Hounsfield Heights as a community had begun in the First World War era. Large, almost stately homes had dotted the area. It was a very pastoral setting far from the city centre. To the east of our lot, one could see all the way to the newer parts of Rosedale. The main building of the Technical School (and hutments, build to accommodate service personnel when that building had been converted to #2 Wireless School for air force training) could be seen to the northeast. From the kitchen window, the view extended over downtown to Langevin Bridge. Fourteenth Street was little more than a trail and a ravine ran across the “Tech” grounds from 10th St. to just west of 14th St., approximately where there is now an overpass. The only house on 14th St. was the Mitchell home on the corner of 10th Ave. On 15th St., other than the three homes just completed by Duncan MacLean, there was only one other new home – one built by Emerson Borgal at 1312. The road did not extended south past 11th Ave. because it was deemed to be too steep to ever be opened for development. At the bottom of the hill, and to the west, Campbell’s Greenhouses was a thriving business. To the west on a spring evening, one could hear cattle bawling in what is now Briar Hill, an area which could have been purchased for $6000, To the north of us was prairie grass, with a nice rolling hill for sleigh rides all the way to 16th Ave. Barbara Sparling Richardson tethered her horse on this vacant land an enjoyed riding on many evenings.
On Halloween night, 1947, my husband Murray MacLean and I, and wee daughter Allison moved into our new, but unfinished, home on 15th St. N.W. in Hounsfield Heights. Our move was necessitated partly by need, and partly be accident.
It was the postwar era. Service men were being demobilized after the Second World War, and rented housing was at a premium, especially for people with children. We had been living in Sunnyside, and the house where we had an upstairs suite had been sold. The new owners needed the upstairs suite for their family so a move was necessary.
My father-in-law, Duncan MacLean (a contractor), had recently completed a home for Kaye and Norman Pickard at 1301-15th St. N.W., and had started another home for Helen Armstrong and Mrs. McTaggart at 3121 (a few houses up the hill from the Pickards). Norman and Helen were cousins who had been raised by Mrs. McTaggart (affectionately called Auntie) and had owned the house lower down 15th St. – no. 1119. Duncan suggested that we buy the lot across the street and suddenly we were in the process of buying and getting a mortgage.
The City of Calgary, to help ease the housing shortage, and to protect service men from speculators, had introduced a plan to sell individual lots for half price provided a start was made on a dwelling within a year. Money was in short supply – fighting for one’s country was not a lucrative job – and the first trip to City Hall was a bit of a worry. Planners decided, that since Mr. Grant (at no. 1316) had purchased 12½ feet on which to build a garage, the remaining part of the first 50-foot lot would be added to the next three lots and subsequently there would be three 62½-foot lots. This meant more money going out from our savings than we had budgeted. The stress level created by this would be repeated many times during the building process. The total cost of the lot was $219!
(Receipt shown below – note that it is stamped with a proviso that transfer of title would be withheld until the city was satisfied that the dwelling would be completed.)
The excavation for the basement of our new home was begun almost immediately after the purchase of the lot on April 30, 1947. Every evening, weather permitting, we would trudge up over the hill from Sunnyside, cross from 10th St. to 14th St. and on over the final rise of our new property. It was not easy as Allison was in a stroller and there were no paths, let alone sidewalks. In order to make our home affordable on our limited budget, it was necessary for us to saw as many boards as possible, pound as many nails as possible, put up gyproc lathe, etc. – anything to cut down on labour costs. Many wives were called on for help and we became great ‘go-fers”, and attained some skills that helped us for years to come in our everyday living.
We had a deadline to meet, and one after another, delays caused us great consternation. The plumber broke his promise to be there, by three weeks; the electrician was only two weeks late and finally the plasterers were three weeks overdue. You can imagine the stress of seeing no progress being made for this amount of time and October 31st looming faster and faster. But we did move on time! – to the second floor of our semi-bungalow. I cooked on a hot plate, and carried water upstairs and down for about six months while flooring, cabinets, window trim and doors were put in place on the main floor. Thank goodness we had a bathroom with basin, toilet and tub – but no kitchen sink for several months.
