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A The Setting

City –geography

Native animals

Bison, buffalo, elk, coyotes, wolves

Hares, rabbits
Richardson ground squirrels ( gophers)

Cougar, black bear, bobcats may wander in

Native birds

 Year round – magpie, chickadee, woodpecker

seasonal- robins, swallows, bluebirds,

occasional- hawks, bald eagle, sandpipers, great horned owl

occasional – heron, Canada goose, swan, pelican, grebe

Native grasses

Wild bergarmot, blue violet, blue flax, golden rod, geraniu, cone flower

Wild rose, sage, fescue grass

City- native tribes

The first settlers here found there were already people here. Many native tribes had met at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. Some had hunted bison and buffalo for centuries in the area.

Some of the early tribes nearby were Blackfoot Confederacy, Stoney, Tsuut’ina, Siksika, Piikai, Nokoda, Bearspaw, Chiniki, Good stoney

Reservations had been set up for some  

1876 – Treaty 6 – for central Alberta- Cree, Dene

1877- Treaty 7 – for southern Alberta. This agreement signed at Blackfoot Crossing was for natives in our area – Siksika, Piikani, Kainia, Tsuut’ina, Stoney Nakoda

1899 – Treaty 8 – for northern Alberta –  Cree, Chipewyan, Beaver

The  reserves were -Tsuut’ina  on the west of the city, The Stoney near Morley and the Siksika to the south east.

City -climate

Humid continental climate

115 day growing season about May 23 – Sept 15

Hottest month- July 23  C  – extreme  was 36.7 in 2018

Coldest month Jan – 11 C   extreme    minus 45 C in 1893

Precipitation average – June 112 mm per month

Most rain June

Most snow March

 It has snowed historically every month  – in July in 1999

City -layout

Area of city ballooned over our childhood.

1950- 39.6 square miles

1970- 155 square miles ( nearly four times as big just over our childhood and teen years)

Population

Our parents had in most cases moved here from somewhere else. A few had been here as early pioneers but many had arrived to seek their own fortune. My mother had come from northern Alberta to art school in the 1940s and my dad had come here for war service in the 1940s. 

It is interesting to trace what makes people relocate. Often education, poverty or war are the key drivers in history. In 1939 my mother, in northern Alberta had just turned 16. The problems of teen life, body image, complexion and dating were clearly dwarfed by the fact some of the boys she liked would soon go to war. I can hardly imagine that world. My father, in dire poverty during the Depression in Saskatchewan, had gone west for work because the farms were failing. He could either go east to the coal mines or west for forestry. He went west.

When our Prime Minister Mackenzie King proclaimed the War Measures Act in 1939, that very day 200 Calgarians enlisted to fight and the rate of enlistments continued at about 200 a day.   Mewata Armories served as headquarters for the Calgary Highlanders and the King’s Own Calgary Regiment. In addition British Commonwealth troops had trained here and the Currie Flying school opened in 1940.

All the nation’s young adults were involved somehow, suddenly on alert. Many signed up. Those who did not often yearned to  and those who were not old enough or had to work in the farm were still doing their bit to support the war effort. I can hardly imagine the tone of that era.  Exciting and terrifying both.

My parents married in Calgary in 1945, one of the many war time marriages of the era. In the end 1.1 million Canadians mobilized during the war, 42,000 died and of them were over 1500 Calgarians. Many more returned wounded. Some of those not  physically wounded were psychologically affected by what they had seen. How could you not be? It is amazing that our parents coped as well as they did and how gallantly really they tried to set up for their kids a better world.

 Here is the place they came to.  It was a settlement in the 1880s only but had had periods of expansion.

1907- Crescent Heights was annexed to the city

1912 – 0gden is annexed

1916 – Ramsey is annexed
By the time we came along, it was a pretty big place.

1949 – population of the city was  100,000

1950 – 104,718 ( we were one year old)

1951 – average age in Canada is 27.7 but it is 27.2 in Alberta

1950s – communities annexed included Banff Trail, Renfrew, Briar Hill, Windsor Park

1955 – Calgary is fastest growing city in Canada (we were 6) pop 200,000

1956 – Communities annexed in next few years included Glendale, Britannia, Kingsland, Mayfair, Chinook,

1958 – population 200,000 ( we were 9)

1960 – population 235,0009 (we were 11) About 40% of the population of Calgary is under 19.

1960s – communities newly named included Glenbrook, Chinook Park, Glamorgan

1961 – 250,000 (we were 12)

1961 – Forest Lawn and Midnapore are annexed

1963 – district of Montgomery is annexed to Calgary ( we were 14)

1964 – Bowness is annexed (we were 15)

1965 – population 300,000 (we were 16)

1971 – population 403,300 (we were 22)

1971 – average age in Canada is 26.2 but it is 24.9 in Alberta

1978 – population 500,000 (we were 29)

2007 – population one million (we were 58)

2026 –  the city has expanded widely and there are new districts many of my cohort nearly never visit let alone have heard of -. In the Northwest we have Arbour Lake, Royal Oak, Sundance. In the North west we have Saddle Ridge, Skyview Ranch. In the southwest we have Aspen Woods, Signal Hill, Evergreen, Somerset. In the south east we have Mahogany. Auburn Bay, McKenzie Towne, Lake Bonaventure.
Many of these new communities have  their own shopping centres, parks and even man- made lakes. Many luxury seniors assisted living residences have been built in these newer areas and some of the newer hospitals.

2026 – ( we are 76) population of the city proper is 1,569,133. It has in addition surrounding bedroom /satellite communities of Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks and Cochrane. With the metro area the population exceeds 1.84 million.

 What does this mean? It means that in our lifetime we have seen it go from 100,000 to 1.5 million, 15 times as big as it was. That is huge growth. It has been a big adjustment for the city services, roads, buses, water and power provision and psychologically for us as we get around on freeways and in places far away from where we live.
The area of the city proper is 849 sq km but the surrounding area makes its metro land area 5100 sq km. It is huge.  Some of our cohort even moved to Lethbridge or out to Cochrane or BC partly because they felt the city had become too big. Others stayed. But it did mean that city ‘centre’ may have seemed the same but the city map now extended it far in all directions. This happened in other cities too so city limits got closer and closer together. When I was growing up Edmonton was 200 miles to the north. Now it is 170 miles.