The infamous plainsman, buffalo hunter, whiskey runner and horse trader Jerry Potts, led Assistant Commissioner James Farquharson Macleod north through the province that spring, showing the lay of the land, introducing native chiefs and basically setting the groundwork for colonial development. After trekking to the Red Deer area, Macleod sent Sub-Inspector Ephraim A. Brisebois and 50 men to set down roots at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. It was an ideal site – one that the Blackfoot, Peigan, Blood, Sarcee and Stoney tribes had been hunting and fishing along for centuries.

By that September, Calgary (although not yet named) had already experienced its first building boom. Once the fort had been built, commerce quickly followed. The Baker and Hudson’s Bay stores both set up shop to accommodate the clothing, food, supply and ammunition needs of the earliest settlers. A few ramshackle abodes were erected, along with several more tents that were home to an assortment of would-be ground floor opportunists.

The matter of what to name it, however, still remained in question. Up until this point, the settlement was simply referred to as “the Elbow”. Inspector Brisebois took it upon himself to come up with a fitting name for the burgeoning community, and after giving the matter consideration, announced over dinner one night in the banquet hall that henceforth it would be called Fort Brisebois. To say the very least, his idea was not well received. Once word of the new name reached Colonel Macleod, it was unceremoniously changed to Fort Calgary – a Gaelic name meaning “clear running water”. It’s believed the Colonel took the name from a Scottish estate on the Isle of Mull, which at the time was owned by his cousin. In any case, Calgary it became, and Calgary it has remained through generations of development and change.

Of course, anyone who lives here (and even many that don’t) knows Calgary just as well by its other moniker – Cowtown. Entrepreneurial spirit in this city runs deep and the Cowtown name has a direct link to it, accredited to the first ranchers who made big dollars raising cattle at the turn of the century. Some were born and bred cowboys, but most were businessmen – English gentry, self-made cattle barons – those who could recognize a great opportunity and had the capital it takes to get a working ranch off the ground. By the early 1900s, cattle roamed the Alberta prairie in numbers that rivaled the massive buffalo herds that had dominated just a few decades before. 

Four ranchers in particular hold especially high esteem in the city not only for their great business success, but also for their part in establishing what would become Calgary’s most celebrated annual event – the Stampede. The ten-day extravaganza was the brainchild of Guy Weadick – a long, lean cowboy who came to Calgary with a Wild West show in 1908. His vision was to transform the town’s annual agricultural fair into something truly grand – it’s said he had the “biggest rangeland show anywhere” in mind from the start. Trouble was, like most cowboys, Weadick wasn’t flush on cash and the ballpark figure to get the kind of show he dreamt of up and running was a whopping $100,000. Like any solid Calgary entrepreneur, Weadick wasn’t deterred. He pitched his idea to the district’s four biggest ranchers, and convinced them to fund the project. George Lane, Pat Burns, A.E. Cross and Archie McLean each put up $25,000, launching the first Stampede in 1912. It was a moderate success financially, but a huge boon to Calgary’s profile.

Once Calgary had established itself firmly on the map both physically and culturally, upscale development quickly followed. Prior to roughly 1890, homes in Calgary were a menagerie of canvas tents, felled logs and milled lumber. But between 1888 and 1912, architectural tastes shifted to sandstone, found abundantly in the hills along Old Banff Coach road, Nose Creek and along the banks of both rivers. Sandstone made Calgary a solid town, both literally and figuratively. Many of the sandstone structures built during this time are still around today – one needs only to take a walk down Stephen Avenue to see several of them: The Burns Building (now a six story office tower), Alberta Corner (formerly the Alberta Hotel), Teatro restaurant (formerly the Dominion Bank building), the Lineham Block (now the Hyatt) and the old Imperial Bank of Canada (Catch restaurant) are all classic examples. It was about this time that Calgary’s upper crust took firm root as well, building spectacular homes in what was then the far reaches of town – roughly today’s beltline district between 13th Avenue and Elbow Drive. The Lougheed House is the most well known of Calgary’s turn of the century luxury mansions. Built in 1891, the home incorporated fine materials imported from around the globe and was a symbol of growth and pride for many Calgarians.  