In the spring of 1948 we decided we must have a garden, so Murray got busy with a space and I with hoe and rake, and we proceeded to turn the tough prairie sod into a garden patch. In mid-June, while shaking a dust cloth out of the side door (yes – we all did that when we were more or less in the country), I heard the unmistakable sound of crunching coming from the garden. A deer? No! Just a gopher enjoying a breakfast of my new, dew-covered cabbage plants.! What to do to protect our investment? On the farm, when I was a child, we had the option of using poison,, but that was a no-no in the city, even if it seemed like country. Out came the garden hose to drown him out. It worked and the gopher moved farther away down the slope. His cold, early-morning bath discouraged him from returning and, in a few years, all of the residents of gopher-haven were evicted by construction equipment digging a basement for Jack and Kay Dixon’s new home (no.1323) – the first to be built on 14th St. in the 1300 block.
Within a year of our move, a young couple, Vera and Barney Hughes, decided to build a new home on the lot next door to the north. We were delighted to have new neighbors, and since Barney was in business they could get a phone. They generously offered us the use of it when necessary as we were still on the post-war waiting list for a telephone. Gradually all of the vacant lots were purchased and the community became one of younger families with children.
During the first few years I was invited to join a Sewing Club. Mrs. Pollard , Mrs. Grant. Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Huxley Johnson Sr., Florence Hughes and Mrs. McTaggart to name some of those who spend many Tuesday afternoons making baby quilts for the needy and native children. Mrs. Pollard remarked that it was a good way to keep our houses tidy because we used scraps of material and old sheets or towels as filler. One very colorful one was lined with an old corset, staves removed, of course. We decided that it was not only pretty, but windproof!
Transportation was a problem in those early days of our lives in Hounsfield Heights. We had a choice of walking down the hill to catch a street car at the corner of 14th St. and 5th Ave., or walking across the Tech grounds to 10th St. All public transport headed downtown. The wonderful part was that the street car drivers would gladly help you on and off with the baby buggy! There was no need of gym facilities or exercise rooms when on had to push a baby carriage up a hill, sometimes with toddler in tow. The nearest grocery store was Jenkin’s Groceteria on 10th St. They would deliver groceries once a week and of course, the milkman came daily.
There was no Lion’s Park. We spent many happy summer days in Riley Park with the children playing in the pool. There was a small island in the middle of the north end of the pool, complete with trees large enough for a game of Tarzan. How they enjoyed jumping from tree to water with just a sandy bottom to land on! I didn’t remember anyone every getting hurt, or any parents complaining that it was not sanitary. The change room was behind a towel.
During those first years, our street had many residents in the teaching profession – in fact, more than half of them were teachers. I recall Florence Hughes, Mr. and Mrs. E. Borgal, Murray MacLean and Bert Nicholson, Helen Armstrong, Charles Richardson, Norman Pickard and Allison Saunders. In fact, Murray suggested that the community should be renamed “Pedagogue Pinnacle”.
In 1951, we started getting improvements in the way of curbs and butters, sidewalks, and grading and gravelling of the road from 11th Ave to 13th Ave. It is of interested that the city’s estimate of the lifetime of these improvements would be five years. Also the assessment charge for our 62.5 foot lot was as follows:
- Curb and butter $19.90 per annum
- Concrete sidewalk $33.48 per annum
- Garding and gravelling $12.00 per annum
- In 1952 our tax bill showed:
- City and school taxes $53.75
- Local improvement and special tax $88.41
- Total $242.16
These amounts by today’s standard seem almost ridiculous but just remember that salaries were far below the multi-digit amounts of today.
To the north of 15th St. and west toward 16th St., there was a natural slough. The dads of the district decided that it would make a good skating ring in winter. The city cooperated with a light standard and power and water for flooding. In February, 1952, we had a skating carnival complete with prizes for best costumes, and hot dogs. This was so successful that it was repeated the second year. By this time, the dads had built a hut for changing skates so the children didn’t have to walk some distance on their skates, or sit on a now bank to accomplish this. The work was all voluntary, as were donations for supplies.
Community mindedness was always a vital part of our living in this area. Someone was always available to canvass door to door for charities, and when a developer made a proposal to build huge high rises on the Campbell Greenhouses property after it had shut down, many of us kept contributing for lawyer’s fees for representation at City Hall. We didn’t stop the building of Cedar Brae Apartments, but did get I pared down to a more reasonable size.
