Lindsay's Estate: a History of Parkview and Erlton
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Lindsay’s Estate: A History of Parkview and Erlton prepared for the Erlton Community Association by David Mittelstadt November, 2001 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Erlton Community Association, especially Susan and Tom Milne, for their support and interest, and the staff of the Glenbow Archives and Library, the City of Calgary Archives, the Calgary Board of Education, the University of Calgary Special Collections, and the Canadian Architectural Archives for help with research and reproductions. Special thanks are extended to the Insurers’ Advisory Organization for permission to reproduce fire insurance maps. Special thanks are also given to Doug Cass and Harry Sanders for reviewing the manuscript, and to Susan Menzies for volunteering her time and expertise for the layout and graphics. The Erlton Community Association gratefully acknowledges the support of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation in funding this study. Table of Contents Introduction pg. 9 I. Beginnings Prehistoric Erlton pg. 11 The Homestead Years pg. 11 II. Development Lindsay’s Estate pg. 15 The Creation of Parkviewpg. 21 Annexation pg. 22 The Creation of Erlton pg. 22 The Cemeteries pg. 26 A Neighbourhood is Born pg. 32 Servicing Parkview and Erlton pg. 34 Bridges pg. 37 Education in Erlton pg. 38 Erlton and the Streetcar pg. 40 Worshipping in Erlton pg. 42 The Early Residents pg. 43 The Canadian Northern Railway pg. 47 Commerce and Industry pg. 48 III. Erlton & Parkview Between the Wars The Flood of 1929 pg. 56 The Residents pg. 57 The Depression pg. 58 Boyhood Memories of Erlton pg. 60 IV A Maturing Neighbourhood - Erlton after World War Two Post-War Growth pg. 62 The Residents pg. 62 Traffic Woes pg. 64 A New School pg. 68 St. George’s Recovers… pg. 70 V. Epilogue – Erlton Into the Future The CNR Leaves pg. 74 Redevelopment pg. 74 Endnotes pg. 77 Bibliography pg. 81 Illustrations CAA - Canadian Architectural Archives CCA - City of Calgary Archives GMA - Glenbow Alberta Archives GML - Glenbow Alberta Library UC - University of Calgary 1. GML, G3504 C151 1913, Harrison’s Map of Calgary, 1913 cover 2. GMA, PD 117-5-63, Parkview, 1913 pg. 10 3. GMA, NB 16-350, Aerial Photo, 1914 pg. 10 4. GMA, NA 2776-1, Fagnant’s farmhouse, 1890 pg. 13 5. GML, 1884 Survey Map, section pg. 14 6. GMA, NA 3074-1, Dr. Neville Lindsay, 1900 pg. 15 7. GML, G3504 C151 1891, Map of Calgary 1901, section pg. 16 8. GML, G3504 C151 1905, Map of Calgary, 1905, section pg. 18 9. GMA, NA644-24, Victoria Bridge, 1905 pg. 19 10. Alberta Land Titles, Subdivision Plan, Plan 3940L, 1906 pg. 20 11. Alberta Land Titles, Subdivision Plan, Plan 2865AC, 1910 pg. 24 12. Alberta Land Titles, Subdivision Plan, Plan 960AM, 1912 pg. 25 13. GMA, NA 1604-55, William R. Reader, c. 1910 pg. 27 14. GMA, PD 117-13-309, Cemetery Arch, c. 1913 pg. 28 15. CCA, Parks and Recreation Fonds, Cemetery Map, n.d. pg. 29 16. CCA, Parks and Recreation Fonds, Cemetery Map, n.d. pg. 30 17. GMA, NA 2187-2, Parkview, 1909 pg. 38 18. GMA, NA 2187-3, Parkview, 1909 pg. 35 19. CCA, Section Map, M000033, c. 1913 pg. 36 20. GMA, NA 2399-86, 25th Avenue Bridge, c. 1921 pg. 37 21. GMA, NA 644-25, Victoria Bridge, c. 1911 pg. 38 22. GMA, NA 613-7, Cottage School, c. 1912 pg. 39 23. GMA, PD 117-3-26, Erlton and School, c. 1914 pg. 40 24. GMA, NA2935-8, Streetcar, August 3, 1940 pg. 41 25. CCA, Fire Insurance Map, Parkview, 1913 pg. 45 26. CCA, Fire Insurance Map, Erlton, 1913 pg. 45 27. GMA, PD 117-5-5, Parkview and Erlton, c. 1913 pg. 47 28. GMA, NA 5610-79CNR locomotive, c. 1913 pg. 48 29. GML, G3504 C151 1913, Harrison’s Map of Calgary, 1913 pg. 49 30. GMA, NA 955-15, F.G. Marwood, n.d. pg. 51 31. GMA, PD 117-5-7, Marwood Block, c. 1914 pg. 51 32. GMA, NC 24-103, The Somerville Company, 1911 pg. 52 33. GMA, NA 2781-3, Standen’s Factory, 1928 pg. 54 34. GMA, NA 2781-4, Standen’s Factory, Interior, 1939 pg. 55 35. GMA, NA 2781-1, Cyril Standen, c. 1960 pg. 5 36. GMA, NA 1494-58, Flood of 1929, 25th Avenue Bridge pg. 56 37. UC, Aerial Photo, 1924 pg. 58 38. GMA, NA 2861-9, Reginald Clements, c. 1950 pg. 59 39. GMA, NA 920-22, Skating on Elbow, c. 1900 pg. 60 40. UC, 820 1931 Oblique, Aerial Photo, 1931 pg. 61 41. UC, 820 10 1949 A12271-13, Aerial photo, 1949 pg. 63 42. CCA, Fire Insurance Plan, Parkview, 1954 pg. 65 43. CCA, Fire Insurance Plan, Erlton, 1954 pg. 66 44. CCA, Fire Insurance Plan, East Parkview, 1961 pg. 