Prior to 1875, the land surrounding the forks of the Bow and Elbow Rivers was the home of the Blackfoot Nation which comprised approximately 10,000 Sarcee, Blood, Peigan, and Blackfoot people. Many indigenous names for Calgary refer to the confluence of the Elbow River and the Bow River. This “elbow-like” curve at the confluence was for centuries, an important trading and gathering place for First Nations. Seen clearly from the pathway connector bridge to Inglewood just east of The Confluence was known by many First Nations as the word for “elbow” including the Blackfoot word Moh-kíns-tsis-aká-piyoyis, (meaning “elbow many houses”) , the Stoney word Wincheesh-pah, the Cree word for elbow, Otos-kwunee, and the T’suu T’ina word Kootsisáw.
In the Inglewood area, it is surmised the Blackfoot seasonally hunted bison and other game. While they did not extensively fish for food, the Blackfoot did use the tree-lined river banks for encampments because they were a source of game, water and firewood. Evidence of a pre-historic fire has been found in the north end of the bird sanctuary, along the Bow River’s meandering shoreline. These remains could indicate a winter encampment inhabited while they hunted the surrounding wildlands and prairies, or it could be there was only one fire made while they ate a meal along the river.
Whiskey Trade
From 1840-1866, American trading parties made seasonal forays into the Bow River country, collecting bison robes and furs and returning to their permanent forts on the Missouri River.
With the arrival of the Northwest Mounted Police to deal with the whiskey trade (exchanging American whiskey for furs) that flourished after 1866, a permanent settlement was established east of the Elbow River. This included the Bow River Post constructed by the Hudson Bay Company of logs and whip-saw lumber. And a number of one-room log houses built by Metis employees of the HBC. Two original Metis cabins still exist in good condition, the Hunt House and the Calgary Brewery Shanty.
Tent Town and Calgary's First Post
Tents weren’t uncommon in Calgary’s early days, as settlers arrived and sought housing on a temporary — and sometimes not so temporary — basis. Tents were used as business premises, too, back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and many of the city’s earliest businesses, including the Calgary Herald, started their operations in a tent.
The first Calgary post, "consisted of three buildings: a store, a residence for the manager and a cabin for the Indigenous interpreter. The new post was small and supplied from Edmonton House, which had been established in 1795."
In 1881 when the transcontinental railway was routed through Calgary, the heart of the town moved to the west bank of the Elbow River. The HBC moved with it, constructing a larger single-storey store located on the corner of 8th Avenue and Centre Street.
"The first HBC location was occupied until 1891. Meanwhile the original HBC post on the east side of the river was converted to use as a warehouse. Significantly, Chief Factor Richard Hardisty had by then already been relocated to Calgary from Edmonton, an indication of the Company's assessment of Calgary's growing importance."
As the fur trade began to decline in popularity as the 1800's came to an end, the Deed of Surrender between HBC and Canada in 1869 saw the company yield its sovereignty over its traditional territories to the newly formed country and the historic trading post became one of the most synonymous names in retail. In order to keep up with a continually evolving society and on the advice from an HBC director from Harrods department store in London, England, the HBC began a modernizing program, which included Canada's original six department stores in Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Calgary was the first of these "modern" stores to be built on the corner of 7th Avenue and First Street.
From 1866, the population of the area east of the Elbow grew, with increasing numbers of Metis and ex-Northwest Mounted Police, including Louis Roselle, Captain Cecil Denny and Colonel James Walker.
Colonel James Walker
Colonel James Walker was one of the founders of The City of Calgary. As a businessman and civic leader, Walker was an active proponent of City improvement, education, and outdoor recreation. He was involved in many endeavors, serving as a mounted police officer, rancher, lumberman and school board chairman; and founding the Calgary Agricultural Society. From 1882 to 1903, Walker operated a sawmill on the open river plain of his homestead property at the site he named Inglewood. He dammed an inner channel of the Bow River to form a lagoon that sits above the river’s high water level, where he stored logs in floating booms. The mill was one of Calgary’s first manufacturing industries, supplying the nascent city with building materials to grow its economy. Walker’s Italianate red brick residence, built in 1910, is one of the few remaining agricultural homesteads in the inner city. On these grounds, Walker experimented with agricultural crops and techniques. In 1975, Walker was named Calgary’s Citizen of the Century. In 1977, the Colonel Walker Residence and Homestead Lands were declared a Provincial Historic Resource.
