How to Spend the Perfect Day in Heritage Park Calgary as an Adult!

*I may be compensated if you purchase through any affiliate links on this site. Thank you for supporting the Creative Adventurer*

When I was a child, every time I visited Calgary to see my grandparents, they would take me to Heritage Park. I remember fondly riding the steam train, screaming on the old fashioned-rides, eating in vintage ice cream parlours and feeding the chickens on the farm. But as an adult, I hadn’t been there in YEARS! On my last trip to Calgary, I decided to revisit this place all on my own. I wondered if the park’s magic would still exist as an adult.

When you’re travelling alone, you experience things much more simply and without the influence of the groups excitement. I’m happy to report, that even as a solo adult traveller Heritage Park is still one of the best activities to enjoy when visiting Calgary.

Whether you’re an adult, a kid or a kid at heart, diving into the past inside Heritage Park is what everyone needs in this fast-paced, technology-driven world. Heritage Park offers visitors the opportunity to see a glimpse of how Calgarians used to live in the early 1900s. It is home to Canada’s second-largest collection of heritage buildings. You can step inside more than 100 historic homes and structures from Alberta’s past. As someone who is inherently curious I adore this kind of exploration.

Here are some suggestions on how to spend the perfect day at Heritage Park Calgary!

Hours & Admission

Heritage Park is open 365 days a year. But the most important area of the park (the historical village) is only open from late May to mid-October. So I would only consider going during this time or during their Christmas Celebrations. The park is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

Pricing: Adults: $29.95 | Children (7-15): $19.95 | Children (3-6): $14.95 | Seniors: $22.95

Included in your admission is entry to the various historical homes, street theatre performances, daily activities, and special exhibits. Also included in your admission is access to unlimited rides! Although there aren’t many rides, it’s incredible that they still offer this included in your entry, as many other places like this often charge extra. Rides include S.S. Moyie paddlewheel ship, antique steam train, horse-drawn wagon rides and antique midway rides.

Access & Accessibility

By Car

Heritage Park is located a 20-minutes drive from the city in the Southern Eagle Ridge neighbourhood. If you choose to drive, there is a large parking lot outside the park. Parking is $8.00 for the first 7 hours and $8.00 per ½ hr after that to a maximum of $32.00.

Bike Path

Heritage Park is also very accessible by bike! Calgary is known for its fantastic bike trails. You can make your way to the park on your bicycle via the Elbow River Pathway.

Public Transit

If you are looking to arrive via public transit, there are several options depending on your starting destination. If you’re leaving from the central downtown area, you can hop on the #3 Bus to Elbow River Station and transfer onto the #502 Bus west. This takes you directly to the doors of Heritage Park. A single ride on the Calgary Public Transit system costs $3.50 for adults and #2.40 for children.

Accessibility

Although the park is dedicated to authenticity, this results in many of the buildings being inaccessible to wheelchairs. In addition to this, the pathways are mostly gravel, which is difficult to traverse in many mobility devices. And the boardwalks that surround the main street have no ramp access.

Gasoline Alley Museum and Heritage Town Square are the only areas fully accessible by wheelchairs. Some of the exhibit sites have been made accessible by wheelchair. Those spots are identified by a wheelchair symbol on the map. But like I said before, the gravelly road makes it hard for the wheelchair to even make it out there. I understand the dedication to historical accuracy, but I feel like there need to be some considerations made to ensure everyone is included in the experience.

When To Go

As the exhibits are both indoors and outdoors, it’s best to arrive on a day with good weather. Many park elements won’t be as enjoyable if it’s raining. Heritage Park often offers special daily events like music in the park, market nights, and different festivals. So check their events calendar before planning your trip. These special events can really make your trip extra special.

How Long To Spend?

I was amazing at how many things there were to do here! I’d advise arriving early to give yourself at least four to five hours to explore the park. You’ll want to go inside the preserved building, eat some delicious food and enjoy the views around the park on one of their historic pieces of transportation.

How to Interact with the Actors

Inside all of the open buildings, you’ll find real-life historical reenactors. They are there to set the scene and tell you all about the building’s history. While they have their standard spiel about the location, these people are VERY knowledgeable historians. Feel free to ask the questions, be curious! They loved when I asked them weird or exciting questions and were excited to answer them. If I asked a tricky question, they would run around to other people to get a consensus on a good answer. Some of the actors working in the park have been there for ages, and were well into the 60s and 70s. So don’t hesitate to chat with them; their stories are worth the price of admission in itself!