69 45. CAA, St. George’s n.d. pg. 71 46. UC, 820 6 1961 280, Aerial photo, 1961 pg. 72 47. UC, 820 12 1969 253, Aerial photo, 1969 pg. 73 Lindsay’s Estate: A History of Parkview and Erlton Introduction Erlton is one of the less well known of Calgary’s orig- squatted there, the promoters and real estate developers inal neighbourhoods. Originally two distinct areas, who made it a subdivision, the municipal politics that Parkview and Erlton, the present community lies just made it a part of Calgary, the building of the infrastruc- south of the downtown core between the six lanes of ture – roads, bridges, sewers and lights – that made it a traffic known as Macleod Trail and the pleasant banks of viable community, the businesses that operated there, the Elbow River, a strip of houses rising south from the and finally the people who made it home. It looks at the flood plain up the escarpment to end in the gentle green effect on the development of the neighbourhood of out- park of St. Mary’s Cemetery. It is barely two city blocks side forces such the Canadian Northern Railway. It wide, surrounded by three burial grounds, light rail tran- chronicles the community institutions of Erlton such as sit, and the Lindsay Park Aquatic centre. Although some- St. George’s Anglican Church and the Erlton Cottage times confused with nearby districts such as Parkhill or School. Using documentary sources, contemporary Mission, it is a unique neighbourhood with roots in newspapers and interviews with long time residents, a Calgary’s early history. It is also a community being history has been recorded where there was none before. remade in a new contemporary image. Condominiums and stately townhouses have replaced most of the old History is a journey of discovery, and it can be a long homes on the flats near Lindsay Park. On the hillside, in- voyage. Even a small neighbourhood like Erlton can fills are supplanting the mix of post-war bungalows, present puzzles and mysteries that many hours of worker’s shacks and elegant Edwardian four-squares research still cannot answer. The following pages dis- that were old Erlton. It is a neighbourhood in transition cuss many aspects of the community’s history, from its and renewal as Calgary’s inner city grows ever more physical development as well as social evolution, but this popular. study is not exhaustive. It is a start, not an end, and sets the foundation for anyone interested in pursuing For two generations, however, Erlton lay on the edge Erlton’s history to build upon. of the city. Immediately to the south was Parkhill and several miles to the south and east lay the industrial sub- urb of Manchester, but a resident of Erlton could easily Scope leave home and after a ten-minute walk, be on virgin prairie or in a farmer’s field. The neighbourhood was a The community of Erlton must be defined before it high watermark of Calgary’s first great boom, which can be described. Contemporary Erlton extends from began at the turn of the century and ended in 1914 with 22nd Avenue SE as the north boundary to Mission Road World War One. It was a time unparalleled in Calgary’s in the south and from Erlton Street in the west to history, when the city grew tenfold in a decade, land val- Macleod Trail in the east. The historic Erlton we will dis- ues skyrocketed and civic promoters expected a quarter- cuss is somewhat different. Originally it was two neigh- million residents by 1915 from only four thousand in bourhoods: Parkview, which covered the area between 1901. Parkview was born at the beginning of the real 22nd Avenue and 26th Avenue SE, and 1st Street SE to estate rush when the land on the river flats adjacent to 3rd street SE, and Erlton, which extended from 26th today’s Lindsay’s Park was subdivided in 1906. Four Avenue south to 30th Avenue, bounded by the escarp- years later, the adjacent property running south up the ment over the Elbow River on the west and Victoria Road hill was subdivided as “Earlton.” After the great boom (now Macleod Trail) on the east. The area to the south of ended, Parkview and Erlton sat on the fringe of Calgary 30th Avenue was known for some years as Mission for over forty years, only to be swallowed up by a rapidly Heights and was never heavily developed before being expanding city after World War Two. turned over to St. Mary’s Cemetery. Until the 1970s the two neighbourhoods retained their separate names, but What follows in these pages is a history of the neigh- for all intents and purposes formed one district.