How did Calgary get its river parks?

Urban History Review

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 28-45

  Nelles, H V ^a,b  

^a MCMASTER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; PLANNING HISTORY; PUBLIC SPACE; URBAN PLANNING;

ALBERTA; CALGARY; CANADA; NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 27944444587     PISSN: 07030428     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.7202/1016045ar     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. This essay arises from a collaborative research project on the environmental history of the Bow River funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on which I am engaged with Matthew Evenden and Christopher Armstrong. A version of this paper was delivered as a public lecture at the Nickel Art Gallery at the University of Calgary in the spring of 2003. I am grateful to Don Smith for organizing this event and Anne Davis for hosting it. Attentive readers will notice how confronting living sources at this lecture gave me a better understanding of some of the issues and personalities. Seminar presentations at the University of Western Ontario and McMaster University helped me get the subject into focus. I am also grateful to the guest editor and the three perceptive readers whose criticism has sharpened the argument.
2. The essays by Samuel P. Hays, which focus on the shift from a producer's to a consumer's ideology, provide the best introduction to this cultural transformation, in Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States, 1955-1985 (New York: Cambridge, 1987).
3. See also Samuel P. Hays in collaboration with Barbara D. Hays, Explorations in Environmental History: Essays by Samuel P. Hays (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998),
4. and A History of Environmental Politics since 1945 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000).
5. The development of a system of public parks in the city of Manchester out of mid-nineteenth-century political campaigns, private benefactions, club gardens, commercial pleasure grounds, and municipal initiatives is briefly treated in the exhibition pamphlet written by Clare Latimer for a show at the Manchester City Art Galleries, Parks for the People: Manchester and Its Parks, 1846-1926 (Manchester: Manchester City Council, 1987).
6. The gradual transformation of the ten royal parks in London and vicinity into de facto public parks is the subject of Hazel Thurston, Royal Parks for the People (London: David & Charles, 1974).
7. An interpretation of urban parks as sites of the creation of a new civic culture, less class-bound and regulated than before, is to be found in Nan Hesse Dreher's "Public Parks in Urban Britain, 1870-1920: Creating a New Public Culture" (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1993), which contrasts with a more strictly "social control" interpretation more prevalent in the literature.
8. See, for example, Susan Lasdun, who emphasizes fear of social disorder as a perpetrator of parks in The English Park: Royal, Private and Public (London: Andre Deutsch, 1991).
9. Peter Bailey in Leisure and Class in Victorian Britain (New York: Methuen, 1987),
10. and Martin Daunton in House and Home in the Victorian City (London: Edward Arnold, 1983), in quite different ways emphasize the controlling aspects of parks over the working class.
11. On urban parks in North America see David Schuyler, The New Urban Landscape (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1986);
12. Galen Cranz, The Politics of Park Design (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982),
13. Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992),
14. William Irwin, The New Niagara (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996),
15. Patricia Jason, Wild Things (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995),
16. and Linda Martin and Kerry Segrave, The City Parks of Canada (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1983).
17. Mawson explained to a Toronto audience: "City planners are out to save souls of communities, by providing conditions in which intellectual, moral and physical well-being became a possibility." The bishop of Toronto, who was present, reportedly cheered. John Crosby Freeman, "Thomas Mawson: Imperial Missionary of British Town Planning," Revue d'art canadienne/Canadian Art Review 2 (1975): 41.
18. See also Walter Van Nus, "The Fate of City Beautiful Thought in Canada, 1893-1930," in The Canadian City, eds. G. Stelter and A. Artibise (Ottawa: Carleton Library, 1979), 162-185.
19. For the influence of these ideas in the United States, see also W. H. Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1989).
20. The plan is usually treated as a footnote, a sidebar, or a remarkable curiosity in popular histories of Calgary. See, for example, T. Ward, Cowtown: An Album of Early Calgary (Calgary: McClelland and Stewart, 1975), 382-383.
21. For perceptive critiques of the Mawson plan, see E. Joyce Morrow, "Calgary Many Years Hence": The Mawson Report in Perspective (Calgary: City of Calgary and the University of Calgary, 1979),
22. and Freeman, "Thomas Mawson," 37-47. Mawson's drawings toured Alberta's provincial fairs for several years until they remained unclaimed in the lost luggage department at one of the railway stations. At some point a workman appropriated the neglected artwork for use as wallboard in his garage. Mawson's drawings resurfaced in the 1970s during the demolition of the garage. Art historians rescued the remaining work and restored it to its former glory, forming the subject of the exhibition that accompanied E. Joyce Morrow's booklet.