Land Acknowledgement

Before stepping into the park, it’s essential to recognize that Heritage Park is located in the traditional territories of Treaty 7 peoples. This includes the Blackfoot people (the Nii-tsi-ta-pi) composed of the Kainai, Piikani and the Siksika Nations; the Tsuut’ina Nation; and the Iyarhe (Stoney) Nakoda, including the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley First Nations; and is situated within the Métis homeland and the home of the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3.

I didn’t see any Land Acknowledgement signage in the park but found this online. I wanted to make sure to include this here. Perhaps I missed it, but I still think this kind of acknowledgement is important, especially given the type of history the park delves into.

Map of Walking Tour

For our self-guided tour, we will walk through the park in chronological order. This way history moves along with you!

The Famous 5

Walking into the park, you make your way up a slight hill with the various dates of the park’s historical buildings embedded into the concrete. The first large building you’ll pass is the Famous 5 Centre of Canadian Women. The famous five were a group of Albertian women who dedicated their lives to empowering the voices of Canadian women. They were Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards.

In 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women were not “persons” according to the British North America Act. This meant that women were, therefore, ineligible for appointment to the Senate. When this was announced, these women weren’t going to just sit there and accept that. They submitted the “persons case” to the highest court in the British empire, and in 1929 the judgement was reversed. This ruling meant that women could no longer be denied rights based on a narrow interpretation of the law.

The house itself can find storytellers and interpreters who tell the story of these women’s activism. The home itself is a replica of Nellie McClung’s former Calgary home, from 1923 to 1932. One of the things I noticed on my tour was the focus the park held on the impact and importance of women. Unlike many historical records written by men that underplay the role of influential women, this park really highlighted the work and impact of women in Canadian history.

Midnapore Station

Just up from the Famous Five House are the train tracks and where you’ll find the old Midnapore Station. The station was built between 1900 and 1940 as a part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

When building these railway stations in the Prairies, they used pre-designed templates to apply to different locations. Their location and purpose directed what amenities were required. Midnapore Station represents the “combination” station design. This station included a house, a freight storage room, a waiting area and an office all under the same roof.

The antique Morrissey, Fernie & Michel steam train runs around the park throughout the day. Trains can be boarded from three stations; Midnapore Station, Laggan and Shepard Station. Most people seem to get on the train at Midnapore Station first thing upon arrival. But I would actually advise skipping this for the time being. Instead, take the train when you return back to the main gates at the end of the day. It’s nice to see some of the buildings you’ve now explored from far away and get a different vantage point on the layout of the park.

The train runs very slowly, so riding it around the entire loop takes precious minutes out of your day. I would advise getting on at Shepard Station and riding towards Midnapore Station. This part of the journey is the most scenic and gives you a taste of a 19th-century train ride.

Laggan Station

From Midnapore Station we are going to walk along Heritage Park road (Livingston Trail) towards Laggan Station. This area of the park is called “The Settlement” and represents the years from 1860 to 1880. This train station is an example of designs built for the Canadian Rockies during the 19th century. Unlike Midnapore Station, which was meant for local travel, this was one of the first “tourist stations” built to service Lake Louise. These stations were luxurious and featured restaurants complete with silver dinner service.

First Nations Encampment

Crossing the train track, we head to the north-east part of the park to find the First Nations Encampment. As you cross the bridge into the Emcampment you can immediately see the white and yellow buffalo skins that form traditional Tipis. Surrouding the tipis are some indigenous women who can answer your questions and speak directly yo your about their rich culture. Tipis were the traditional dwelling of Alberta’s First Nations. The First Nations people of Alberta moved their camps seasonally in response to the buffalo herds, so it was important they could be easily taken up and down. Women were in charge of the tipis as they were the ones who set them up and took them down. Only two women were able to set up these huge dwellings in just under an hour!

Life in the Encampment

If you had a horse, your Tipi could be slightly larger, measuring 15 feet in diameter. But for those who carried it on their backs, theirs would measure 6 ft. These Tipis were decorated with illustrations. The images symbolic of their family history, myths, or even the family’s crest. The door of the Tipi always faces east. This is to allow the families morning prayers to travel towards thee rising sun. The east facing direction also helps keep the strong western winds out of dwelling.

