Calgary was growing fast when my cohort was born.
Roads
It is interesting to me to see how cities grow. Edmonton, also on a river, the North Saskatchewan, had a north and south side and the south side at one point was a different community, not actually Edmonton but Strathcona. However the powers that be eventually decided to name city centre, 100th avenue and 100 street .The numbering on avenues went down to go south or up to go north. My grandma was on 82 avenue and my aunt and uncle on 60 avenue, both then in the south, farther and farther from city center.
Calgary by contrast, chose to name its centre zero and zero, or Centre Street and Centre Avenue. The numbers then went up in the 4 quadrants. There was first avenue north or first avenue south. There was first street east or first street west. In addition over time when the north side was annexed, we had four quadrants – north east, north west, south east and south west.
This has led to amazingly little confusion but just from habit. Even in our childhood if you spoke of 17th it meant 17th avenue south. If you spoke of 16th it meant of course the busy one, so 16th avenue north. But officially we had to write SW, SE, NW, NE. This type of designation is like they do in Washington DC.
For a time the streets in Calgary had names not numbers but that changed . The original street names, before 1904 are kind of interesting because over time they got a resurgence.
Stephen Avenue – 8th avenue SW
Atlantic Avenue – 9th avenue SW
Pacific Avenue – 10th avenue SW
Notre Dame avenue – 17th avenue SW
Drinkwater Avenue – Macleod Trail
Kensington Avenue – which changes names over its course and at some points also became Parkdale Boulevard and even 3rd avenue NW
Scarth Street – 1 street west (SW)
Hardisty Street – 3 street SE
People seem to like names for streets. When we were teens there was a strip of nightclubs downtown but it was not till the 1980s that there were so many with neon signs along 11th avenue SW that it got nicknamed Electric Avenue. When the Calgary Flames played Stanley Cup playoff hockey in 2004 and the city erupted with nightclub enthusiasm along 17th avenue SW, 14 blocks of nightclubs were full of red T shirts and banners and the avenue got nicknamed The Red Mile.
When we were growing up though, in the 60s and 70s, the streets and avenues were known by numbers.
We did not yet call Highway 2 Deerfoot Trail. 14th street was only renamed Crowchild Trail in 1971. The express way to the south was not named Sarcee Trail officially till the 1980s. But some names were pretty logical even if just ordinary streets – Macleod Trail went to Fort Macleod, Edmonton Trail went to Edmonton, Banff Trail went to Banff.
A girl I went to school with became a researcher of Calgary district and street names. Donna Mae Humber wrote two books ‘What’s in a Name, Calgary?” that became great resources.
The streetcars had major routes and so did cars.
In the 1950s the major routes for cars were:
16th avenue north- the main west-east corridor across the city
Macleod Trail – the main north -south corridor
Glenmore Trail – at south end of city to let people bypass downtown
Richmond Road – linking Sarcee Camp and military housing districts
Bowness Road – in the northwest linking to Bowness
Ogden Road – in the south east, linking to Ogden
A multi level parkade was a very big deal in those days. In 1956 the Hudson Bay built a parkade downtown and we were amazed at its winding ramps to each level. I was 7.
In the 1960s there were some changes too
1962 – Highway 1, the TransCanada was linked to Crowchild Trail
Memorial Drive/ Bowness road was sometimes called highway 8
Part of the Banff Coach road on route to Banff got renamed Bow Trail in 1966
17 avenue south east was a major route to link to Forest Lawn
Crowchild Trail in the northwest at 24 street was a new fast route from 1960
The trips our family took were mostly to Edmonton, at Christmas, and to Banff for some weekends. I have pictures of my grandmother visiting Banff though in the 1920s. It had been a national park since 1887 and many families identified their own family members as the ‘Three Sisters’ of that mountain range. The drive to Banff in 1955 took about two hours. You could take the old road, the 1A through Cochrane or the main road Highway 1 TransCanada, which by 1965 was paved, two lane. The new highway reduced the time to 1.5 hours. One of my first dates was a drive to Banff for a picnic.
Driving laws
In Alberta in 1950 the legal speed limit was 60 mph on paved highways, 45 on gravel and 30 in urban areas. Rarely were the limits posted however. As more roads got paved and the washboard unpredictability of sand and gravel was reduced, speed limits went up. Still you had to drive for the conditions and in Calgary the weather was always a pretty dramatic changing condition. In the 50s and 60s there were no red light cameras or photo radar. But officials did pull over people who were speeding excessively. As my dad said, if you get too many speeding tickets they take away your license and ‘you win a bicycle’.
People did not have to get a drivers’ license officially till 1956.
