The then and now photos in this series were shot at Calgary’s Heritage Park. Captured in 1969 and 2014 respectively, they show a cemetery in the foreground and in back, a police barracks. Since nothing is supposed to change here, remember it’s a museum after all, naturally things today are much as they were back when the old photo was shot. Or are they? And on closer look, a good number of things differ and it’s not just the the size of the trees.
The location of these photos is on the grounds of St Martin’s Church, just off frame to the right. That building was constructed in the 1890s and came to the park from Lundbreck Alberta in the 60s. They still hold services here and the building is popular as a (small) wedding venue.
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The wood grave markers are real although no one is actually buried here. When some old memorials at the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) cemetery in Fort MacLeod, were replaced with new ones, these were sent to the park. Also shown in the now photo is a depiction of the grave of Sam Livingston, the stone marker on right, who was an early pioneer in Calgary.
The police barracks date from the 1880s and come from the town of Banff in mountains west of Calgary. From the 1910s until it was donated to Heritage Park in the 1960s, it was used as a residence, Inside there is a simple office, living quarters for a couple men and a small jail (or gaol as some people referred to them back then).
The North-West Mounted Police are today called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP or “Mounties”, who famously “always get their man” (actually a movie stereotype). Founded in the 1870s, they changed their name to the current one, in the early part of the twentieth century.
A comparison of changes between the then and now photos are few…or so it appears. The trees, as you can see, have a grown a great deal, the grave markers that lost their whitewash, plus there is a new grave stone and a totally new building (new to Heritage Park that is) that has sprung up beside the barracks across the street. The site is much as it was. Sort of.
Heritage Park, a living history museum, was founded in the 1960s. It’s home to a huge collection of historical structures and artifacts that represent the storied history of Southern Alberta. One can spend a day there, but two is better if you want to soak it all in. There is a lot to see.
The old image is courtesy of and copyright Weston Langford and is used with permission. Sadly, Weston, passed away last year. He is a well known train photographer, but shot other things too and before he left this world he gave us free run to use his photos in these then and now series as we saw fit. Thanks Weston, we’ll miss talking with you.
If you have an old photo like the one used in this report, that is your copyright or in the public domain that shows a street scene or something of historical interest and would like us to use it as fodder for one of our trademark “then and now” posts, by all means send it to us. We’ll visit the location seen, will document how it looks today and will post it here for everyone to see. Either real photos or scans are acceptable.
Our “now” picture was shot free-hand and lined up in camera using a special propriety grid formula we’ve developed over the years. Results using our method are usually pretty satisfactory. Outside some very minor tweaking, what you see here is as it came out of the camera. We’re purist and it’s the only way we can do it.
Your work is amazing! Your composition is almost exactly that of the old photo. Weston Langford was a school mate. I heard he passed and found your site during a search on him.
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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Your work is amazing! Your composition is almost exactly that of the old photo. Weston Langford was a school mate. I heard he passed and found your site during a search on him.
Wow, he was such a nice guy to us, happily allow us use of his old photos.