NEXT WEEK:
A TALE OF TWO 17th AVENUES
Exploring two famous Calgary thoroughfares — informally, the Red Mile and International Avenue — their histories, the communities they have shaped and how they tie the city together.
FREE mar 23 to mar 29 2018 issue 08-11 editorial 403-781-1349 advertising 403-263-4940 crebnow@creb.ca
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ALONG THE RAILS A short history of Calgary and the Canadian Pacific Railway
GERALD VANDER PYL for creb®now
W
hen construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) reached Calgary in 1883, the company built a train station on its land west of the Elbow River in present-day downtown. The only problem was that most
Calgarians in the small community already lived on the east side of the river, now Inglewood. Local historian Doug Coats says, try as it might, the CPR could not convince Calgarians to move onto its land, so a plan was devised. Railway officials asked postmaster James Bannerman to move the community post office nearer to the station and, the story goes,
included a promise of $100 and two lots in the new townsite. “So, one night, the CPR’s chief engineer Herbert Holt put a rope around the post office and dragged it across the frozen Elbow River,” said Coats. “Calgarians woke up the next morning wondering where their post office was.”
SEE RAIL A2
1884 Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train with locomotive 147, Calgary, Alberta.
GLENBOW MUSEUM ARCHIVE, NA-967-12
COVERAGE INSIDE: CALGARY AND THE TRAIN PAST Along the Rails: A Short History of Calgary and the Canadian Pacific Railway CONT. PAGE A2
PRESENT Driving Development: New Green Line LRT Stations are Poised to Bring Transit-Oriented Development to Several Communities PAGE A4
FUTURE Back to the Future: High Hopes for HighSpeed Hyperloop Between Calgary and Edmonton PAGE A6