The pair of pictures seen here, the first supplied by a legend of photography, Harry Palmer, the second from us, show the same Calgary skyline scene some thirty years apart. A lot has happened between the shooting of his photo in 1983 and ours in 2014 – many new towers have sprung up in the downtown core for example – yet there are still many things that are much as they were, or at least easily recognizable, like many of the fine old homes seen across the road.
The location of this photo is on the grounds of Sunatla School, which this author attended briefly in the 70s, in the community of Scarboro. We’re in the city’s southwest, on a hill overlooking downtown, facing in a northeasterly direction. The neighborhood here dates from the early 1910s and has always been a fairly affluent part of town. Not showoff-ish like Mount Royal, but overall well to do, reserved, comfortable and dignified.
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In the middleground there are a number of houses seen in both pictures. The one on the far left, with the pronounced pointy roof, stands out the most. It’s had some work done on it, but it still instantly recognizable.
Next door a new house has replaced a much smaller dwelling that used to sit on the same lot back when the old photo was captured. The next two homes to the right can easily been seen in both photos too. Beyond them there are too many trees in the way, in both photos, to make anything out reliably.
There are lots of towers in the city core in the 1983 image and a huge number more have been built since (notice all the building cranes in both shots). Prominent in Harry’s photo and still visible in ours, near dead centre, is the huge Nexen Building (I think it had another name in the 80s). It was very new back then. In fact, most of the towers seen in the old photo were for the most part less then a decade old at the time. Calgary’s downtown skyline before was quite different. The oil boom caused a building boom starting in the 1970s.
Conspicuous by its absence in our photo is the iconic Calgary Tower. The trees today, some of which seem to have grown up like weeds since ’83, block it from view.
Many apartment and condo complexes can be seen on the left side of the city core. All of these remain with lots of new ones added in the last decade or so. I don’t get downtown living, but then again, there is a lot in this world that is a mystery to me.
Even with all the new towers in downtown, and there are a lot of them, the overall skyline, it’s silhouette, is not that different from back then to now. Interesting.
The original photo is courtesy of and copyright Harry Palmer and is used with permission. Harry is a long time pro and we’re so privileged that he allowed us use of his work. If you have an old photo, yours or in the public domain, showing a street or city scene like this and would like us to visit the location shown and then document it all on this website, simply drop us a line via our contact page.
Our “now” picture was shot free-hand using a grid formula we’ve developed over the last couple years, that helps us line up our image with the old one (even when the aspect ratios differ greatly, as was the case here). Results using our method can be anywhere from pretty good to occasionally amazing and everything in between. This one’s almost perfect. We don’t line things up in post, save for some very MINOR tweaks, mostly scaling and keystoning, and what we get is what we get, be it good or great.
By the way, we shoot 5-8 pictures, typically, at slightly varying angles and such which is usually enough to assure that one photo will be near spot on.
April 12th 2024, the Beer Parlour Project visited the Warspite Hotel, Warspite Alberta and it was a great success. They put up our sticker and look for it if you ever drop by. This will be another chapter in what will be a multi-year adventure documenting small town hotels all over the west. We chat with owners, patrons, old timers, local characters and we learn about the building too.
It's believed this one is 100 years old in 2024 and we'll confirm details during the research phase done later.
When we're done we'll have a huge collection of digital and film photos, plus voice recorded interviews for an art exhibit and a book is likely.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2024. Posted by Connie.
This little stone house was built in the 1910s and while it's not exactly clear when last occupied, research suggests it was empty only a couple decades later. This is a dry area of the Alberta and most settlers moved out by the '30s. Trees in back were planted by the folks that lived here and there's no others around as far as the eye can see. In fact, there's nothing but natural prairie in every direction. When the word "remote" comes up, this is the place they're speaking of.
Look to the comments for more info and to see a stone smokehouse also on the property 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
The hardware business is long gone but their old sign from about a century ago remains. We were doing a little walk-about in Three Hills and had a tip to look here. It's little things like this that we love the most, hidden reminders of things that came before and clues to the past that aren't so obvious.
More info in the comments👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Posted by Connie.
The Canadian Pacific Railway at Summit Lake Crowsnest Pass in 1983 and 2023. The trains still run, but the railyard and associated infrastructure is a distant memory. Haze in the now photo is from distant forest fires. The old Summit Hotel can be seen in back in both and it's one of the few things still standing here from earlier times.
The Then photo come thanks to the John Bjorklund collection at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and is used with permission. They sent us others and we'll hopefully be putting them to use later this year.
Go to the comments for more info 👇
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Posted by Connie.
Thanks to the The Val Family for making this post possible. 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/
Two things that make us giddy in Hodgeville Saskatchewan and now both are gone. That majestic grain elevator dates from 1967 and sadly it was torn down a few years back. There's a Canada 100 logo high up there on the cupola.
The home made motorhome is something else and locals insisted it was powered by a radial engine salvaged off a De Havilland Beaver bush plane. How in the world? The fellow who built it passed on before its completion and soon after our visit it was scrapped. Rural folks seem to have this crazy ability to craft something they need out of any old bits and pieces lying around.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Posted by Connie.
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Someone stole the tower!
They tore it down, didn’t you hear?
Interesting
Harry Palmer (photographer)
Thanks for letting us use your picture. We had fun!