In the 1950s cars in Alberta had to have headlights, taillights and a horn. They did not have to have turn signals or seat belts. I remember the cute little turn signals by the window of some small vehicles.
In the 1960s the minimum legal driving age was 14. It changed to 16 soon after. My sister and I took a course at the Alberta Motor Association, trained on a pretend car called an Etna I believe, did some road driving practical experience and then got our licenses at about age 16.
It was not until 1969 that drunk driving was a criminal offense.
Cars, trucks
My dad loved to drive and owned over his early adulthood many cars. I have pictures of him with a Model T and he and my mother had several cars over the years. In post war times having a vehicle was an important part of a man’s life . I have a list he wrote down once of all the vehicles he owned and he was not a rich person. As a farmer and oil supplies dealer he needed a truck. When he moved into the city he needed more often a car, especially when he became a real estate salesman. Here is part of his list:
1920s – Model A Ford
1930s – Dodge, Plymouth
1940s – Ford ½ ton truck, Fargo ¾ ton truck
1950s -Chev ½ to truck, ½ ton GMC truck, Pontiac 4 door car, Morris Minor
1950s – Buick Dynaflow, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Dodge station wagon, Chrysler, Lincoln
1960s – Chrysler, Olds 98, Camaro
When he started to drive, a license was not needed. The farm boys just got in and figured it out. Aptitude with engines and tires and figuring out how a vehicle starts, how it handles the gravel, icy roads, how to corner, developed over time.
Babies rode, held in the mother’s lap, and as we got bigger we rode in the back, without car seats for kids and without seatbelts. We were told not to hang our arms out the window.
In the 1950s these were the common cars
GM – Chev, Pontiac, Olds, Buick, Cadilla
Ford – Mercury, Lincoln and in 1958 the Edsel
Chrysler-Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Imperial
There were also Studebaker, Nash, Hudson, Packard and in 1954 the Rambler
In the 1960s there were muscle cars. The ideal was often a huge car even with tail fins.
1961 – Lincoln Continental
1963 – Corvette
1963 – Porsche 911
- – Studebaker
- – Ford Mustang
1969. – Pontiac GTO
1969 – Toyota Corolla
Yes you could get luxury cars in the 50s and 60s .Few of us had them though – Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz
Car prices
Car prices in 1955 were $2000 – $4000 for new cars. Chev Bel Air, Ford Falcon, Buick were common.
In the 1960s a VW Beetle was $1500 , a Ford Mustang $2500, a Chev Impala $2800, and you could buy a Cadillac but it would set you back $6700.
My first car, in 1965 was a 1954 Olds. It was huge and sturdy, and it used a tin of oil per week. I loved it. It was super safe, like driving a tank through the snow.
Car language
There was a lot of slang developed around cars. Car slogans abounded as did slogans for gas stations.
In the 60s when my cohort started driving, we got familiar with expressions like burning rubber, peeling out, sitting shot gun, having a car souped up. We knew the “Chinese fire drill” game where stopped at a red light everyone gets out, runs around the car and gets back in.
1950s – See the USA in your Chevrolet
1950s – Oldsmobile – there a rocket to fit your pocket
1950s – Trust your car to the man who wears the star, Texaco
1950s – Let Hertz put you in the driver’s seat
1959 – Think small – Volkswagen
1959 – Put a tiger in your tank – Esso
1962 – We try harder – Avis rent a car
Car racing
When we were legally able to drive, some were attracted to drag racing.
The sport of car racing likely is normal curiosity for drivers. However another stage of development was in the 1920s when during prohibition bootleggers smuggled alcohol by car and wanted to modify their cars to outrun the police.
There were informal races and some organized ones before we were born.
1941- Fort Model T races (Tin Lizzie races) are held at Victoria Park to raise money for local charities.
1943- Jerry Segar, a Canadian corporal is killed in a Charity fundraiser race at Victoria park. One of his car tires blew, the car hit the infield fence and rolled and the driver was thrown out of the vehicle. At the same place, another driver’s car crashed into a fence on the back stretch and burst into flames. The driver was thrown clear and lived.
1948 – NASCAR is formed in the US to regulate safety for car racing. In the US one driver died when blinded by dust, and another when the car left the truck.
1950s- Many car clubs are formed in Calgary- including Road Runners, Bandit, Coachmen, Road Knights. They often meet in local house garages and rebuild engines. Hillhurst and North Hill are key gathering areas.
1952 – Springbank has an oval track for stock car races, going on a former horse race track
1955 – Springbank races are so popular that buses go to the site, admission is $1.50 for adults 50 cents for kids and the crowd numbers 4500.