23. "From Prairie to Park: Green Spaces in Calgary," in At Your Service: Calgary's Library, Parks Department, Military, Medical Services, and Fire Department (Calgary: Century Publications, 1975), 121-256.
24. Terry Bullick, Calgary Parks and Pathways (Calgary: Rocky Mountain Books, 1990);
25. At Your Service, especially 174-205.
26. On the space devoted to residential and commercial uses, see the excellent map, ca. 1963, in file 6200.4, box 227, series V, Board of Commissioners Papers (hereafter cited as Commissioners Papers), City of Calgary Archives.
27. Marjorie Norris, A Leaven of Ladies: A History of the Calgary Local Council of Women (Calgary: Detselig, 1995), 198.
28. Memorandum on the River Bank Development Scheme, 3 Dec. 1959, file 856, 170-2;
29. Report of the River Bank Development Committee, 15 Dec. 1959, file 855, box 62, series 3, Engineering and Environmental Services, City of Calgary Archives.
30. Urban Renewal Report No. 2, Dec. 1961, City of Calgary Archives.
31. This phrase was in common usage. For an example, see the letter from a group of ratepayers complaining that "the iron curtain [will] continue in perpetuity," in file 4200.4, part 2, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers.
32. Mayor Hays to N. R. Crump, president, CPR, 24 June 1959, file 6200.4, pt. 1, box 225, Commissioners Papers, probably enclosing the undated memorandum in the same file, "Calgary Land Use Study: Benefits and Costs to the City of Calgary Consequent upon Canadian Pacific Railway Right of Way Development."
33. Commissioner Steel to I. M. Pei, 5 Oct. 1962;
34. Minutes of luncheon meeting, City Council and CPR officials, 14 Sept. 1962;
35. Minutes, Downtown Study Progress Report No. 1, 9 Nov. 1962;
36. CPR Economic Base Study of Calgary, 1 Nov. 1962;
37. CPR Downtown Study Meeting, 30 Nov. 1962;
38. G. J. Greenhalgh, director of planning, to Commissioner Steel, 1 Mar. 1963, sending estimates for proposed "South Bank Arterial Road," file 62000.4, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers.
39. Herald, 5 Apr. 1963,
40. Albertan, 6 Apr. 1963.
41. Heads of Agreement, 5 Apr. 1963, file 6200.4, box 226, series V, Commissioners Papers. The first three clauses set the overall policy: A. Canadian Pacific intends to divert its railway to follow the south shore of the Bow River, from 9th Street East to 14th Street West, in order to make available for commercial development the downtown land lying between 6th Street East and 14th Street West now occupied by the railway: Canadian Pacific further intends to prepare a comprehensive Master Plan for the future commercial development of the said area, and, thereafter, to implement the plan. B. The City considers it in the public interest that the Canadian Pacific plans for relocation of railway trackage and development of downtown property be carried out, and will co-operate to the fullest extent of its powers in assisting Canadian Pacific to further such plans. C. The City intends to acquire right-of-way land, paralleling the proposed diverted railway to be constructed on the South shore of the Bow River, to provide for the development of a parkway and distributor roadway contiguous to the railway.
42. File 6200.4, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers. A spreadsheet of costs accompanying the Heads of Agreement indicated the CPR share to be $1,995,000, and $1,644,000 for the city. These two figures do not add up to $4,296,500, even if an otherwise unaccounted for sum of $977,000 attached to the city share is to be added. Imprecision and confusion marked the enterprise from the beginning.
43. Kathleen M. F. Worrell, University Women's Club, to Commissioner Steel, 6 Apr. 1963;
44. Mrs. J. Reinders, Calgary Local Council of Women to City Council, 14 May 1963;
45. Memorandum, 6 Sept. 1963, for engineers' views;
46. H. Boothman, superintendent of parks, to Commissioner Steel, 26 Apr. 1963, Council Minutes, microfiche 1088;
47. letter 14 May 1963, file 6200.4, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers.
48. Talking Points Memorandum; Commissioner Steel's reply to Mrs. Worrall, 10 Apr. 1963;
49. Ian Sinclair to City Commissioners, 7 June 1963;
50. J. R. W. Sykes, Memorandum, 10 June 1963; Question and Answer Sheet;
51. Sykes to Mrs. W. Barker, 11 July 1963, replying to hers of 4 June 1963, summer 1963 undated, file 6200.4, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers.
52. Meeting of 27 June 1963, microfiche 1354; Commissioners Report on the City of Calgary-CPR Development Proposals, microfiche 1369; Amended Rail Line Parkway Design City Council Minutes, microfiche 1363.