The period between 1901 and 1912 was one of extensive growth and development in Calgary. In 1901, there were a total of 1,689 houses in the city. Just ten years later that number had ballooned to 11,350 houses – a percentage increase that would not be exceeded until after WWII. This early boom precipitated the emergence of Calgary’s construction sector, a line of business that spawned (and continues to produce) some of the city’s business leaders. Calgary’s earliest and most successful “developers” weren’t trained contractors at all, just shrewd businessmen. They bought up huge sections of land from ranchers and homesteaders, divided it into lots and paid independent trade workers to come in and construct houses, effectively creating the city’s first suburban communities. Today’s inner-city neighbourhoods (Kilarney, Glenbrook and Richmond to name just a few) were considered the outskirts of town during the early years of the 20th century.

As one might suspect with any building boom (if today’s market is any indication) the population of our city went through the roof during this time period as well, jumping from 3,876 residents in 1891 to an impressive 43,704 just a decade later. Housing continued to be a barometer of growth and wealth in Calgary from that point forward, rising steadily, hand in hand, decade to decade. The building boom Calgary experienced in the 1960s was reflected in a population jump of 153,678 residents in ten years. This record may only be surpassed by the massive influx of new Calgarians that started coming to the city around the year 2000. Time will tell, but with an average of 20,000 new residents arriving annually, the numbers certainly add up.

One of the most wildly successful early developers in Calgary was Freddie Lowes – a properties expert and self-made millionaire that was more of a household name in 1912 Calgary than any homebuilder is today. With over 400 employees, the construction firm of F.C. Lowes and Company was easily the largest, most ambitious and successful in Canada at the time. Lowes owned and controlled seven residential subdivisions in the city, including Elbow Park, Glenmore, Brittania and Roxborough. He is single-handedly credited with expanding Calgary to the southwest.

Real estate aside, nothing has had more of a deciding influence on Calgary than oil and gas. The first boom hit in 1911 on a ranch in Turner Valley, and its effects are still being felt nearly 100 years later. As the story goes, the ranch owner brought a small group of Calgary businessmen out to his land to show them “something interesting.” He put a match to a fissure in the ground, sparked a flame, and proceeded to cook bacon and eggs for the gob-smacked gathering. The Calgary Petroleum Products Company was formed soon after, drilling a well on that site that, in May 1914, would flow four million cubic feet of straw-coloured oil. It was a trajectory changing moment in history for this city. Hundreds of brokerage houses sprang up overnight, trading as much as $500,000 in oil and gas stocks every day.

Skip forward fifty years and the residual effects of Calgary’s oil boom begin to spill out over the suburban landscape. By the ‘50s and ‘60s the city was experiencing phenomenal urban growth, with familiar names like Stepper Custom Homes and Morrison Homes behind the construction. By this time, Calgary had expanded fairly deep into the southwest, into areas such as Lakeview, Kelvin Grove and Chinook Park. 1,400 square-foot bungalows were the design of the day, many of which are now being remodeled and renovated to suit modern-day owners’ tastes and lifestyles.

Today, there are well over 100 builders in business in our city, with no shortage of work to go around. New housing starts in 2006 are predicted to reach 15,000 units for the first time since 1981. The province’s red-hot economy (due in large part to soaring energy prices) continues to draw migrants from across the country and around the world, much the same as it has throughout history, creating a steady demand for housing. Interestingly, oil and gas related jobs account for just five percent of Calgary’s current employment – a reflection, perhaps, of the city’s growing diversity and a hangover from the renegade attitude that has been present in our city from its first days a fledgling police fort – a “we do it our way out here” kind of mentality that allows almost any kind of establishment to develop and thrive. Not surprisingly, home building is one of the city’s biggest and strongest industries these days, employing thousands of people in its various forms and extensions, from office workers to architects, interior designers and all the trades. Big volume builders like Jayman, Excel, Cedarglen and Homes by Avi play a big part in keeping Calgary’s economy going strong.

Where Calgary will be in another hundred years is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: this is a town that’s proud of where it came from, and that's not afraid to grow - guided of course by its entrepreneurial spirit.   NL