Fort Calgary

Fort Calgary was established in 1875 as a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) post by Ephrem-A. Brisebois, one of the original officers of the force. Initially called Fort Brisebois, the name was changed to Fort Calgary in June 1876. NWMP Assistant Commissioner James F. Macleod recommended the name in honour of Calgary House, a Scottish castle he had visited in 1872. The NWMP were tasked with establishing relations with Indigenous peoples and enforcing federal law in the area; this included police duties during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and suppressing the illegal whiskey trade on the Bow River. Commissioner Macleod also played a key role in negotiating Treaty 7, which was signed on 22 September 1877 by five First Nations: the Siksika (Blackfoot), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), Stoney-Nakoda, and Tsuut’ina (Sarcee).

As one of the most active police posts in southern Alberta, Fort Calgary became a district headquarters in 1882. But the arrival of the railway in 1883 and the subsequent rapid growth and expansion of Calgary ended the post's reason for existing. In 1914, the Grand Pacific Trunk Railway bought the site and demolished the fort’s buildings to construct a rail terminal.

In 1925, the Fort Calgary site was designated a National Historic Site. In the 1970s, it was purchased by the municipal government of Calgary, which invested in archaeological excavations and an interpretive centre. It opened as a historical museum in 1978. Since then, several buildings have been reconstructed on site, including the NWMP stables and barracks. Although the museum’s original focus was the history of the NWMP fort, it now offers programming about local history more generally.