53. Commissioners Report on the City of Calgary-CPR Development Proposals, microfiche 1369;
54. Amended Rail Line Parkway Design City Council Minutes, microfiche 1363.
55. For a full account of Alderman Leslie's determined fight against the proposal at every stage, see his wife's memoir, Jean Leslie, Three Rivers Beckoned: Life and Times with Calgary Mayor Jack Leslie (Bragg Creek: Fay-Mar-K Publishing, 2004), 165-218.
56. Grant MacEwan, a laconic archetypical westerner, enjoyed considerable personal popularity. During a varied career as professor of agriculture, rancher, newspaper columnist, historian, raconteur, municipal politician, and leader of the provincial Liberal party, he developed a reputation as a frugal but generous, independent, down-to-earth populist. In time he became something of a symbolic grandfather figure, especially during his term as lieutenant-governor of Alberta following his career in municipal politics. For brief accounts of his mayoralty - not the high point of his career - see Donna von Hauff, Everyone's Grandfather: The Life and Times of Grant MacEwan (Calgary: Grant MacEwan College, 1994), 130-147,
57. and R. H. Macdonald, Grant MacEwan: No Ordinary Man (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1979), 205-215.
58. A small portion of his published journal, Grant MacEwan's Journals, ed. Max Foran (Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishing, 1986), 121-130, covers this period.
59. Commissioner Nicholson to Mr. Van Ginkel, 26 Aug. 1963, and Calgary Real Estate Board, 9 Dec. 1963, as well as letters from other interest groups, file 6200.4, box 225, series V, Commissioners Papers; Minutes of meetings 29, 30 Aug. 1963 with CPR; details of negotiations Aug.-Dec. 1963, file 6200.4, parts 1 and 2, box 2, series V, Commissioners Papers; City Planning Department, Downtown Study No. 3, file 51, vol. 6, 1, Land Department Records, Calgary City Archives; E. C. Harvey, Stanford Research Institute Report 25 June 1963, microfiche 1373, City Council Minutes, City of Calgary Archives; Van Ginkel Associates Report, 24 June 1963, microfiche 1380, M8773, R. H. Barron Fonds, Glenbow Archives.
60. Special Meeting of Council, 4:12 p.m., 22 Jan. 1964, microfiche 185; Special Meeting of Council, 8:00 p.m., 22 Jan. 1964, microfiche 187, City Council Minutes. See file 6200.4, box 225, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers, for the contract and a memo titled "Aspects of the Scheme Which Could Be Executed More Successfully from the Viewpoint of the City."
61. Report by M. R. C. Coulson, D. B. Johnson, and J. G. Nelson, 4 Dec. 1963, file 6200.4, box 225, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers. There is another copy in the Barron Fonds.
62. D. Styliaras, "CPR Redevelopment Proposal," Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal 41, no. 3 (Mar. 1964): 53-56.
63. J. B. Barron to Commissioner Steel, 15 Jan. 1964, file 6200.4, box 225, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers. J. B. Barron was the father of R. H. Barron. They owned the Mobil Oil Building at 606-616 8th Avenue West. For Robert H. Barron's critique see "How Much Will the CPR Pay in Taxes?" Albertan, 4 Feb. 1964. See also Address to the Men's Canadian Club of Calgary, 13 Feb. 1964, Barron Fonds. Barron collected a comprehensive archive of clippings, reports, letters, and municipal documents pertaining to the contract, all preserved in this collection. I am grateful to Don Smith for sharing his understanding of the Barron objections.
64. See also Address to the Men's Canadian Club of Calgary, 13 Feb. 1964, Barron Fonds. Barron collected a comprehensive archive of clippings, reports, letters, and municipal documents pertaining to the contract, all preserved in this collection. I am grateful to Don Smith for sharing his understanding of the Barron objections.
65. Ruth Gorman, "Time To Call a Spade a Spade," Albertan, 25 Jan. 1964. For city council documents, see file 106, box 10, M5841, Calgary Local Council of Women Fonds, Glenbow Archives. For press clippings, see file 107, box 11; for the February public meeting and for the quotation, see file 108; and for the report of the LCW Special Committee, see file 109. See also Norris, A Leaven of Ladies, 197-211, for a much fuller account of the campaign based on this documentation. See also pt. 3, file 6200.4, box 226, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers, for a fifteen-page response to Ruth Gorman's twenty-two specific questions. Letter from the Calgary Local Council of Women, 11 Mar, 1964, microfiche 530, City Council Minutes.
