CalgaryFire Hall No. 1 was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 2009. In order for a site to be designated a Provincial Historic Resource, it must possess province-wide significance for either its history or architecture. To properly assess the historic importance of a resource, a historian crafts a context document that situates a resource within its time and place and compares it to similar resources in other parts of the province. This allows staff to determine the importance of a resource to a particular theme, time, and place. Below is some of the historical information used in the evaluation of the Calgary Fire Hall No. 1.
The first attempt to provide an orderly method of firefighting in the frontier community of Calgary came with its incorporation in 1884 when a volunteer fire committee was established. One of its first acts was to acquire a hor
se drawn wagon for a volunteer bucket brigade. In 1886, a major fire devastated the downtown and, as a result, most new commercial buildings were made of brick or stone, but these were still vulnerable to internal fires. A serviceable fire hall was obviously required.
In 1887, a wood frame fire hall was erected on 122 – 7th Avenue East. This served the town well at first, but Calgary continued to grow rapidly, and the need for another facility was soon apparent. It was not until 1905, however, that another fire hall was erected, this being another wood frame structure on 1801 Macleod Trail to serve the south side of the city. Even this was hardly adequate, for Calgary continued to grow at a frantic pace, its population rising to over 43,000 in 1911.
In 1911, both Calgary fire halls were replaced with modern brick facilities. Other fire halls were also soon built in other parts
of the city. By this time, a Fire Department was a part of the civic administration, and paid fire fighters were stationed right at the halls. Reports on fires were sent in through the newly installed telephone system, and responses were handled by motorized fire trucks with pressurized pumps.
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