Building History
Thomas Riley
In 1887 he, his wife, and their ten children arrived in Calgary. The family lived north of the Bow River, west of the Morleyville Road in what is known as the Hillhurst and Hounsfield Heights districts. They were among the best-known residents of southern Alberta and did much to promote the advancement of this province. Thomas Riley was a prominent member of the community and was twice a candidate for election to the North-West Legislature. SAIT is situated on what was once part of his ranch. The parcel of land was sold to the province by Ezra Hounsefield Riley in 1919. |
Colonel James Walker
His activities in the military, civic and business sectors contributed to a small settlement becoming a town first and a city second. Throughout his life he was involved in many endeavours and activities — he was the first civilian justice in the North-West Territories, he was Calgary's first immigration officer, he was the first president of the Calgary Exhibition, he established the first telephone service in Calgary, he organized the first school, he was a member of the first hospital board, he organized the first boy scout and cade groups in the community and in 1975 he was named Calgary's Citizen of the Century. |
John Ware
His understanding of cattle, his ability to ride and his sense of humour made him respected to cowboy and rancher alike, at a time when a man was judged by his neighbourliness, his loyalty, and the way he honoured his word. John Ware was a paragon and legend of the old west. Excellent horseman though he was, his death was the result of a riding accident and his funeral was the largest Calgary had seen at that time. |
Senator Burns
A self-made millionaire who could ride and rope as well as anyone, he was one of the Big Four who underwrote the 1912 Stampede, and in 1931 he was appointed to the Canadian Senate. |
Eugene Coste
A geologist and an engineer who had already discovered gas in Ontario, he became convinced that parts of Alberta contained large amounts of natural gas also. In 1909 drilling in Southern Alberta produced a large commercial field which led to the formation of the enterprise first known as Canadian Western Natural Gas, Light, Heat and Power Company. On July 17, 1912, natural gas reached Calgary through a one hundred seventy-mile transmission line, hailed as the longest sixteen-inch pipeline in North America at that time. Eugene Coste's vision and industrial pioneering earned him the title of the father of the natural gas industry in Canada. |
E.H. Crandell
The former mayor of Brampton, Ontario, he arrived in Calgary in 1900 and operated an insurance and real estate agency until he incorporated the Calgary Pressed Brick and Sandstone Company in 1906. His brick plant was located in Brickburn, on the Bow River near Shaganappi Hill. His firm was responsible for the building of some of Calgary's finest residences and buildings, most having the characteristic combination of brick and sandstone. In addition to being a driving force in the business community, he was very active in Calgary's social life, in fraternal orders, and held aldermanic and school trustee offices as well. Mount Crandell in Waterton National Park is named after him. |
Bob Edwards
From that time until his death, issues of the Calgary Eye Opener appeared with irregular frequency. At times as much a character as the political personalities, social pretenders, and town oddities he lampooned, as a humorist he bears comparison to Leacock and Twain. Though he had a weakness for alcohol, he supported prohibition in the 1915 plebiscite, and after years of satirizing politicians, in 1921 he himself ran as an Independent and won a seat in the Alberta Legislature. His victory was short-lived, however, and at his funeral policemen in dress uniforms were his pallbearers. |
Nellie McClung
First active in prohibition and suffragist issues in Manitoba, she came to Alberta in 1915 and her political activity led to her election into the Alberta Legislature in 1921. McClung was one of five women who appealed a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada and won the support of the British Privy Council which declared in 1929 that women were indeed persons and could, therefore, be appointed to the Canadian Senate. In an equally impressive writing career, she had sixteen books and numerous magazine articles published in her lifetime. She was active in the Canadian Authors Association, was the first woman to sit on the Board of the CBC, and was a delegate to the League of Nations. |
Geroge Murdoch
A strong advocate of incorporation, in 1884 he became the town's youngest chief administrator to ever to hold that position. He was a community-minded individual whose activities in establishing societies and associations and in generating voluntarism signify his importance in the social as well as the civic progress in Calgary. His municipal spirit was so strong that he named his son Calgary Murdoch. |