The name Inglewood, was established officially in 1911, named after the nearby homestead established by Colonel James Walker.
With this distinction, there is a huge footprint of heritage and character buildings, from gorgeous Edwardian commercial buildings like the Burn Block, to community resource buildings like the Romanesque Revival East Calgary Telephone Exchange.
East Calgary & Brewery Flats
The area known as Brewery Flats was once home to Calgary’s first brewery (Calgary Malting and Brewing, est. 1892).
In 1875, the North-West Territories Act was passed, which prohibited alcohol across western Canada. The small community at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers was as dry as dust but there was a thirst for change. That change came in 1892 when prohibition was repealed. Just three months later, The Calgary Brewing & Malting Company was born. The first batch of the famed buffalo and horseshoe logoed beer hit town streets in 1893 – a full year before Calgary would become a city.
The brainchild of A. E. Cross - one of Calgary's first modern industrialists who is immortalized as one of the Stampede’s Big Four – was elected president and quickly assembled a team of his rancher friends to finance and establish the fledgling company – Alberta's first brewery.
The brewery quickly proved successful and over the next decades, Cross re-invested the company's profits into growth and diversification including the acquisition of smaller breweries and hotels. The influence of the brewery was so far reaching that the Inglewood area in which it is situated became known as “Brewery Flats.” Many of Calgary's leading citizens were original shareholders of the company.
The primary product was “Calgary Export Lager”, which was shipped as far as China and Australia, but distributed mainly in western Canada. The founding of the Brewery introduced barley growing to Alberta. To encourage barley growing for malting purposes, the company imported seed barley from Ontario and distributed it amongst the farmers of Alberta and guaranteed a return of 25% higher than regular market price.
When Prohibition was enacted in 1916, beer production was limited but the company turned to producing temperance beers and soft drinks as a substitute, which turned out to be quite popular.
The Calgary Brewing & Malting Company was responsible for many innovations in Calgary's industrial and social history. The brewery was one of Calgary’s largest early employers and was one of the first in the province to introduce pension plans and insurance for its employees, as well as providing Depression-era relief work. Additionally, in 1910, the brewery became the first commercial user of natural gas in Western Canada.
The 1930s witnessed two significant additions to the site. In the early 1930s, J. B. Cross, continuing his father's legacy of community service, built a large garden adjacent to the brewery as a make-work project for his Depression-era employees. Begun in 1932, the garden eventually included a variety of species of flora, fish hatcheries and waterfalls. A small section of the lot was donated by the Cross family to the City of Calgary and became the site of Inglewood’s community swimming pool in 1963. Most of the rest of the original buildings have remained together through multiple changes in ownership.
Between the 1910s and the 1950s, the company's fortunes ebbed and flowed with the First and Second World Wars, Prohibition and the Great Depression. By 1961, however, the company was beset by insurmountable challenges and was sold to Canadian Breweries in 1961 and then bought by Rothman's in 1969. Renamed Carling O'Keefe in 1973, the brewery was finally taken over by Molson Breweries in 1989 and eventually ceased production in 1994. Its majestic buffalo head logo stills strikes a chord with many Calgarians. That brewery is now long gone, but the area has undergone a craft brewery renaissance.
Present
Today, Inglewood is a vibrant, eclectic and ever-evolving arts and culture-filled district with more than two hundred shops, cafes, restaurants and live music venues, many located in Calgary’s historic buildings. Inglewood is a community that values art and is home to many Calgary artists and musicians.
The pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood has much to offer from local shops, restaurants and bars, combined with character homes off 9th Avenue and a beautiful river pathway system.
Just north of Inglewood is the Calgary Zoo and St.Patrick’s Island, and just to the west is The Confluence Historical Site. Many of Inglewood’s businesses are on 9th Avenue, formerly known as Atlantic Avenue. Many others are on adjacent streets, that are also great places to look for iconic buildings like the Livery barn, and the National Hotel (home of famous restaurant, The Nash). 9th Avenue was the first main street in Calgary and still possesses some of the best architecture of any main street in Calgary.
Inglewood continues to be a vibrant, historic, pedestrian- oriented neighbourhood and home of many of Calgary’s iconic institutions, including 400 residential, institutional and commercial buildings constructed before 1914. It also has over six substantial city parks and a linear river pathway system.
Inglewood's vibrancy is directly connected to low, human-scale building heights and its village vibe. Inglewood was designated by the Canadian Institute of Planners as Canada’s Greatest Community in 2014.
History