Livingston House & Barn

Just north of the Encampment is the Livingston House and Barn. Sam Livingston was a farmer who built this house in 1878. He was contracted to supply fresh meat to the northwest Mounted Police at Fort Calgary. Livingston was one of the first individuals to settle in Calgary. He travelled extensively around Calgary before finally claiming his permanent homestead in the beautiful Elbow River Valley.

Livingston built his two-storey log house to accommodate his growing family. He would later go onto build a barn which served as a granary, bunkhouse, and garage. When Livingston died, his land was eventually bought by the City of Calgary. But it wouldn’t be until 1946 that the park began to take shape, and his formed homestead was restored in 1968. I love the furnishings in his house, full of furns and heavy fabrics. This, along with the fireplace in the centre of the room, really gives the impression of how cold winters would have been in the Praries.

I. G. Baker & Co.

Behind the Livingston house, is the small street that represents rural main streets of the 1880s. Here you’ll find the Drew’s Saloon, the Stopping House and the I. G. Baker & Co. I. G. Baker Company was a mercantile and grocery company based in Fort Benton, Montana. It was started by Isaac Gilbert Baker and his brother, George Amos Baker, in 1866. The company set up their first store in Calgary, Alberta, in 1875. Its aim was to help the exhausted and goods-deprived northwest Mounted Police who arrived here from Winnipeg. In 1891, the Canadian assets of the company were purchased by its chief rival, Hudson’s Bay Company. This building is a replica of the original store. Today you can step inside and shop for stick candy, jams and other small wooden toys.

Drew’s Saloon

In 1886, ex-U.S. army officer Henry “Boston” Drew built this saloon in Spitzer Crossing, Alberta. Drew found that many visitors on their way to Calgary or Fort Macleod needed a place to stay along the way. So Drew went about building a second storey above his residence. There he installed four bedrooms which served as the “Stopping House” for travellers. Today, Drew’s Saloon is a lovely spot to stop to grab some snacks or even a glass of beer or cider.

Mounted Police Barracks

The log cabin next door to Drew’s Saloon was home to the Mounted Police. This outpost served as the Barracks for the NWMP. The original structure was located 145 km east of Calgary and was built in 1905. Back then, it was indeed the Wild West out here. Heavily armed outlaws raided ranches in Alberta. Their aim was to steal herds of cattle and bring them across to Montana. The Mounted Police were stationed around the province to help patrol and prevent this thievery. In just ten years, the patrols were dismantled. But not because they were ineffective. The police patrols were so effective that the cross-border thievery stopped entirely. And they effectively put themselves out of a job.

Gleichen School

At the end of the boardwalk, you’ll come to the old Gleichen School. This is a great chance to see how life was like for the school children of these early settlements. This school was built in 1888 from logs that were floated down the Bow River. Just as today, the school had little funding and the meagre supplies. Teachers were underpaid (again, little has really changed). And yet, their humble one-room schoolhouse was responsible for the education of all ages of school children in the area.

Hudson’s Bay Company Fur Trading Fort

Up the hill to the west, you can make out the huge wooden walls of the Hudson’s Bay Company Fur Trading Fort. The fort’s layout was designed as a 1965 replica of an 1835 fur trading fort built in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.

The Hudson’s Bay Company was a North American fur trading company with posts as far as Alaska, Oregon and Labrador. Inside these forts, about 30 labourers, clerks and traders would live and work together.

Hunters would bring their latest catch into the clerk to sell, and buyers would come soon after to pick up the latest furs. My favourite part was walking around the original store to see the prices of all the different items. It was incredible to see the fantastic range of things available to these early settlers.

Be sure to stop by the campfire outside the fort to hear stories from one of the traders!

Our Lady of Peace Mission

Outside the Fort is the small wooden church called the Our Lady of Peace Mission. Although most information printed about the church names the missionaries as “teachers, preachers, healers, translators and peacemakers,” we know their mission held a more upsetting truth. The information we now have regarding mistreatment and murder of indigenous children at the hands of church is something every visitor should sit with. It is difficult to see this church overlooking the peaceful First Nations Encampement nearby and not feel an immense swell of sadness. I truly hope Heritage Park aims to focus more on the injustices done by the church toward the indigenous people of Canada, as this is an important part of our history not to be forgotten.

