Fifty years ago, on June 10, 1975, Fish Creek Provincial Park officially opened its gates – marking Peter Lougheed’s first bold act to preserve wild spaces just beyond Calgary’s burgeoning edge. But the valley’s story stretches back millennia; carved from glaciers 13,000 years ago, it sustained Indigenous communities for centuries. By the mid-1800s, the area welcomed early European pioneers like John and Adelaide Glenn, who planted Alberta’s first grain crops and built the region’s first irrigation system. Through the late 19th century, visionaries such as William Roper Hull and Patrick Burns shaped the land with ranching innovations and grand estates, like the Bow Valley Ranche, before provincial leaders moved to protect it from freeway plans and urban sprawl. Today, this wilderness sanctuary is one of North America’s largest urban parks and it welcomes millions of visitors each year, offering a rich tapestry of natural habitat, heritage, and outdoor adventure all within the confines of a major Canadian city. What follows is a collection of photographs from Fish Creek’s official opening ceremony and other images curated from the park’s inaugural year.
For more about Fish Creek Provincial Park, please see this previous story titled Vintage Photos from Fish Creek Park. You can also find additional information about the park and its history by visiting the official Alberta Parks website, this timeline, and this snapshot of the park’s history. The Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society also has a wealth of information on their website about the park’s wildlife, ecology, and all the amazing work they are doing to conserve a truly unique naturalised urban park.
The photos above were collected from the Provincial Archives of Alberta. If you’re interested, additional information can be found for each photograph on their website. Stay tuned for additional posts featuring historical photos from across Alberta and Western Canada. We’d love to know what you think in the comment section below.
