The Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary is a centre for performing arts, built in celebration of the province’s 50th anniversary (or “Jubilee” year) in 1955. Now close to sixty years old, the building is still a busy place and hosts many events throughout the year, and in in fact...
This post has been retired and an updated version can be found here: SAIT Heritage Hall (Built Early 1920s). See you there! They’re saying… “Great people and great articles! I am honored to know both Chris & Connie and to also have collaborated on photo trips or helped with research....
For this “then and now” post, a two-parter, we visit Central Memorial Park to look at Calgary’s Cenotaph, the Boer War Statue and Memorial Park Library in behind. The originals that we’ll try to duplicate are from a couple old postcards provided to us by a reader of this blog...
It’s the spring of 1989 (I think) and after working for months on end without break, I take a couple days off from my job in Vancouver BC to visit the sunny Okanagan. I spend one afternoon in Kelowna where I explore the railway in town. What, no relaxing on...
In this report we take a look at the CPR’s former Beiseker Alberta train station which now houses that town’s offices along with a library and museum. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2013, the building is in fine shape and sits only metres from where it was built. The railway...
The former Riverside Iron Works site in the historic neighbourhood of Ramsay has found a new lease on life and some of the old buildings are being converted into offices and studios. Once a ratty old factory, gritty and dirty, parts have been cleaned up and remodelled and look as...
The elevator seen here, the tallest thing for kilometres around, sits at a farm north of Fort MacLeod Alberta. An old building, some says it dates from the 1910s, the current owners think the 1920s, the structure was moved here, from a nearby town, way back in the 1970s. What...
Located close to the historic site for which its named, the Buffalo Jump Arts and Crafts store not far from Gleichen is abandoned and forgotten and close to collapse. Empty and open to the elements, it’s only a matter of time before it’s gone. This structure is located along the...
For this Calgary then and now report, we take a look at the circa 1910 Louise Block and 1909 Bell Block located just south of downtown near the old warehouse district. Sitting alongside northbound MacLeod Trail, a busy artery into the core, thousands of cars a day pass by the...
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...
In this report we look at a vintage postcard that shows 1st St SW in Calgary (undated – probably 1910s), and we return to that spot to see how it looks today. Of those buildings seen in the original image only one remains intact, although a second, the church at...
Being so tiny, Boler trailers can fit nearly anywhere and when not being used they can often be found tucked away in back yards or in alley parking spots. Or as we see here, you can put it in an out of the way area at the the end of...
To the motorists driving by on busy MacLeod Trail, it’s the Big Yellow house in Victoria Park just off downtown Calgary. Surrounded by parking lots and condo towers, it sits alone and looks terribly out of place and in fact it’s the only house left in the immediate area. It’s...
For this adventure we’re accompanied by fellow history explorer Jon Dirks and together we examine an old forgotten Buffalo Jump not far from Gleichen Alberta. Know as a Pishkun (or Piskun) this was once a place of great importance to the Blackfoot People. Today it’s quiet, save for the noise...
Alexandra School is located just east of downtown Calgary in the historic neighbourhood of Inglewood. Just over a century old, the building looks good, in spite of some ugly additions, and today is used as a community centre. The “then” image is from an old post card dated 1908 and...
This post has been updated and can be found here: Mewata Armoury Downtown Calgary. To see other Calgary then and now series we’ve created, click these links… Waiting on the Queen (Calgary 1973). Calgary Then & Now: Ogden Bus Loop. Calgary Then & Now: From Tom Campbell Hill. If you’d...
It’s been an amazing record year for Boler spotting and as of the writing of this report, we’ve seen fifty two so far. Included in that is out latest find, the “shades of grey” Boler found in Calgary in December of of 2013. They just keep coming and and we...
The Devenish Apartments are an amazing piece of architecture and they have been a well known Calgary landmark for just over a century now. Made of stunning deep-red brick and contrasting grey sandstone, the building stands proud and looks just as good as it did when it was built in...
The two pictures seen here, taken in 1992 and 1997 (or maybe 1998), show a rare and unusual arrangement – a duplicate set of grain elevators serving two parallel rail lines. The track passing by, belongs to the CNR and CPR and is located in the tiny town of Irricana...
Chris rushed in excitedly and showed me this comparison, but after a short pause, his look changed. It's that confused expression one gets just before the face-palm, when they realize something they did just doesn't add up.
One year shy of a century separates the two images but as it turns out, they're not even of the same building. The top is Westmount School and the bottom McDougall School, both in Edmonton and not far from each other.
It took this long to realize we'd been shooting at the wrong place all this time! The two schools were built in the same year and very close in design, so it's still an interesting comparison. We had a good laugh and we'll give Chris a mulligan on this one.
Looks like we're going have to head back for a do-over.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photos: 1924 and 2023. Submitted by Connie.
It's amazing how many of these Canada Centennial Maples Leafs still exist out in the wild across the prairies. We could fill an album with the ones we've photographed. It seems rural folks embraced patriotism with more fervor than their urban counterparts, but that's just an observation.
This example was found in a small Saskatchewan town. When they placed this up above the community hall there was a certain optimism that's not seen now. Today, only a handful of people call the community home, and it's that close to being a true ghost town. Almost sixty years in place and this memorial to a 100 year celebration is still here.
If our readers have found any of these while out exploring, please share in the comments. We'd love to see them.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
Billy Clark’s Cabin in Meadow Creek BC and it dates back over a century. Now at the local museum it formerly stood in a valley a little to east and on the shores of Duncan Lake (now Ducan Lake Reservoir).
Billy was a trapper, hunter, and woodsman. All he had was this tiny log house, a small plot of land, the surrounding wilderness, and his wits for survival. Nothing more. That spirit of self reliance seems to be a lost art today.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Submitted by Connie.
Both Chris and I both grew up in the malaise era for cars and get giddy when we spot one from that time out in the wild. It's like meeting an old friend. This '80s beauty was found out in a hiking area of Kananaskis and by all appearances, looks to be driven regularly.
The malaise era is marked by cars with uninspired design, quirky traits, hobbled performance and often questionable quality. Depressing stuff. This Cutlass is probably one of the better GM cars of the time, and both Chris and our son Will have owned examples in the past.
Have a malaise era story or photo to share? Post it in the comments!
Out in nature with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Submitted by Connie.
We come over many rises on a the prairies and on doing so surprised by many interesting things. This one caused a double take.
This lonely locomotives sits at the then very end of track outside Leader SK and was out of service at the time. Guess they socked it away out of sight to forget about it. We found photos showing it in service the year before our visit but here it was cold and dead.
Since this photo was taken, the Great Sandhills Railway has extended the track across the road and set up some kind of transloading operation. In years passed, the track (under CP ownership) continued west all the way into Alberta, but that's a distant memory.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2014. Submitted by Connie.
The messages have been coming fast and often. No, the book we produced a couple years back is not being published after all, in spite of appearing on many websites recently. Oddly some are showing it with the cover from another volume altogether. Please don't order and it must be a glitch.
The other two books shown in our capture are available however (and are awesome) and were produced by some friends. Interestingly, Chris contributed to each and those you can order.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Submitted by Connie.
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