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Glenbow |
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Glenbow:
Brief glory along the Bow River
When
American businessman Chester Rhodes de la Vergne arrived in Calgary from
New York in 1909 he set his entrepreneurial sights about 25 kilometres
northwest of the Alberta city.
He soon purchased land owned by Stephen Christopher Lay Moore and Frank
R. Houghton near a Canadian Pacific Railway siding known as Glenbow.
It was here de la Vergne would realize a dream of operating a horse and
sheep ranch in partnership with horse rancher Leonard H. Kennerley. But
there was an even bigger dream for the American, one leading to the construction
of the young province’s grand and beautiful Legislature Building
in the capital city of Edmonton. |
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©
Johnnie Bachusky |
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Aerial
view of rail spur and old brickworks at Glenbow in 1922. 1922 air photograph,
University of Calgary Air Photographs Collection. |
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Glenbow
was situated at the foot of a valley on the north side of the Bow River.
A few years earlier Moore noted there was sandstone in the outcrops on
the steep hillsides of his property.
In 1906 and 1907, Calgary businessman John Gillespie, a stone contractor
and Scottish stone mason, had checked out the sandstone at Glenbow with
two other entrepreneurs and came away impressed. Sandstone was gaining
popularity at the time, particularly in Calgary, for use in building construction.
Gillespie’s visit would become more important later as he became
Chief Inspector of Masonry for the provincial department of public works,
and was in charge of the construction of Edmonton’s Legislature
Building.
At the time of Gillespie’s visit, a sandstone quarry was in operation,
and became known as the Glenbow Quarry Company in 1907. However, it went
out of business the following year and was sold to the Alberta government. |
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Location
of Glenbow quarry workers settlement. 1922 air photograph, University of
Calgary Map and Airphotos. |
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MountaiThe
tramway area at Glenbow in 1990. .n Park in 1940. The community's population
had by then grown to more than 1,000 coal miners and their families.
Photo by Judith Barge |
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Map
of Glenbow area showing location of trails, settlement and quarry. Based
on map of Calgary Northwest (1931), Canada Dept. of Mines and Resources,
Surveys and Engineering branch, Ottawa. |
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De la Vergne was a key proponent to have quarry reopened, and in 1909 a
contract was granted to the firm of Quinlan and Carter Ltd. to operate the
Glenbow Quarry and to supply the sandstone for the construction of the Legislature
Building in Edmonton.
A settlement of tents and shacks for workers – many of them stone
masons and cutters from Scotland – was quickly established on a triangle
of land between the CPR line and the Bow River. |
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Registered
plan of Glenbow settlement.
Alberta Land Titles office. |
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Looking
west over Glenbow Valley in 1990. Photo by Judith Barge. |
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The
opening of the quarry attracted great interest to Glenbow. De la Vergne
built a large house at Glenbow with waterworks and electricity at a cost
of $12,000. He contracted surveyors to lay out subdivisions on both sides
of the CPR. The frenzied activity soon caught the attention of Calgary newspapers.
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A newspaper
ad in the Calgary Herald for a race at Glenbow in 1909. |
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