1955 – street racing and hot rodding prove dangerous because of unpaved and unpredictable surfaces
1955 – In Le Mans Car race, 83 people die
1957- The Calgary Timing Association sets up race competitions. There were drag strips around the city informally near airport runways, often ¼ mile in length. There were eventually tracks in DeWinton, Lincoln Park area, Rimbey, Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat
1957 – Dale Armstrong in Calgary adapts his 1936 Ford Coupe to race, removing the back seat to reduce weight. He is able to set a record of 97 Kmh. He moves to the US, winning 12 international drag racing records
1960s- Calgary bans street drag racing.
1963 – the Calgary Drag Racing Council sets rules and many courses have on site an ambulance if needed.
1963 – Gene McMahon sets up an official car racing course at Shepard. It is a one quarter mile strip.
The statistics on street racing are few. In the sixties it was illegal. However many teens, often boys, would at the red light at an intersection rev their engine, the car beside would rev its engine as a challenge and when the light turned green, some started a race. There was also a game to rev the engine, pretend you were going to race and then not take off when the light turned green but let the other guy rush off.
Dangerous driving charges were given and still are for such racing.
Buses and bus routes and bus stations
1909- Calgary got its first streetcar. There were a few very popular routes including the one to Bowness which was a day trip and often taken for picnics. There were 12 streetcars at first and they served about 30,000 people. The last one operated in 1950 and was relocated later to Heritage Park.
1935- Calgary got its first gas fueled buses for routes with no streetcar.
1947- Calgary got its first electric trolley buses and they were in use until 1975. They went on routes that had strings of overhead electric wires. Poles on the roof touched the electric wires to complete the circuit. I remember so well watching them go down the middle of the street, their black poles from the roof going along the overhead wire and sparking sometimes when it was cold out. At one point the city had 85 trolley buses.
1960s – Diesel buses were used for more routes and were found to be economical and flexible.
1967- bus fare for an adult was 25 cents (we were 18)
Calgary had streetcars first and only later diesel buses.
In the 1960s the main routes were
#1 to the town of Bowness
#2 to Mount Pleasant
#3 to Elbow Drive and Chinook.
#4 and #5 – to the north and Huntington Hills
#6 – to Killarney, 17 avenue and 26 avenue ( my cohort got to know this route well)
It is interesting that Calgary went from gas buses, to electric and then back to diesel.
Buses for longer distances
In the 1920s a motorcoach could be taken from Calgary to Edmonton. In 1929 Greyhound had its headquarters in Calgary to provide bus service between Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton. In the 1950s my cohort saw the building of a Greyhound terminal in downtown Calgary on 8 th avenue. It was a lovely building, old and classic with crystal chandeliers and teak panelling. and I recall going there to see my grandparents arrive from Saskatchewan. There was a restaurant on site too with a huge mural of historic Calgary with pioneers and native people.
In 1986 Greyhound relocated to a terminal on 8 avenue and 16 street SW at the edge of downtown and many in my cohort who took the bus got very familiar with this location as adults. It served all of southern Alberta and had routes north, all across Canada and was a fast way to deliver packages too.
Trains
There was a train going from Calgary to south Edmonton (Strathcona) in the 1890s and it took 12 hours. By the time we were here, in 1955 the Dayliner was a lot faster. The trip only took 3.5 hours.
We did not have a subway when we were growing up, and did not get one for years after, in 1981 when the new C-train (light rapid transit) was built, it ran from Anderson Road to 7 avenue SW.
However we had heard of subways. London had had its underground “The tube” since 1863. Boston had had an underground train system since 1897. There was even a cute song about this
subway in the 1950s called “The man who never returned”. Disneyland had the world’s first monorail in 1959. But we did not- till 1981 ( we were 32)
Airplanes
For my family flying was way too costly to try in our childhood but some will remember it. Calgary did have airports. The first airplane flight in Canada had been only 40 years earlier, in 1909 at Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia.
1914 – a grass strip in Bowness is the first air field
1919 – in the northwest Fred McCall flew here
1928 – Renfrew district has a landing strip
1938 – Calgary airport is built in NE and named McCall Field
In the 1950s these airlines operated in Calgary
TransCanada Airlines (TCA)
Canadian Pacific Air
Pacific Western Air (PWA)
Western Airlines
As we grew up, there were big changes in the airline industry too.
1953- Max Ward, bush pilot operates Wardair between Edmonton and Yellowknife
1956- the airport in Calgary gets a new terminal
1961- jet planes need longer runways so the ones in Calgary are extended
1969- the airport terminal gets an addition (we were 20)
1969- Springbank airport operates 20 km west of the city.
