The Calgary municipal railway operated a system of streetcar routes in Calgary, Alberta, from 1909, until 1950.[1][2][3][4] From 1909 to 1910 the system was named the "Calgary Electric Railway". [5][6][7] In 1909, and early 1910, the system was known as the "Calgary electric railway". In 1946, the system was renamed the "Calgary Transit System", to reflect the decision that all the streetcars routes were to be replaced with electric trolley buses.
The Calgary Stampede grounds were the terminus of the first streetcar route.[8][9][10]
According to Maxwell Foran and Charles Reasons, streetcars were built to working-class neighbourhoods, enabling workers to get to their workplaces, while those neighbourhoods were underserved by water and electric utilities.[11]
Source:[12]
Calgary Electric Railway (05 July 1909 - early 1910) Municipal operation. When efforts to lease the system to a private operator failed, name usage was altered to CMR.
On 5 July 1909, the City of Calgary inaugurated its street railway system just in time for the Alberta Fair. The corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street West became the focal point of streetcar convergence, and subsequently the centre of retail activity. Streetcars operated under newly-erected overhead wiring from the convergence to the fair grounds at Victoria Park, and soon elsewhere in the city as well. New trackage proceeded at a rapid pace and soon additional lines were built throughout the downtown area and then expanded to residential areas to the east, west and south.
Foran points out that while poorer residential areas were given streetcar routes (to get workers to the job), they lacked full utility services or building restrictions. Two such communities, Bowness and Forest Lawn, were outside the city limits but part of urban Calgary.