Burnside Ranch House

Walking west along the railway, you can see farm yard animals in the ranch poking their heads out of their cages. Walking up to the ranch house, you can check out the chicken coops, horse barn and see some of the antique farming equipment. Amazing to imagine the amount of work they got done with this rustic equipement.

Ranch House

The large yellow house with wrap-around verandah was once owned by the MacKay family. It was built in 1904 in Grand Valley, eight kilometres northwest of Cochrane, Alberta. The MacKay family is the very same family that started the famous MacKay Ice Cream Shop in Cochrane.

After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, life was easier for settlers to make permanent moves into the prairies. More and more people were buying up land and developing it into these types of farms. Immigrants from many parts of the country and other countries were flocking to the prairies. Vast and inexpensive lands could be just the opportunity people wanting to start a new life were looking for.

The interior of the house is a charming peek inside a frozen moment of country life. Inside the kitchen, women are set on making baked goods using only ingredients, kitchen utensils and appliances from the 1900s. The smell of baking breads wafting throughout the entire house smells enchanting.

Main Street

Take a walk along the Ranch Road, past the old Horse barns, towards Cochrane Fire Hall. The road emerges onto Main Street. This area of town is set in the 1910s and is the most vibrant part of the park. Townspeople in historic garb walk up and down the street. Gossiping about the latest news in town and starting up a conversation with the guests. This is such an amazing opportunity to chat with the actors and learn more about the daily events. When I visited, there was an election happening! Various townspeople had signs in their windows advertising their choice elector. And people in the street were discussing with the guests who they were going to vote for.

There was also a new circus in town. Various actors were running about main street, performing different scenes from that story. It was so funny and really brought the town to life! These live theatrical scenes makes the historic village more than a museum, but a living piece of history.

Cottage Hospital

Before heading right into the central part of Main street, veer to the left to check out the charming Cottage Hospital. The white house with green time is decorated in amazing gingerbread trim traditional of the 1900s. The main purpose of the Cottage Hospital was to treat men injured in their work on the railway. These cottage hospitals were small, temporary and poor. They were run primarily by female nurses, and only every so often would a doctor come into town. Doctors didn’t work for free and often had no interest in lending their skills to the poor. This was unlike the nurses, who were often nuns and willingly gave their service to care for the poor.

Unlike today, this hospital didn’t have proper antiseptics or sanitary measures. Surgery was often conducted on the dining room table. That being said, many of their techniques were the beginning of modern medical history. These were the early days of discovery and the development. These women were leading the way to curing illnesses we are now able to treat easily today.

Thorpe House

The Thorpe House was my favourite home in the entire park. Walking inside I was overwhelmed by the incredible wallpaper that covered the entirety of the walls around the house. The Thorpes were a Norwegian immigrant family who moved to Calgary to work at the Eau Claire & Bow River Lumber mill. Bernt Thorpe was a skilled millwright and was in charge of building and maintaining the mill’s expensive machinery. As such he would have been paid a hefty salary to build this incredible folk Victorian house.

The house was eventually owned by Mrs. Lillian Jacques, Thorpe’s youngest daughter, who later donated the house to Heritage Park in 1969.

The Strathmore Standard

As a trained graphic designer, I’m a sucker for the newspaper office. Step inside the Strathmore and Bow Valley Standard Offices to see how newspapers in small prairie towns worked. Inside, you can watch the typesetter at work creating the newspaper pages and printing them on the giant, seven-ton Wharfedale press.

The press had been imported from Edinburgh, Scotland and built in 1870. One single page of the paper would take the typesetter about 8-hours to hand lay each letter. Often the typesetter was also the publisher, editor, and reporter and marketing director. In a small town, you had to do it all!

Barons Snooker Parlour

To stop it for a little game of pool, walk inside Barons Snooker Parlour. No, the Snooker Hall wasn’t owned by a Baron; it was named after the town in which the Snooker hall was originally built, Barons Alberta. A village in southern Alberta, Canada. Snooker Parlours originally only allowed men to play inside and were placed of bad repute. Drinking aplenty was the name of the game, and during the temperance movement, these establishments were greatly frowned upon. Nevertheless, their popularity only continued.

Along with the snooker table they also houses pool tables, bowling lanes, and even a bathroom where you could rent a bath for 75 cents! After a huge drinking bender one can imagine how bad you’d smell and a bath was definitely in order!

