The Fort Calgary rail yard years lasted from 1914 to 1974. Sixty years of tracks and storage sat over the spot where Calgary began, until the City of Calgary bought the land in 1974 and returned it to the public.
Start in 1875. The North West Mounted Police built the fort at the meeting of the Bow and Elbow rivers, a year after the 1874 march west that brought 150 men across the prairie from Dufferin, Manitoba. If you like the naming story, our post on how Calgary got its name covers the Fort Brisebois chapter.
From 1875 to 1914 the fort kept growing. It turned into Calgary Barracks and then a community centre, so it was never a museum piece waiting for visitors.
Then came 1914. The site was sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and the Canadian National Railway took it on later. A railway yard and storage area covered the ground for the next six decades. That’s a long time to bury a birthplace.
Then 1974. The City of Calgary bought the site and gave it back to the public. Today it’s a National Historic Site that Fort Calgary describes on its own history page, and the exhibits are being redeveloped, so check the official Fort Calgary site before you plan a visit.
The photo above comes from Library and Archives Canada. It shows North-West Mounted Police at the fort in 1878, three years after it was built.
If old pictures are your thing, our guide to where to dig into Calgary’s past points to three collections, and the Provincial Archives of Alberta film holdings are another good stop. Calgary Told Through the Things It Kept shows what survives in objects.
Walk down to the meeting of the Bow and Elbow, look at the ground, and picture sixty years of rail yard.
Quick answers
The North West Mounted Police built Fort Calgary in 1875, at the meeting of the Bow and Elbow rivers in what is now Calgary, Alberta. It went up the year after the 1874 march west, when 150 NWMP men travelled from Dufferin, Manitoba.
The site was sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914 and later passed to the Canadian National Railway. A railway yard and storage area covered it until 1974, when the City of Calgary bought the land and returned it to the public.
Yes. Fort Calgary is a National Historic Site in Calgary, Alberta, and its official website calls it the place where the city began. The site says its exhibits are being redeveloped, so check the website for what is open before you visit.
Sources: Fort Calgary history, Fort Calgary, Library and Archives Canada photo via Wikimedia Commons
