Calgary History: Grand Trunk Streetcar Route Controversy
Recently a Calgary historian who manages the Facebook page “Old Calgary Sidewalk Stamps” posted a series fun stories about the Grand Trunk street car route and the communities it served, which includes my community of West Hillhurst. In fact the street car route went very close to my house. I thought it would be fun to share the post.
Grand Trunk Streetcar
If you've ever lived in West Hillhurst, Briar Hill, or Hounsfield Heights, this June 1946 photo might reawaken some memories.
The Calgary Municipal Railway streetcar pictured here is travelling west on the old Grand Trunk loop. It's just completed the 8th Ave NW section, and is crossing 19th St NW to continue its path west along 7th Ave NW.
The Grand Trunk streetcar route- maps to follow- first came into existence in the fall of 1913. Many residents of Grand Trunk- which was north of Kensington Rd between 19th St and 24th St NW-obiected back then to the placement of the northern section of the route, which ran along 8th and 7th Avenues NW. It was felt by many that a track heading west along 6th Ave NW would serve more people.
In this picture, the photographer is standing on what today is 19th St NW, looking northeast to 8th Ave NW, which runs along the base of Hounsfield Heights hill.
The old house in the background was once known as Hounsfield Lodge. It was built in 1906 by Thomas Riley- the patriarch of the Riley family- who had extensive land holdings in the area.
Neither Thomas nor his wife Jane- nee Hounsfield- would live long enough to enjoy their new home, sadly. It was occupied thereafter by other family members until 1945, the year before this photo was taken.
The house and its 5 acres of land was purchased in 1945 by the Lutheran Welfare Society, which had been organized by local Danish churches that year. The old Riley house then became the
"Bethany Home for Elderly Persons" in 1946. Although the Bethany initially housed senior Danes, its scope was later expanded to include all elderly people "of sound mind, with no contagious diseases".
As the Bethany Home grew to become today's Bethany Care Centre, more room was required, and the old Riley house on the hill eventually became a liability.
Prior to it being demolished in 1975, some reading this might remember seeing the old house behind the Bethany, or- gasp!- might even remember sneaking inside.
This is a November 1912 Herald newspaper clipping, which gives you some idea of the controversy surrounding the choice of route. Despite Alderman Frank Riley’s objections and petitioning by residents, the 8th Avenue NW route was selected.
This 1949 U of C airphoto shows the development in the area by then; much of it thanks to various post-WW2 housing projects there. 19th Street doesn’t yet run up the hill. We’ve added a blue star to show the location of the streetcar in the top photo.
This is an example of one of the "wartime" houses found in the area. It was part of a project built by Bennett and White, and is still standing on the east side of 19th St NW.
Here is a complete map of Calgary’s street car routes.
Last Word
A few weeks ago I posted about how many of Calgary’s LRT routes have been controversial and now it turns out the same was true early in the 20th century with the streetcar routes.
If you want to read the original post and some of the locals comments click here: