NW. I think it veers NW on what is now Laycock Dr and Simons Rd; presumably it followed Nose Hill along the same path as what is now 14th St.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

The zig-zag doesn't surprise me. A lot of country roads did that too if they were running anything other than N-S, E-W. If they could follow the railway, they could be diagonal. What I find interesting is the #2 at that point turned north of McKnight between the old terminal and the N-S runway, rather than at Barlow.

I guess Highway 2 at its present location wasn't built until later, which doesn't surprise me given the Trans-Canada along 16th Ave isn't on the map either. It wouldn't have been until later that it veered around Chestermere and as such, on this map, it follows 17th Ave SE (where it is east of Chestermere anyway).

[5seconds]

Originally Posted by 93JC

The bifurcated route to the southwest followed 17th Ave west to 24th Street, south along 24th (what is now Crowchild) before splitting. The route that forks off at 26th Ave is Richmond Road. It carried on SW toward what is now Westhills, then jogged south to what is now Highway 8.

That road that heads south from 17th avenue looks like it's actually 29th street, rather than 24th/Crowchild. It is located halfway between section lines on the map, so too far west to be 24th but east of 37th.

The fork to the west is some other road first before it becomes Richmond road at 37th street. (You can follow Richmond road from 37th street, east past 24th and then curving north to hit 17th ave).

Originally Posted by 93JC

The other road that continues down 24th St (Crowchild) veers off to the SW at about 33rd Ave, then back south again at what's now Glenmore and 37th St. That road is obvious loooooong gone.

That's the part of 29th street that becomes Sarcee Road south of Richmond, where it's still located. It then followed 37th street until it hits about 66th avenue SW, and then followed what we now know as the bike path through the Weaselhead into the reserve on to Priddis. It was called the Priddis Trail which was a provincial/territorial highway until the 1950s. (If anyone's interested, you can read about the Priddis Trail here)

I think it's amazing seeing the SW without the reservoir!

[kw5150]

I find interesting the proximity of the tsuu tina reserve and the relationship it had with Calgary. Are there any other major cities in Canada with an adjacent reserve? I suddenly feel highly influenced by native culture just by living here.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by kw5150

I find interesting the proximity of the tsuu tina reserve and the relationship it had with Calgary. Are there any other major cities in Canada with an adjacent reserve? I suddenly feel highly influenced by native culture just by living here.

Metro Vancouver is infused with them - such as south of Delta (in addition to land claims). In fact, some years ago, the Feds wanted to sell the government buildings there and lease them back on a long-term basis. They were taken to court as the land was disputed, and at the end of the day, the Feds couldn't do this. Interestingly, the total land claims in British Columbia exceed the amount of land in British Columbia.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

That road that heads south from 17th avenue looks like it's actually 29th street, rather than 24th/Crowchild. It is located halfway between section lines on the map, so too far west to be 24th but east of 37th.

The fork to the west is some other road first before it becomes Richmond road at 37th street. (You can follow Richmond road from 37th street, east past 24th and then curving north to hit 17th ave).

Durr, yeah you're right. Don't know what I was smoking there.

[RyLucky]

Cool map. Is Brickburn where Edworthy park is now? What do the coloured routes mean? Major roads? Streetcars?

[RyLucky]

I find it interesting how even in 1926 Calgary was a very centralized city. All the major routes lead downtown, convergence of all the railways, the rivers, the irrigation Canal (just east of Inglewood)... The relief contours really give a sense of the bowl shape of the inner city too.