As the economy prospered and the city grew up around them - buildings like Gulf Canada Square, City Centre and the Palliser Parkades created a wall between downtown and the Beltline.īut fast-forward to the early 21st century, and today the city of 1.3 million is renegotiating its relationship with the rails. Mount Royal was created as Calgary's first estate community for CP executives, and the iconic Calgary Tower was built by a CP subsidiary in 1968.įor better or worse, the rails have shaped Calgary for a century. And Stephen Avenue, Calgary's signature street, is named after Lord Mount Stephen, the first CP president. In fact, CP once owned most of Calgary's downtown.ĬP created the design of the familiar street grid still in place today. at the Canadian Pacific Railway's Ogden Shops, circa 1913. The long-since-vanished CP station was where newcomers alighted to begin their lives in the city - others just came to visit, staying at the purpose-built Palliser Hotel next to the station.Ī train under repair. The rails were also the main point of entry to Calgary. At one time, all of the city's streetcar routes were organized to get workers to the yards. The massive, 64-hectare Odgen Yards, which opened in 1912, immediately became the largest employer, and stayed that way for decades as goods were shipped in and out of the city. Some might even say Calgary's entrepreneurial spirit is a legacy from the CP's entrepreneurial vision of building a transcontinental railway more than 100 years ago. The CPR has shaped Calgary's evolution more than any other corporation over the past 100 years.
Rail's first spikes an economic boonįrom the moment that the first spikes were driven, the rails have been an economic lifeline for Calgary. It's a complex situation with no easy answers. Yet now, in the wake of derailments, noise complaints, and visions of what the city's urban landscape should look like, Calgary's relationship with its railway is again up for debate.
It is a daily factor in residents' relationship with the core of the city. The track of the Canadian Pacific Railway is a fundamental part of Calgary's urban geography. The city was built around it and exists in no small measure because of it. It runs through the heart of Calgary like a steel spine.
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