History of Calgary

Calgary, the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta, is in a region of foothills and high plains, in the south of the province. Approximately 80kms east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, Calgary is the third largest civic municipality, by population, in Canada. The city’s population was 991,759 as of April 2006, making Greater Calgary Canada’s fifth largest Census Metropolitan Area. Calgary is within the relatively densely populated ‘Calgary-Edmonton Corridor’, and is the largest Canadian metropolitan area between Toronto and Vancouver.

The old plains

Calgary was the land of the Blackfoot people, whose presence can be traced back by at least 11,000 years before Europeans set foot on these lands. Cartographer David Thompson was the first recorded European visitor to the region, and he spent a winter with a band of Peigan encamped along the Bow River in 1787. It was not until in 1873, however, that John Glenn was documented as the first European settler.

The region was named Fort Calgary in 1876 by Colonel James Macleod after Calgary, derived from ‘Cala-ghearraidh’ (beach of the pasture) on the Isle of Mull, in Scotland. Fort Calgary became a post of the North West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), a detachment assigned to protect the western plains from US whiskey traders.

A rail station was constructed, with the Canadian Pacific Railway reaching the area, and it was from this point that Calgary began to grow into an important commercial and agricultural centre. It was officially incorporated as a town in 1884, electing its first mayor and also becoming the first city in what was then the Northwest Territories, in the same year.

Calgary from the early 20th century

Oil was first discovered in Alberta in 1902, but it didn’t become a significant industry in the province until 1947, when huge reserves of it were discovered. From a steadily growing city, Calgary quickly found itself at the centre of an oil boom. The city’s economic growth exploded with the oil price increase brought about by the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973.

Calgary’s population increased by 244,000 in the 16 years between 1971 (403,000) and 1987 (647,000), and during this time, skyscrapers were constructed at a pace seen by few cities anywhere. The relatively low-rise downtown quickly became dense with tall buildings. Calgary’s economy was so closely tied to the oil industry that the city’s boom peaked with the average annual price of oil in 1981. The subsequent drop in oil prices was cited as a reason for the collapse of the oil industry and consequently, there was also a depression in Calgary’s overall economy, which did not fully recover until the 1990s.

The 1980s: a city in transition

With the energy sector employing a huge number of Calgarians, the fallout from the economic slump of the early 1980s brought about a soaring rate of unemployment. However, by the end of the decade, the economy had recovered, with the city realising that it could not afford to put so much emphasis on oil and gas.

Calgary has since become much more economically and culturally diverse. The period during this recession marked Calgary’s transition from a mid-sized and relatively nondescript prairie city, into a major cosmopolitan centre, culminating in 1988, when the city hosted the XV Olympic Winter Games. The success of these games put the city on the world stage.

Calgary today

Calgary has continued to blossom, with the Alberta region, with a population of over one million people, still among the fastest growing regions in Canada. While oil and gas account for most of this growth, Calgary has invested significantly into other areas, with tourism being perhaps one of the city’s fastest growing industries. More than four million people now visit the city on an annual basis for its many festivals and attractions.

The nearby mountain resort towns of Banff, Lake Louise and Canmore are also becoming increasingly popular with tourists.   As a result, they are drawing visitors to Calgary. Other modern industries include light manufacturing, high technology, film, transportation and other services. The city also consistently ranks high in quality of life surveys.