When I was about 14, my family flew on our first flight ever, to Disneyland. It was amazing but a very rare experience. I did not fly again until 1975. The 50s and 60s airplanes had ash trays, ample leg room and real cutlery. I assume we did security checks before boarding but nothing like what came shortly after a surge of highjackings in the late 1960s. Universal electronic screening became more common after 1974. I still recall taking my husband to the airport before all that. He just entered a roped off area right beside me.There was not much baggage screening then.
City Development – bridges, buildings, amusement parks
Calgary had been a fort for the Northwest Mounted Police in 1875, became a town in 1884 and a city in 1894. When my cohort came along it had been a city for 55 years.
1882 – Metis couple Lous and Angelina Roselee own land on SE hill and in 1894 Scotsman John McLellan has rock quarry there. IT later becomes Scotsman’s Hill park area overlooking Stampede Grounds
1885 – Pioner Thomas Edworthy farms near Bow River and Bowness. It was at the confluence of two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow, and by the time we were born there were already several bridges across them
1902 – a bridge over the Bow River washed out in a flood
1904 – a nearby village, Bowness has a large park. When we were growing up we went there and rode the mini train, rode on the carrousel, went in canoes on the lake and picnicked. During our childhood we saw other changes too.
1910 – Shouldice Bridge (Hextall Bridge) on Bowness Road was built. It was later used for streetcars but in 1950 it was turned over to car traffic)
1911 – MacDonald bridge on 12 avenue across the Elbow River
1911 – Langevin Bridge from downtown to Sunnyside, replacing a wooden bridge from earlier time
1912 – Cushing Bridge – 17 avenue SE and Blackfoot Trail
1916 – Centre Street Bridge was rebuilt after having collapsed during a flood in 1915
1921 – Louise Bridge on 10 street NW
1924- Park at 40 avenue and 1 a st SW, STAnley Park becomes more landscaped in 1934
1929 – the flood on the Bow and Elbow Rivers alerted the city to the need for a dam
1932 – Glenmore Dam was built
1940- Crescent Park in the northwest at 12 avenue and 2 street had lawn bowling, tennis courts and walking paths
1948 – McCall field had a busy air terminal
1949 – the zoo now had 77 animals and 19 life sized dinosaur models including a sixty foot tall stegosaurus
1950 – ice jam on Bow River floods some areas near St. George’s Island
1950 – Senator Harry Hays hosts hundreds of people at a Stampede breakfast
1950 – Stampede Corral is built, with a capacity for 8200 people
1950 – The train tracks were taken off the Langevin Bridge and it was a turned over to car traffic only (later named Reconciliation Bridge)
1950s- On Prince’s Island in the Bow River, a park is developed and in 1966 a pedestrian bridge is developed linking it to Eau Claire
1951 – The Barron building was built downtown
1952 – Stampede midway has its first car raffle
1953 – Bearspaw Dam is constructed
1954 – bridge is built on 14 street, “Mewata Bridge” linking Sunalta and Kensington
1954 – Jubilee Auditorium is built
1955 – Glenmore Park is under construction
1955 – Rideau Towers are built
1956 – Alex Munro designs Rock Gardens at Riley Park
1958 – 20 storey skyscraper is built downtown – Elveden House
1958 – Stampede midway offers tickets for a $35,000 dream home
1959 – Stampede attracts 591,715 people
When we were born Calgary already had some green area being preserved.
As we grew up more parks were created
1960s- a part of Stanley Park is dedicated to Russian princess Obolensky who lived in the city after the Russian revolution. She and her husband the count were here during the war and she eventually set up a clothing store, La Boutique.
1961 – Happy Valley opens west of town, a huge amusement park
1962 – the city acquires some of the land of Thomas Edworthy by the river at Bowness and creates Edworthy Park
1963 – Glenmore Causeway is built
1963 – Heritage Park opens. It represents the region’s history from 1860 to 1950 and has actual buildings from other town relocated to create walkable streets just like in those days. There are 24 historic buildings and even a vintage train on a 4300 foot track.
1964 – the Baines Bridge is built on the north side of St. George’s Island and named after zoo curator Tom Baines
1965 – St. Patrick’s Island has a mobile home park.
1965- Confederation Park is built with a stream running through
1966 – Glenbow Museum opens (we are 17) It houses collections from Eric Harvie
1966 – Palliser Square is built downtown
1967 – for Canada’s centennial the city also builds a bridge to Fort Calgary, creates Centennary Park with a bird area, deer shell, canoe dock, and concrete band pad, on 17 acres of grass and trees
1967 – the 200,000 square foot Convention Center is built
1967 – the Planetarium is built
1967 – The S. S. Moyie docks at Heritage Park. It can host 172 passengers
1968 – The Husky Tower is built
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