Fort Calgary

Fort Calgary is the birthplace of the city of Calgary, and the original location of the North West Mounted Police fort built at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in 1875. The Canadian government created the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873 as a paramilitary police force that would establish Canadian sovereignty, put a stop to the devastating whiskey trade, and befriend the First Nations people in preparation for the treaties that would open the land for settlement. The Force marched west across the prairie from Dufferin Manitoba in the summer of 1874 and established Fort Macleod. The following year they built Fort Calgary.