Historian in Residence: Speculative Subdivisions in Early Calgary

Kay Burns is the 2023 Historian in Residence

One of the maps within the Calgary Public Library collection that drew my attention when I first started my role as Historian in Residence was this map of Calgary made by Harrison & Ponton Surveyors for the City of Calgary; it had been included with the Henderson’s Directory in 1913.

Harrison & Ponton's Map of the City of Calgary, Province of Alberta. This map is a supplement to Henderson's Calgary Directory, 1913. It shows the compiled, owned and for sale property in Calgary. Engraved in 1912. Calgary Public Library.

When encountering a map like this we have a natural tendency to want to find our own neighbourhood. But unless you live in one of the older inner-city neighbourhoods, chances are you will not recognize many other areas of the city. The community names are peculiar, the layout and orientations are unfamiliar. Many of these subdivisions and communities don’t exist. They didn’t then. And they don’t now.

For example, look at this detail image of the area in the north-east called Lake View Heights, a community surrounding McCall Lake.

If we compare that area with an aerial photo from 1924 – it’s clear that there is no subdivision in 1924, so what are these communities doing on a map from 1913?

And in a 1976 survey map of Calgary from the Library collection, there is no sign of Lake View Heights. If you go to Google Maps now, you will see that the area around McCall Lake area is still not a subdivision, it is a golf course.

Calgary Alberta, 1976. Topographic Map. Calgary Public Library.

What we are seeing in the 1913 map is evidence of enthusiastic real estate speculation. Lake View Heights was a fanciful subdivision, an imaginary suburb existing only on maps but never built.

Speculative ventures for land purchase were not uncommon in Calgary. In 1884 when the CPR surveyors were laying out streets and avenues, real estate activity became feverish as speculators bid on prime lots in the downtown core in the hope of making a substantial profit through resale. The city grew and spread out; land values continued to increase over the next couple of decades. 1912 was an impressive year for the city. It witnessed the first Stampede, the building of the CPR station and Palliser Hotel, the new Hudson’s Bay Company store and the Memorial Park Library. Realtors were prospering. Numerous dealers were buying up land for resale all around the city. This is a promotional postcard from 1913 encouraging investment in a home in Lake View Heights.

"Lake View Park, Forty Acres, in the Center of Lake View Heights, The Beauty Spot of Calgary", 1912. William & Harris Shared History Centre.

There were numerous advertisements published in the Calgary Herald at the time, indicating that Lake View Heights was destined to be “Calgary’s Highest Class Residential Section” (Calgary Herald, May 4, 1912); and “We do guarantee to complete by October 1, 1913 and before this summer is over we will be boating there” (Calgary Herald, May 13, 1912); along with other glowing commentary for a place that didn’t exist.

A promotional blurb appeared in the Calgary Herald on Aug 19, 1912, stating “A firm worthy of especial mention among the big realty dealers in Calgary is that of A.O. Jennings and E. J. Foster, owners of Lake View Heights...Every lot is high, dry and level and a perfect view lot...There will be a grand circular cement stairway leading down to the boat house at the water’s edge; then around the lake is a concrete wall with lighting columns every hundred feet. The lake is being dredged and from an artesian well will be filled or raised about two feet, making when finished, practically 30 acres of water from 2 to 12 feet in depth.”

Not long afterwards, following the idealistic and idyllic sounding promotional information, some controversial news surfaced. As numerous oil companies and oil speculators were emerging on the scene, there were concerns of the tactics of these companies. In a somewhat scathing review, the Calgary Herald states: “Mr. Jennings is the man who is floating ‘Standard Oil Fields of Alberta Limited’ and giving lots in his subdivision of Lake View Heights as a side attraction to the oil shares. Mr. Jennings’ stock selling scheme is the most ingenious yet produced on the local market, and there is one consolation about buying shares in this company: namely, that even though he never bores for oil THE BUYER CAN GO SIT UNDER THE BLADES OF GRASS THAT LOOK DOWN ON HIS SEMI-ARTIFICIAL LAKE.”

