Tucked away near the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers is a small log building that predates almost everything we think of as modern Calgary. The Hunt House, located near Fort Calgary, is recognized as Calgary's oldest surviving building on its original site. It was built sometime between 1876 and 1881, although the exact date isn't known.
That makes the Hunt House considerably older than most of Calgary's historic homes. When it was built, Calgary wasn't even a town yet. Fort Calgary had only been established in 1875, and the settlement that would eventually become the city was still little more than a collection of trading posts, cabins and other small buildings.
A Hudson's Bay Company connection
The Hunt House was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's early presence in the area. It was likely built as a residence for one of the company's employees, possibly an interpreter or freighter, although the exact history of the original occupants isn't certain. The building is one of the few surviving reminders of the small community that developed around Fort Calgary in those early years.
The house itself is remarkably simple: a small, one-storey log structure with a gable roof and later additions. Its construction is particularly interesting because the logs use dovetail corners, a style associated with southern Alberta and influenced by American building traditions.
From frontier settlement to modern Calgary
It is difficult to imagine what the area around the Hunt House looked like when it was built. Calgary's population was tiny, there were few permanent buildings and the railway had not yet arrived.
The Canadian Pacific Railway reached Calgary in 1883, helping transform the small settlement into an increasingly important centre. Over the following decades, streets, businesses and neighbourhoods developed around the original settlement, eventually leaving the Hunt House surrounded by a city that bears little resemblance to the Calgary of the 1870s.
Remarkably, the house remained on its original site throughout that transformation.
The building was eventually occupied by William Hunt, a railway worker who purchased the property in 1947 and lived there until the 1970s. It was subsequently returned to the City of Calgary and preserved as an important part of the city's early history.
Today, the Hunt House is a Provincial Historic Resource and remains one of Calgary's most important surviving links to the city's earliest years.
Why the Hunt House matters
The Hunt House isn't a grand mansion or an elaborate Victorian home. In fact, its significance comes partly from how ordinary it is.
It is a small log house that managed to survive while Calgary grew from a frontier settlement into a major Canadian city. It gives us a physical connection to a period when the city was only beginning to take shape, and it is a reminder that Calgary's history goes back much further than the streets and neighbourhoods most of us recognize today.