66. See also Norris, A Leaven of Ladies, 197-211, for a much fuller account of the campaign based on this documentation. See also pt. 3, file 6200.4, box 226, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers, for a fifteen-page response to Ruth Gorman's twenty-two specific questions. Letter from the Calgary Local Council of Women, 11 Mar, 1964, microfiche 530, City Council Minutes.
67. See the illustrated brief by Calgarians for Progress, 3 Mar. 1964, in file 6200.4, box 228, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers. Other copies can be located in the Barron Fonds and the Local Council of Women papers at the Glenbow Archives.
68. "January 20, 1964. Third night meeting with P. This afternoon we received anonymous letter bearing threats against nine members of council, including myself. The letter, lavishly smeared with human excrement, shows exactly where each of the victims will be shot and how many .303 bullets he'll get. I'm slated for three." MacEwan, Journals, 128.
69. The MacWilliams affair is documented in file 6200.4, box 226, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers. See in particular A. C. MacWilliams to the mayor, 12 Mar. 1964, explaining himself.
70. s 66 See also City Council Minutes, microfiche 578-9, 581.
71. Premier Manning seemed to use the hearings mainly as an opportunity to press his campaign for the removal of the CPR's tax exemption in the West. For a summary of the proceedings see file 6200.4, box 226, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers, for a report prepared by a city official. The briefs submitted can be found in box 228, as well as in the Barron Fonds. The Manning Papers in the Provincial Archives, Ace. #69.289, contain two files of correspondence relating to the hearings (198a-b, 199), mainly letters from Social Credit supporters who opposed the development. In a personal communication Professor Coulson remarks that he gained the impression at the time that Premier Manning likely opposed the development but he was too shrewd to take the heat for cancelling the project. He preferred to let the blame fall on the city.
72. Estimate of Costs, file 6200.4, box 227, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers. The combined land acquisition and costs for the parkway and bridge re-alignment added up to $6,170,675 for the city and $2,062,825 for the CPR.
73. B. H. Graham, vice-president of CNR, to mayor, 5 June 1964, file 6200.4, box 226, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers;
74. N. R. Crump, president of CPR, to mayor, 23 Apr. 1964 and subsequent correspondence.
75. Commissioners' Report, 28 Apr. 1964, microfiche 990, City Council Minutes;
76. microfiche 1001-15, 28 May 1964, City Planning Report on South Bank Parkway.
77. Professor Coulson, who was a participant in these debates, argued in a personal communication following a public lecture in Calgary that elite support for the project in the city had rapidly faded following the revelations of the extent to which the CPR had negotiated such a one-sided deal. In his view, the CN obstacle was a pretext.
78. MacEwan, Journals, "June 22, 1964. Committee from the East reported to council and saw the majority of aldermen vote to refuse to re-execute agreement. It looks like the end of the scheme for the present. It would have succeeded if the C.P. had not been so damnably greedy and had others doing their negotiating." Special Meeting, 22 June 1964, microfiche 1077, City Council Minutes; Report of the Committee, microfiche 1078.
79. File 6200.4, box 228, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers, contains a thick folder of newspaper clippings. A complete chronology of the affair was published by the Albertan on 24 June 1964.
80. A. H. Nicholson, 10 July 1964, Canadian Pacific Downtown Planning, file 4200.4.1, box 91, sec. 5, Commissioners Papers.
81. On the history of planning in Canada see Jill Grant, "Planning Canadian Cities: Context, Continuity and Change," in Canadian Cities in Transition, 2nd ed., eds. T. Bunting and P. Filion (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2000), 443-461.
82. See City of Calgary, The Future of Downtown Calgary (Calgary: Planning Advisory Committee, 1966), 1, 9, box 1, RG 1501, Town Planning Commission, City of Calgary Archives, for the critique and the tables and maps purporting to show the "health" of the downtown. There is a brief account of the history of zoning and planning in Calgary, pp. 11 and 76. For redevelopment of the Eau Claire site and the riverbank, see pp. 65-66.
83. Bow River Beautification Committee for correspondence on the Underwood McClellan study and the study itself, file 15, box 1, M 6072, Colin Campbell McLaurin Fonds, Glenbow Archives. For correspondence on his unsuccessful attempt to turn this committee into a more permanent, incorporated Calgary Beautification Foundation, see file 16, box 2.
84. See in particular box 1056, file PG0009, 1968-1970, Prince's Island Files 1969-1979, Parks and Recreation Papers, City of Calgary Archives.