When Allison was ready for school she had to go to Bow View Elementary (now Queen Elizabeth). The next year, the University Demonstration School, housed in the main building of the Tech, was opened for classes including Grade six. This was the brain child of Dr. Andrew Doucette who was determined that the City of Calgary would have a university. These skilled teachers were part of the first Faculty of Education before the University of Calgary was in existence. The ravine, which the children had to cross on their way to school, was so deep that they were completely out of sight of the eyes of watchful moms.
When Heather started school, grades one and two were housed in the Hillhurst Cottage School on 13th St. south of 5th Ave. This building still stands (minus playgrounds) and is used by the Alberta Wilderness Association. Her grade three year was spent at Hillhurst School.
We moved to Edmonton for a year so that Murray could do post- graduate work in Educational Administration when it was time for out youngest daughter, Laurie to attend school. The following year, both Heather and Laurie attended the new Briar Hill School to complete their elementary grades before following in sister Allison’s footsteps to Queen Elizabeth Junior Senior High School. Fortunately Dr. Doucette’s ideas expanded and, in the 1960’s, the University of Calgary Campus was founded on its present site. All three daughters took advantage of its proximity. Allison graduated in modern Languages (Honor), Heather became a geologist and Laurie found her niche in the new Faculty of Fine Arts.
In retrospect it seems that changes in the community came at lightning speed. In reality, it has been almost fifty-five years. To the east I have watched incredible development. The Tech is now SAIT.
When the Province of Alberta decided to honor its first fifty years, in 1955, by building an auditorium in each of the two major cities, they chose the present site for the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. How lucky could we get to be next door to such an excellent facility for music, drama, opera, and dance and music festivals. I remember watching bulldozers, like ants; going back and forth leveling the whole area and filling the ravine so that the only sign that it ever existed is the entrance from the east on 10th St. I also remember watching workmen walk nonchalantly along frosty girders on winter mornings when the steel shell of the building was under construction. They had no safety nets, just nerves of steel and prayers from those of us who watched.
Before too many years had passed, the College of Art was established, the LRT stations were built, and all of the open area was filled with parking lots, but that’s another story.
In the early fifties, the city opened new lots along the west side of 14trh St. At least two builders did not fully understand the extend of the caveat the city had for future development of 14th St as a major traffic artery, and built homes with front-drive garages. Landscaping and vehicular access continues to be a problem for residents along the busy north south thoroughfare.
Vigilant community members were very wary when we heard that Simpson’s Sears was going to build a store somewhere on that land to the north which we had enjoyed as a playground. Fortunately, they chose to be nearer to the Trans Canada Highway, and we were left with open space for the future development of 14th Ave., the LRT and Lions Park.
Then came news that a shopping mall was to be built and we would have a grocery store nearby. Dominion Food Store occupied the space later used by the first Safeway store, and a Loblaw’s Groceteria could be found at the west end of the strip mall.
All of this occurred because of developing communities to the northwest. Briar Hill was paramount to us having enough population to warrant the building of a community hall and amalgamating as a hyphenated entity called Hounsfield Heights – Briar Hill. Soon there was a regular outdoor skating rink, and Guide and Scout groups were formed. The children could take dance lessons as well, and adults enjoyed the new log building for art lessons, bridge, dances, etc.
Over the years, we have been blessed with the addition of a library, health clinic, improvements and renovations to the mall, public transportation, and yet watchful residents have kept or community whole with little encroachment by business development.
Having daughters meant being involved in Girl Guide work at our new community hall in the early and mid 1960’s. As well as studying our flag which had historical meaning then, the girls did sewing, cooking, knot tying, and as a culmination of the year, went to Guide Camp at Mocking Bird for a week in early July.
Guides were inspired by local and provincial competitions. Heather took top honors in needlework provincially and two years later, Laurie also won a first place in sewing and a second award ribbon for art at the provincial meet in Edmonton.
In 1947, when my aunt was told that we were building a new home in Hounsfield Heights, she asked, in all seriousness, “Why do you want to move away out by Cochrane?” Wouldn’t she be amazed, if she were alive today, to read a real-estate advertisement stating that there were homes for sale in beautiful Hounsfield Heights, the Mount Royal of the northwest?
But what is more important is that community spirit is still alive and well.
