Heritage Park Historical Village is a historical park in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

, Canada, on of parkland on the banks of the

Glenmore Reservoir The Glenmore Reservoir is a large reservoir on the Elbow River in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is controlled by the Glenmore Dam, a concrete gravity dam on the Elbow River. The Glenmore Reservoir is a primary source of drinking wa ...

, along the city's southwestern edge. The Historical Village is open from late May to Thanksgiving and Heritage Town Square is open year-round. As Canada's second largest living history museum, it is one of the city's most visited tourist attractions. Exhibits span western Canadian history from the 1860s to the 1950s. Many of the buildings are historical and were transported to the park to be placed on display. Others are re-creations of actual buildings. Most of the structures are furnished and decorated with genuine artifacts. Staff dress in historic costume, and antique automobiles and

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

s service the site.

Calgary Transit Calgary Transit is the public transit agency which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 2019, an estimated 106.5 million passengers boarded approximately 1,155 Calgary Transit vehicles. It operates light metro (LRT), u ...

provides regular shuttle service from

Heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

C-Train CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail rapid transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Most of the network functions as a light metro, though in the free-fare zone that runs through the downtown core the Red and Blue lines opera ...

station. The park opened on July 1, 1964.

Park structure

The park is divided into four distinct areas reflecting different time periods in Western Canadian history: the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

Fur Trading Fort, c. 1864; the Pre-Railway Settlement Village, c. 1880; the Railway Prairie Town, c. 1910; and the newly opened (2009) Heritage Town Square, depicting the 1920s to 1950s.

Exhibits

Heritage Park Historical Village has over 100 exhibits including: * A passenger train, drawn by one of the park's two working steam locomotives, that takes visitors around the park. * A roundhouse built in 1981, which has an operational

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

and houses various railway equipment. * A

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

from Calgary's former streetcar system,

Calgary Street Railway The Calgary municipal railway operated a system of streetcar routes in Calgary, Alberta, from 1909, until 1950. From 1909 to 1910 the system was named the ''"Calgary Electric Railway"''. In 1909, and early 1910, the system was known as ...

, that shuttles passengers to and from the parking lot. This was taken out of service in 2006 in preparation for the park's expansion, and returned to service in May 2010, taking passengers from the parking lot to the newly built CPR replica station and front gate. * A re-creation of a

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

, S.S. ''Moyie'', that traverses the Glenmore Reservoir * An antique midway that features working historical amusement park rides * An aboriginal encampment representing the First Peoples in southern Alberta in the 19th century * A working smithy, bakery, hotel, and several shops and restaurants * Horse-drawn wagons * A

trading fort * The 1913

Little Synagogue on the Prairie The Little Synagogue on the Prairie is a small, wooden synagogue originally built in Sibbald, Alberta, just west of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Originally called the ''Montefiore Institute'', it was built in 1913 or 1916 by the Montefiore col ...

* The Town Square, located in front of the park gates, contains Haskayne Mercantile Block, Selkirk Grille and Big Rock Interpretive Brewery flanked by the Bissett Wetlands. It was opened in 2009 and admission is free in this area of the park.

Expansion

In March 2009, Heritage Park opened a major new expansion, the Heritage Town Square. The addition features several new buildings depicting a larger 1930s and 1940s western Canadian town. Heritage Town Square is open year-round, unlike the rest of the park, which is seasonal. Some of the new attractions include: * The Famous 5 Center of Canadian Women - A replica of Nellie McClung's Calgary home which tells the story of influential women in Canadian history. * a new year-round Gasoline Alley Museum showcasing the park's extensive

antique car An antique car is an automobile that is an antique. Narrower definitions vary based on how old a car must be to qualify. The Antique Automobile Club of America defines an antique car as over 25 years of age. However, the legal definitions for the ...

and memorabilia collection * an orientation/visitor's centre (within a replica railway station) * a 1930s town square (which includes shops, and food services) * a re-creation of a

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

railway station restaurant

References

External links

Heritage Park Historical Village
{{authority control 1964 establishments in Alberta Automobile museums in Alberta Grain elevator museums in Alberta Heritage railways in Alberta Living museums in Canada Museums in Calgary Open-air museums in Canada Parks in Calgary Railway roundhouses in Alberta Railway station museums in Alberta

Park structure

Exhibits

Expansion

See also

References

External links