For this then and now series we look at the St George’s Island (or Zoo Island) Bridge in Calgary. The first view is from an undated postcard and the second was shot by us recently. In spite of our angles being off a bit, we can see that the bridge has changed little in the century or so that has passed between the two images being taken.
The bridge was built in 1908 by the Algoma Steel Bridge Company in Winnipeg Manitoba. Along with the one, there are several other bridges of a similar design and vintage, and all from that same company, in the immediate area. Two cross the Elbow River just east of this one and are separated by a few hundred metres. Another example can be found outside of downtown near Bowness. Expect reports on them at some point in the future.
This bridge is of the Camelback Truss or Parker Camelback Truss design and is rather frail looking. Don’t worry it’s only in appearances and it’s able to handle the load even today. Designed when horse and buggies were the norm, it carries vehicular traffic now and is used to access the Calgary Zoo on St Georges Island from the neighbourhood of Inglewood; or to get to Memorial Drive further north.
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In spite of its age, the bridge seems to be holding up well. In fact it survived the spring 2013 floods without a problem, a testament to the people who built it. The main spans cross the deeper north section of the Bow River while a open-deck section spans the shallower south side of that waterway.
Open only to cars and light trucks, the narrow width makes crossing it quite a nail biter, especially if there is oncoming traffic. It’s possible and it has happened where two vehicles have hit mirrors in passing.
At one time, as seen in the “then” image, there was a walkway on the bridge’s west side. That was blocked off at some unknown date and a new walkway added to the opposite side. The remains of the former can still be seen on the main spans. Outside of that change, and the different guard rails, the similarity between the old and new pictures is quite amazing.
When the bridge was built, residences existed on St Georges Island and in fact some were quite stately based upon old pictures this author has seen. Early on the island also became home to an animal park (around World War One) and later a full blown zoo which has been expanded upon numerous times encompassing nearly the entire island. In fact it has outgrown the this space and some of the attractions are on the “mainland” north of it. The zoo suffered much damage due to the spring 2013 floods mentioned earlier.
The only non-zoo section of the island is a public park, located on a small sliver of land on the west end.
Based upon the style of dress seen on the people in the postcard, one could guess the undated image is from the 1910s. At the time the photo was taken Inglewood, which would have been behind the photographer, was a nice respectable working class neighbourhood. By the 1960s and 70s, it was in serious decline but has since bounced back. In fact, it’s quite trendy now.
I have not been able to find out what the future holds in store for this bridge. Will it be kept or are there plans to replace it? This author could not find any data on this. It seems to be doing its job well and it’s certainly historic, so perhaps those are enough to keep it in service.
There is a second much smaller and more modern concrete span connecting St Georges Island to the outside world on the north side.
The postcard seen was donated by a reader (thanks Jack). As was typical for the time, the colour image was in fact a black and white photo that was hand tinted – true colour photography then was rare and the process to print them far too expensive.
To get my photo I had to dodge traffic, so forgive if it does not line up perfectly.
A young boy was murdered while playing under the bridge (long time ago don’t remember dates) and Calgary EMS apparently receives dozens of calls a year to that location because people report hearing a child screaming under the bridge. Spooky!
You got an excellent shot of IMO :). Personally, I much prefer the white (wooden?) guardrails that used to be there. Thanks for sharing how it used to look back in the day!
As for the postcard being undated, I wonder if the trademark and number on the front are searchable to give more data?
I agree, the old guardrails were more ascetically pleasing. With some research I bet we could find the date the image was taken – that number must mean something.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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Hi again,
A young boy was murdered while playing under the bridge (long time ago don’t remember dates) and Calgary EMS apparently receives dozens of calls a year to that location because people report hearing a child screaming under the bridge. Spooky!
Thanks again for the great blog!
Spooky!
You got an excellent shot of IMO :). Personally, I much prefer the white (wooden?) guardrails that used to be there. Thanks for sharing how it used to look back in the day!
As for the postcard being undated, I wonder if the trademark and number on the front are searchable to give more data?
I agree, the old guardrails were more ascetically pleasing. With some research I bet we could find the date the image was taken – that number must mean something.