The article goes on to point out that “none of the wild statements made by oil promoters in the last month or more have been justified. It considers that these men have been ready to deceive the public in order to sell their stock.” (Calgary Herald, Nov 20, 1913, p1)

The Petroleum History Society offers information on numerous oil companies from over the years. According to them, Standard Oil Fields of Alberta Limited was incorporated in 1913 and then “struck from the register in 1918. It was one of many early Turner Valley firms that did not even get to the point of starting a well.” (Petroleum History Society)

As is understood in the boom-and-bust cycle associated with Calgary, prosperity is frenetic and fluctuates significantly. While 1912 may have been one of the most profitable years for many citizens in Calgary, it was a short ride. In 1914 the First World War broke out and altered plans everywhere. Calgary’s population was 90,000 in 1913. By 1916, it was 56,000. The city of Calgary issued 3348 building permits in 1912 and saw a decline to 2078 permits in 1913. Once the war started in 1914 interest in houses vanished as thousands of Calgarians enlisted for overseas service. (Calgary Herald, September 12, 1929, p22)

This was the rapidly changing economic climate that Calgary was facing at that time. A series of unpredictable events, combined with some questionable schemes, largely explains why the enthusiastic hype and hyperbole for Lake View Heights never led anywhere. Things got quiet during the war in terms of housing. But in 1919 the repercussions of land speculation showed in publicly announced tax arrears. In this record from the Calgary Herald, Lake View Heights property owners were listed with outstanding debts. Real estate speculators and oil speculators — and citizens — were susceptible to economic woes through volatile businesses within this burgeoning city and province.

Idealistic city plans during this era also recalls the Mawson report. Thomas Mawson was a renowned town planner and landscape designer from Britain. In 1912 he made a visit to cities across Canada and impressed Calgary citizens with his ideas for the city. In 1913 he was hired by the town council to provide a plan for Calgary’s urban growth. His report was presented in 1914 at the Hudson’s Bay Store to be viewed by everyone. His plan, influenced by the International Garden City Movement and the City Beautiful Movement, advocated for many parks and made use of curved and diagonal streets rather than the grid system we are familiar with. He suggested that all businesses downtown be required to include 10-12’ wide pedestrian arcades on their ground floor (like the new Hudson’s Bay store) to widen streets for the comfort of pedestrians. He proposed a civic hub with libraries and museums at 4th Street SW and Centre Street. Even at that time urban sprawl was becoming an issue for Calgary and Mawson incorporated more multi-family dwellings like the core areas of European cities to try and limit sprawl. Implementing his plan was expensive however, and the city was already having financial difficulties. The war arrived in August of 1914 and Mawson’s plan never went further, and “modern Calgary is in many ways the city Thomas Mawson predicted it would become if his plan was rejected.” (Vienna on the Bow: Thomas Mawson’s City of Calgary Plan). Images of Mawson’s plans can be found here.

Over a century later we can look back on these idealistic dreams and wonder if perhaps things could have been different and continue to imagine what Calgary might have looked like. Currently, we see struggles with housing issues of affordability and accessibility, prohibitive costs to citizens from developers, investors, and landowners, and issues of urban sprawl and capacity challenges for infrastructure. What are the solutions? And where will we be in another hundred years? We may not want to look to the past for answers but perhaps the urban planners, designers, and engineers emerging from educational institutions today will have innovative and affordable solutions, along with the support they need, to take the city into the next decades and beyond.

Visit the display cases on the 4th floor of Central Library to view the Historian's current exhibit on Lake View Heights.

Kay Burns is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher driven by perpetual curiosity. She is passionate about questioning the acquisition of knowledge and what unexpected connections are revealed through that process. Her work considers the authority of information, specifically in relation to archival and museum practices. As the Historian in Residence, she will explore Calgary Public Library’s map collection and records of surveyors, asking questions about the perception of place, about Calgary’s growth as a city, and the annexation of surrounding land.

The Historian in Residence is presented in partnership with Calgary Public Library.

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