85. City of Calgary, The Calgary Plan: A General Plan Prepared on Behalf of the Civic Administration by the City of Calgary Planning Department, May 1973, 800.004, City of Calgary Archives. The black-and-gold design symbolized the oil and wheat foundations of the local economy. Section 5 deals with Parks and Recreation.
86. City engineer to commissioner of operations, 2 Oct. 1969, 1969, file 3359 Bow River, box 144, Engineering and Environmental Services Papers, City of Calgary Archives.
87. Montreal Engineering Company, Flood Plain of Bow River in Calgary, vol. 1, MOO 3967, City of Calgary Archives. In vol. 2, twenty air photos covered with Mylar transparencies show the flood plain and much wider floodway in detail.
88. Brief to the Lombard Group, Bow River Beautification, 1973-1978, file 104, box 10, Calgary Local Council of Women Fonds, Glenbow Archive.
89. Lombard North Group, The Bow River Impact Study (Calgary: Lombard North Group, 1973), GB 1230 A5B66, University of Calgary Library; pt. 1, "Summary and Recommendations", pt. 2, "Overview"; pt. 3, "Analysis and Impact Assessment" (see especially pp. 69-78); and pt. 4, "Public Participation." A follow-up survey conducted a year later reinforced these conclusions. Public opinion strongly supported the idea that the riverbank should be retained for park purposes, but it also insisted that it be cleaned up and landscaped, Upstream improvements deemed desirable included wildlife preservation, swimming areas, boating access, and picnic facilities. Through the city, the landscaping of driveways, removal of industry, planting of more trees, paved cycle paths, more swimming areas, separate paths for pedestrians and bikers, and children's playgrounds were high priorities. Downstream from the city, the natural environment could be stressed. Walking and enjoying the scenery were the two most popular activities that the river park should be designed to enhance. "Regarding future river bank planning, the need exists for the development of a policing body which will ensure more stringent river bank development compatible with the natural river environment," the survey concluded.
90. D. Bathory, C. Bray, R. Gore, G. Johannesson, R. Kolibaba, R. Lamoureux, and L. Tyler, Bow River Community Survey, January 1975, mimeograph report, PAM 307.33 B 784, Glenbow Library.
91. File PL0012d, box 2864, Calgary River Management Committee, Parks and Recreation Papers, City of Calgary Archives; file PL0012, 1975, box 2864, Bow River Park System.
92. In a personal communication, Bill Robinson, the retired Parks Department official who oversaw the development of the river parks, recalled that up until 1974 the public servants of the city were keen to develop river parks, but the city council was notably unenthusiastic. Small sums of money had to be found through "creative accounting" to do things on an ad hoc basis. As he remembered it, Harry Boothman, his director, asked him to come up with a wish list to present to a private donor who wanted to do something. Along with two other ideas he presented the notion of a river trail system. The donor, who turned out to be Donald Harvie, seized upon the trail idea. Bill Robinson, personal communication, Apr. 2003. Donald Harvie's obituary stressed his role as the founder of Calgary's river parks as well as those in Saskatoon.
93. File PL0012b, box 2864, Bow River Park System, Parks and Recreation Papers, City of Calgary Archives, for the key 1975 documents, and same file, box 2087, for expansion of the program in 1976. Land acquisition and trail development continued into the early 1980s. See also Leslie Beck and Bill Robinson, Trail Systems (Calgary: Parks and Recreation, City of Calgary, 1975), University of Calgary Library.
94. City of Calgary, Calgary River Valley's Plan, 2 vols. (Calgary: Planning Department, 1984);
95. The Calgary Plan (City of Calgary, 1994), pp. 19-29, discusses the trend towards self recreation: "With the recent stress on physical fitness, ecology, and conservation, more and more people are engaging in recreational pursuits such as cross country skiing, biking, hiking, and nature study." See also West Bow Trail Co-ordinating Council Papers, 1971-1980, M5928, Glenbow Archives, especially file 4, box 1. This liaison body linking half a dozen small suburban municipalities to the west of Calgary co-ordinated efforts to push the trail system west.
96. See also West Bow Trail Co-ordinating Council Papers, 1971-1980, M5928, Glenbow Archives, especially file 4, box 1. This liaison body linking half a dozen small suburban municipalities to the west of Calgary co-ordinated efforts to push the trail system west.
97. John Thompson et al., Household Survey Alberta, Forestry Lands and Wildlife, Bow River Recreation Survey, 1987, vol. 4, GV 181.46 B69, Telephone Survey of Calgary and Region Households, University of Calgary Library.