Gord Davies, past president of the Cochrane Historical & Archival Preservation Society, will be hosting an event entitled History Isn’t Always Written by People at the Cochrane Historical Museum on Aug. 3 from 9:30 to 11 am.
The event is being held in conjunction with Historic Calgary Week 2023, a joint venture put on by the Chinook Country Historical Society and a number of sponsors. Historic Calgary Week runs from July 28 to Aug. 7.
As attendees will learn on Aug. 3, horses played many roles in Cochrane’s history, whether it was taking kids to school, hauling bricks and farm machinery, hauling WW1 artillery, or transporting doctors to deliver babies.
“The theme of Calgary Historic Week is transportation, and I think we were hoping to tie that in with the importance of horses in Cochrane's early days and how they were used,” Davies said.
“Building roads in the early days was all done by huge teams of horses on the ranches and on the farms.”
But it wasn’t all work for the horses, who were also used for the gentlemanly sport of polo.
“Polo was very popular here because a lot of the people that settled this area were from the British Isles…[They] brought a lot of those sports with them and some of them were fairly wealthy people that had money and had some pretty good horses that they brought over,” Davies explained.
Polo was played in the middle of the horse racing track, where the community of Heartland now sits. The naming of streets in Heartland after horses is a nod to the area’s history.
Cochrane even had an internationally recognized horse racing track where visitors travelled by a special race day train from Calgary to attend.
Davies said horse racing and betting were very popular at the track until the Depression era, which essentially wiped out any disposable income the betters had, and the track was forced to close down.
Davies said the museum, which started out as the first hospital in Cochrane in 1910, has two complete rooms dedicated to the local horse history.
The Cochrane Historical Museum is located at the Historic Cochrane Ranche site on Highway 1A, 20 Bow Valley Trail.
Only events that require registration will have a register link at the bottom of the description. (Note: there is no “Register” link on the Aug. 3 event listing).
Meeting locations for other events will be emailed to all registrants shortly before the event. Registration for some programs is via email and the register link will direct you to the appropriate email address.
Most of the Historic Calgary Week events are free of charge (four events have a cost for services provided) but financial support for the history festival in the form of donations is welcome.
To register for other events or donate, go to chinookhistory.ca. Various options are available for donations.
Other events in the series
A few other Historic Calgary Week presentations focus on areas that are near Cochrane, including Bragg Creek and Bearspaw.
On July 29, from 6 to 8 pm, the History of Glenbow Ranch Guided Golf Cart Tour will take place, (repeated at 9 am on Aug. 5 and 1 pm on Aug. 6). Attendees can join an experienced guide from the Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation on a tour back in time.
From when Glacial Lake Calgary covered the lands to when a sandstone quarry and town thrived, they will end the tour with a deeper appreciation for the provincial park located southeast of Cochrane and what the people who work there strive to protect.
Note: There is a $25 transportation fee for this tour and registration is required ahead of time.
On Aug. 6 from 1:30 to 3 pm, history buffs are welcome to attend a walking tour of Bragg Creek to learn about the rich history of White Avenue – a street also known as Heritage Mile. Hosted by the Bragg Creek Historical Society, the two-kilometre walking tour will include stories about the hamlet's early residents and their experiences.
Refreshments will be served following the walk. Attendees are encouraged to dress for the weather and wear proper walking shoes. The meeting place is at The Post House Inn and Conference Centre, located at 36 White Avenue in Bragg Creek.
The day after the Bragg Creek walking tour, from 10 to 11:45 am on Aug. 7, the Bearspaw Historical Society is hosting a presentation on the 1920 Bearspaw Historical One Room School. Society members will take visitors on guided tours through the school, teacherage and barn,
At 10:45 am, there will be a presentation on the 100-year history of the school and Bearspaw community. The meeting point is at 253253 Bearspaw Road, about a kilometre south of Highway 1A.
For more details on Historic Calgary Week, visit chinookhistory.ca to download a brochure that highlights each and every presentation from July 28 to Aug. 7.