McLean Family Background
Murray was employed by the Calgary Board of Education for thirty years. He started his teaching career in country schools at Metiskow and Irricana before coming to the city to teach at Bridgeland Elementary. In 1943, he joined the Canadian Army and served at Camrose, Halifax in artillery, Red Deer and Currie arracks as Education Officer in Calgary. Back into the school system, he taught at Western and Crescent Heights, and held principalships at Melville Scott, Ramsay, Conaught, and Bishop Pinkham before his death in January 1969.
In 1970, I joined the staff of the Calgary Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society as receptionist. Because I had a family, I worked part time for several years as Business Campaign Coordinator. Later, when my daughters were older, I took on full time employment and enjoyed the final five years before retirement as District Secretary and General Manager of the office in the Condon Building at 17th Ave and 14 St N.W.
I now enjoy painting, both oils and acrylics and remarried in 1980 to Sydney Nystrom. We live in my original family home.
Neighbours
In the more than half a century that we have lived on 15th St., we have been blessed by having excellent neighbors.
When the Hughes family moved away in the late 1940’s, Mr and Mrs R.J. Watts purchased the house at 1324 and resided there for many years. Bob was retired from the ownership of Acme Garage on Memorial Drive just west of Louise Bridge. They were active gardeners and very soon had a small greenhouse erected so their yard could become a showcase of blooms in the summer. We were the happy recipients of many boxes of leftover bedding out plants, and I still have some of Bob’s peonies. He also did woodworking as a hobby and we have some of his creations.
The next owners were the Ron Longbotham family: Ron Anne, and children Kathleen (Bunny) and Dawn. Once again, we had wonderful neighbors. When Murray passed away in January of 1969, Ron was always there to lend a helping hand, assisting in selling a car, shoveling out the driveway after a particularly bad blizzard, and when a bare electrical wire started a fire in the elm tree in the back yard, Ron and his brother, Sam, cut down the tree. Ron started some of the many additions and renovations to their modest semi bungalow to accommodate a growing family, and the latest owners Al and Lynne Penner, have made further changes.
To the south of us, Mr and Mrs William Betts moved in during the first few years we lived here. A daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Stuart Watkins, lived in the upstairs suite. Bill had been a Indian Agent near Cardston and Mrs Betts was the daughter of an early Anglican missionary and was the first white child born in that area of southern Alberta. After Bill passed away, Mrs Betts and Margaret, Stuart and wee daughter Debra moved to Vancouve Island near Sooke.
In 1966, Dr Hans and Mrs Magda Lewke moved into this home and with daughters Gerda and Elizabeth and sons Reynold and Bernard. Not only were we lucky once again in having good neighbors, but Hans also became our family doctor and has been extremely helpful through the years.
Across the street at 1315 lived the Pollards. Mr. Pollard enjoyed keeping every dandelion out of his beautiful lawn on his second lot which was later sold for building a modern home. This house also had an upstairs suite for son Harry, jr.and his wife, Clare, and their son Harry Pollard III, whom we all called Shorty. When Harry jr. passed away, another son, Bill, his wife Myrna, and son, Billy, moved into to continue the arrangement of having family close at hand to assist the senior members.
The modern home referred to above was build by Rudy and Bernice Schipperus. We have watched their small daughter and son grow up, attend university, and move on as adults. In the winter of 2001-02, we noticed that our sidewalks and driveways were being cleared of snow on a regular basis. We were mentally giving credit for this kindly act to a young neighbor until one morning when I arose very early and discovered the real helper. We called Bernice our super energetic guardian angel. We should have known: after all, she was an accomplished harpist.
During the early years of our residence in Hounsfield Heights, the large older home at 1331 was occupied by Dr Huxley, jr. and Mrs Muriel Johnson and family. When twin girls, Mimi and Patsy, were born to join their brother, Huxley III, Dr. Johnson started the first upgrade of the house by hiring Ducan MacLean to build a nanny suite in the basement. Dr Johnson made house calls at any hour of the day or night and this may have contributed to his death from polio during the 50’s epidemic. Later Muriel had a new home built on their second lot, no. 1327..
The next occupant of the older home was the MacArthur family, Jimmy and Kay, Carol, Jimmy and Scott, who grew up to become a great university football player. The MacArthurs made extensive renovations and additions and it became the very large home which was used as a Bed and Breakfast by Dori Wood..
THE END