Dawn of “The City of Calgary”: 1894

Calgary Officially Incorporated as a City in 1894...

In 1894, Calgary was incorporated as “The City of Calgary”. It was only 10 years earlier that it was incorporated as “The Town of Calgary” – in 1884.

But 10 years is all the time needed to transform a small prairie town of only 1,000 people to an economically thriving city with a population that had almost quadrupled over the decade, to a total of 3,900.

When the “Sandstone City” finally got its city title, it was already well established with a strong local economy largely owed to the success of the agricultural industry.

Interestingly enough, Calgary was incorporated as a city before Alberta became a province.

Wood to Sandstone

However, these golden years of growth weren’t without their challenges. On November 7th, 1886, in the early morning hours, one of the city’s first major fire erupted on what we know today as Centre Street and 9th Avenue SW in downtown.

Needless to say, the wooden structures of Calgary didn’t stand a chance against the raging inferno, which was fuelled by strong winds from the southwest. Despite the efforts made by locals to contain the fire, it still went on to claim approximately 14 buildings for a total cost of $103,200. The fire lasted until noon. The loss of 14 buildings was a considerable chunk of the wooden structures found in the town at the time. One upside was that no one was injured.

As a result of the fire, city officials suggested that a fire retardant material should be used in the construction of major religious and civic centres. They found sandstone, a locally sourced material with such properties, to be the perfect fit.

Less than five years later, there were sixteen sandstone quarries in and around Calgary supplying the material for various developments. At this moment in time more than half of the town’s skilled labourers were either masons or stonecutters.

*Sourced from City of Calgary, University of Calgary

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