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calgary excavation
January 15, 2022

Excavation revealing artifacts from Calgary’s past

While excavating, construction crews discovered a little slice of Calgary’s past: glass bottles and other items from a site just northeast of the Stampede grounds.

Christine Leppard is the Stampede’s historian and is excited about the find.

“We’re looking at bottles that likely came from the hospital or the isolation hospital, bedpans, pop bottles from the people who were living in here so (they’re) a reflection of the lives of the people in this era area in those years,” said Leppard. “We’re looking at things that I haven’t fully dated, but range from about the 1930s up to the 1960s and reflects the uses of the site.”

Work has begun on the Calgary Stampede’s SAM Centre near the corner of 12th avenue and 5th street southeast. It’s just south of the Rundle Ruins, the sight of Calgary’s second General Hospital built in 1894. It featured 35 beds, an operating room, nursing school and it even had electric lights and telephones. It saw several additions and eventually became a facility for the chronically ill but was knocked down in the 1970s.

“Part of my job has been scouring through these items and selecting a few that we will take into the Calgary Stampede collection that we can use to interpret in exhibits in the future,” said Leppard.

Brian Vivian is a senior project archeologist with Lifeways of Canada. He consults on all kinds of construction projects in Alberta.

Keep reading on CTV News


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