Pioneer "Shack" Centennial
Kathleen Rogers, past president of SAPD, recently, sent out a rediscovered photo that reminded us that June 28th, 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Pioneer Shack on the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede grounds.
The photo is by Harry Pollard, son of photographer James Pollard, who was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario in 1880.
He moved west in May 1899 and set up a photographic studio in Calgary. Pollard became a well-established photographer in the community.
His famous collection includes photographs of the Klondike gold rush of 1888 and 1889, and hundreds of pictures of Indigenous people. Among his most notable photographs are those documenting the First Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy - the Tsuu T'ina Nation, the Siksika Nation and the Kainai Nation.
source: Wikipedia
A list of Pollard's photos housed in the Alberta Provincial Archives can be found here.
The Pioneer Shack existed on the Stampede grounds for many years, but was eventually moved in 1950 into a replica of the Fort Calgary stockade, celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of Fort Calgary. This original structure was replaced by the much, more, modern Fort Calgary House in 1955. Finally, Fort Calgary House was removed to make way for the Light Rail Transit line (LRT) in 1979.
A detailed history of the Pioneer Shack can be found in Kathleen Rogers' personal research into the Pioneer's Shack which was also summarized in the September 2020 Southern Alberta Pioneers and their Descendants Newsletter.