Post Office & Telephone Exchange

Head across the street and hop inside the Post Office & Telephone Exchange. Back in the 19th century, there was no email, Tiktok or texting. The only way you could correspond with your loved ones was via the mail. Therefore, just like social media is the most popular pasttime for people today, the post office was the hottest place to be back then! People would rush daily to see if there was any news from back home.

The first post office in Calgary was established in 1883! Before then the Mounted Police were postmasters for the area, dropping off mail on horseback throughout Western Canada. Often post offices also featured electronic telephone switchboards and the one inside the Post Office still works today and actually is used to connect to 16 other phones spread throughout the park.

Today you can visit the Post office and still send off a postcard with a unique Heritage Park stamp to send home to your friends and family. This is such a cute and unexpected treat for someone to receive as snail mail truly feels like a thing of the past and yet feels so special to receive.

Alberta Bakery

If you’re getting peckish, be sure to stop into the old Alberta Bakery. You can smell this place all the way down the road. The Bakery was originally built in 1912. Back then, going out for your baked goods was something no good housewife would ever be caught dead doing. They did their baking at home and took pride in their homemade bread. But the bachelors who worked on the railroad or with the North-West Mounted Police didn’t know how to bake and would frequent bakeries like this.

In addition to snacks and sweets like Cinnamon Buns, Butter Tarts, Gingerbread people and Sausage rolls, you can also get entire loaves of bread to bring home. Their sourdough is to die for!

Wainwright Hotel

In any small town, where you see the same people day in and day out, the hotel is the most exciting place to be! It’s here where locals get to greet the newcomers and talk their ear off about the goings on outside of their village. Everyone from new farmers, visiting doctors or even a theatre troupe would come to stay. And the same is true of the Wainwright Hotel, here in Heritage Park. It’s here where heritage actors are constantly abuzz, chatting with the visitors on their way to get something to eat. They wander around the gorgeous grand veranda that wraps around the exterior of the 1909 era hotel. Something about these verandas feels like the wild west and you almost sense like there is a old style gun fight about to break out!

The Wainwright Hotel is where you can have a formal dinner inside the elaborately decorated 20th century dining room. Unlike the more rustic rural adornments, the Wainwright Hotel features more modern, elegant décor. If you prefer something a little bit more relaxed and just need to rest your legs you can stop into the authentic saloon where you can grab a drink at the bar and enjoy some piano music.

Club Café

Quick detour down Railway Street. The various establishments on Railway Street represent a vital community invaluable to the growth of the Prairies. And that was the Asian community. Chinese immigrants, mainly men, arrived in Canada around the 1880s to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway. There were over 17,000 recorded men who came from China to work on the railway. Sadly, over 700 of these men were killed, primarily due to the extremely unsafe working conditions.

Once work was done, they were stranded in Canada with much less money earned than they had promised. They were often paid less than half of what their white coworkers earned. This meant most of them could not afford to return home, sending what they did make back home to support their families. But never wanting to give up, the remaining Chinese immigrant began to open businesses. Many of these were laundries, groceries and restaurants.

The Club Café is an eatery in the park where you can still grab a delicious snack lunch today! The building is based on pictures of the historic Won’s Public Lunch. This Chinese Café was initially located in Olds, Alberta and was built in 1918. These Chinese Cafés were a staple of small prairie towns in the Edwardian era. Although dubbed “Chinese Cafes,” the food served here wasn’t what we think of as Chinese food. Instead, it was an extensive western menu with very low prices. You could get a cup of coffee for five cents!

Flett’s Blacksmith Shop

Across the street is everyone’s favourite, Flett’s Blacksmith Shop. With, of course, the working blacksmith putting on a show for the visitors. In the 1900s, the blacksmiths were one of the most influential people in town. Not only did blacksmiths service the horses and oxen used for transportation and agriculture, but they also serviced farming equipment that was the backbone of the agriculture industry in the Prairies. The blacksmith was once owned this shop was Tom Flett, who built it in Airdrie in 1902.

Wing Chong Chinese Laundry

As mentioned before, many Chinese immigrants opened up Laundries during this period in history. Domestic work was one of their only options regardless of their many talents. The laundry we can visit today is designed after June Jay Tse’s laundry. June Jay Tse moved to Canada to work on the railway, and after that contract ended, he worked delivering laundry. He worked hard and eventually was able to purchase this building and open his very own laundry shop.

