Object description

Fort Calgary was established in 1875 as Fort Brisebois by the North-West Mounted Police at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers, on traditional Niitsitapi territory in what is now called Calgary. The fort was built to control the illegal American whiskey trade, to make way for the coming Canadian Pacific Railway, and to create 'good relations' with the Indigenous peoples of the territory. The site was purchased by the City of Calgary in 1974 and reopened in 1978 as a historic site and museum.