Walking inside, you can see how a typical laundry would have looked in 1914, complete with the price list! If you turn down the hallway, you can peek into the back rooms. The first represents the Chinese kitchen, and the back room is set up as the living room of a moderately successful Chinese family.

S.S. Moyie Historical Paddlewheeler

Let’s quickly head back to Main Street and walk to the water to catch a ride on the S.S. Moyie Historical Paddlewheeler. In the early days of the Province, many parts of Alberta were inaccessible on land. The many large rivers and lakes were the only way to get to these remote places. These were traversed by steamships, just the one we can still ride on today! Because many of the streams and rivers had such low water levels, large tall ships would never have been able to get through. But a paddlewheel boat can function in just a few inches of water! The S.S. Moyie was built in 1898 and used to take supplies and people to mines and railway construction sites all over the Province.

Today the Paddlewheeler is used to take guests on a short ride around the Elbow River. From this vantage point, you look back up at the park giving you a different view of the entirety of the village.

As you continue you’ll also enjoy some breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains and downtown Calgary from the waters of the Glenmore Reservoir.

Front Street

Head back up the stairs and make your way to Front Street. Front Street is where we find the antique outdoor Shopping mall. The row of shops here contains an old harness shop, general store, candy and druggery.

Botsford Harness Shop

The old Botsford Harness Shop was one of the first kinds of the store that would pop up on the main streets in new prairie settlements. These shops worked with leather creating horse harnesses to connect a horse to wagons, carts, and farm machinery so they could pull them. It would be one of the most critical farming equipment on the farm. The shop would also sell saddles, shoes and boots, all made with the same leather. Today you can shop here for unique gift items, figurines, jewellery, hats, dolls, cast-iron creations, wooden toys and more.

Claresholm General Store

The Claresholm General Store was opened by another family of Norwegian immigrants in 1905. These stores were another popular hangout, especially when the delivery cart arrived with the newest imports from around the country. Back then, many store owners still used the barter system, trading items in stock for anything the farmers had to trade that they could also go on to sell in-store. Most of what they sold was dry goods and rare and precious – candy! Just as much a treat as it is today. You can still shop inside for vintage-inspired candy, which gives you a hit of sugar and that nostalgic hit of dopamine.

Gledhill’s Drugstore

My favourite store in any old heritage museum is the druggery. I’m obsessed with antique pharmacies and learning more about how medicine worked ages ago. Gledhill’s Drugstore was initially built in 1908 in Dundurn, Saskatchewan. These drug stores were a rich environment. The embossed tin ceiling, bevelled glass mirrors, and stunning maple flooring were materials not likely to be found in the Prairies. Walking into this place would have felt almost royal to local farmers! This wealthy, opulent interior communicated to the customer the pharmacist was clearly successful and therefore knew what they were doing…although this wasn’t always the truth! There were quack doctors and pharmacists aplenty back then who made their mint selling elixirs that never worked.

Pharmacists were responsible for much more than just medical advice and dispensing medicine. They were also veterinarians that helped farmers with their sick animals. They marketed, created and sold poultices used as sunscreens, bath products, bug sprays, soaps and lotions. Today the store can still be toured, and many of the original products are hidden behind the glass.

Vulcan Ice Cream Parlour

A clear favourite on hot summer days is the Vulcan Ice Cream Parlour. In the 1930s, General Store often was renovated to feature soda fountains and served fresh ice cream. The sweet treat caught on with teenagers who couldn’t yet go out to the bar. Instead would hang out at the ice cream parlour late into the night. Often drug stores or general stores already featured carbon dioxide tanks that were used in developing medicines so converting these to make sugary drinks was an easy shift.

The Vulcan Ice Cream Parlour was originally the Elves Bros. General Store built in 1910 by Fred and Reuben “Rube” Elves. It was located in the small town of Vulcan, which rose to popularity near the Canadian Pacific Railway construction site. The interior was designed to replicate the looks of the old Olivier’s Bakery and Confectionery Shop in Calgary, circa 1910.

Midway

The part of the park I most enjoyed as a child was by the Midway. And although the ride is primarily meant for children, I made a point to still get on ‘The Whip’ to see if it lived up to the hype I remember. To be honest, it really did. But I think that might have been the nostalgia talking. But I’m not the only one who gets nostalgic about the rides. Even in the western Prairies, the Canadian Victorians felt that entertainment was essential to life.

The Whip

The Whip dates back to 1914 and was one of the world’s first thrill-based rides! It first debuted in Luna Park in Coney Island, New York and quickly began to be manufactured for fairgrounds worldwide. The Whip at Heritage Park actually dates back to 1921!!! Things really were made to last back then. But this is the only functioning portable Whip still known to exist. Be sure to study the floral decorations on the front of the cars. These were inspired by photographs taken of the Whip at the Johnny J. Jones Carnival in Edmonton.

Bowness Carousel

Another classic carnival ride that everyone can enjoy is the Bowness Carousel. This adorable, closed-top carousel dates back to 1904 and has been lovingly restored. My favourite part of the ride has always been the paintings of the Victorian women in the centre of the carousel. The carousel was originally built in 1904 and made in Louisville, Kentucky. Unlike other carousels that go up and down, with horses placed on long poles connected to the ceiling, this carousel is a more open concept. And the horses bob back and forth rather than up and down.

Dangler Swings

The Dangle Swings are another gorgeous antique treasure still part of children’s memories at the park. The Swings were first invented by Fritz Kreis, a German manufacturer of amusement park rides, in 1920. When they debuted in Europe, they were the first of their kind and genuinely wow-ed everyone who saw them. Not just for the ingenuity of the ride but for the gorgeous painted frames around the central pole.

Prince House

As we make our way towards the gate where we entered, we walk down Prince Street. One of the largest buildings on the street is the grand Prince House. Peter Anthony Prince was a lumber and hydroelectricity magnate who, at the time, was one of the wealthiest men in the Prairies. He not only started the Calgary Water Power Company in 1890, but he also owned a flour mill, a meat-packing plant, grain elevators and a brewery. In 1894, Prince built this house for his family on the west end of town.

Of all the houses in the park, this one is by far the most opulent. Lush furnishings decorate the interior. Tiffany stained glass light fixtures hang from the ceiling against richly ornate window curtains.

Upstairs the bedrooms are an intimate peek into the simple things the Victoria Prince family enjoyed. A group of teddy bears sits around a table enjoying a cup of afternoon tea. Such sweet moments are frozen in time.

The Montefiore Synagogue

The last stop on our tour is inside the Montefiore Synagogue. This beautiful Synagogue was initially located in the Montefiore Colony near Sibbald, Alberta, in 1919. Many Jewish immigrants had fled to Alberta as early as the 1880s, feeling waves of antisemitism spreading across Europe. In Montefiore, a small Jewish community built their Synagogue. The building also served as a meeting hall and a school for the religious education of the colony’s Jewish children.

Despite the antisemitism that was seemingly infecting the rest of Europe, the small settlements in Alberta were welcoming to the new settlers. And Christian farmers were often known to help out at the Synagogue during their religious celebrations. When you lived in such a small community, everyone was in it together and helped wherever they could, regardless of religion.

In 1927 a severe drought caused most of the citizens of Montefiore to abandon the village, and the Synagogue was turned into a grain shed. It remained this way until 2008. It was eventually purchased by the Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project Society and brought to Heritage Park to be restored. During this restoration process, they discovered thousands of books, a precious Torah, a wooden Ark, and a bimah hidden away inside. These historical treasures were a priceless find and are still on display for you to see! Today the Synagogue serves as one of the few surviving examples of wooden synagogues built by pioneers on the Canadian prairie.

Gasoline Alley

Before leaving the park, if you still have some energy, you should take a peek inside the Gasoline Alley Museum. The Gasoline Alley Museum is an indoor exhibition that tells the story of the automobile. It features a rare collection of vintage vehicles, gasoline pumps, signage, and more.

Since Calgary was built upon the Natural Gas industry, it’s no surprise to see this automobile collection here. Along with, of course, some beautiful vintage gas pumps! The museum houses one of the world’s largest collections of rare vintage vehicles and artifacts relating to the auto industry.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this day out at Heritage Park. A walk back in time to be enjoyed by anyone of any age. Although it might be marketed as something to do with the kids, I was amazed by how great of a time I had just on my own. Exploring the amazing treasure and historical antiquities, I found here!

Let me know in the comments if you’re planning a trip to Calgary and what you want me to cover next.