In 2013 Chestermere Historical Foundation worked with the City of Chestermere Streetscape Committee, to design historically themed banners for the bridge on Chestermere Boulevard.
CHF provided ideas for photographs, and Annette Gillion and Streetscape produced these banners which, due to age, have been decommissioned. Several of the decommissioned banners now hang in the Upper Clubhouse at the Calgary Yacht Club.
In 2021 The City of Chestermere contacted CHF about installing a new set of historically themed banners.
Working with SignCraft Digital and Trent deGoesbriand, CHF chose six new images and the new banners were installed on May 1 2023. The banners were paid for by Chestermere Historical Foundation. Images of the six new banners are shown below. A brief description of the photographs is also provided. Also this article in the Chestermere Anchor was published May 8 2023.
Street scenes of banners by Tiffany Vaughn 2013.
All photos are used with permission from families or institutions.
1955 – ‘Harvest time, Alberta.
Published January 11, 1955, page 1. Picture taken the previous day shows harvesting an 80 acre
wheat field on Chestermere Lake road near Forest Lawn. Pitching the sheaves are Lorne Goykei, left
and Harold Walton, while stacking the grain on the truck is Mervyn Giles.’ CU1140470 University of Calgary Digital Collection.
1940 (approximately) – ‘The morning after a storm.’ From the collection of the Naval Museum of Alberta. It shows cadets from the Sea Cadet Camp (where Camp Chestermere is now located) cleaning up after a big storm has hit their sailboat. For more about the history of the Camp go here.
1949-1950 – Motorboats and water skiing have always been part of life at Chestermere Lake. This photograph shows Larry Himmelman a cabin owner, on the first pair of skis used on Chestermere Lake. Ed Lowney, another cabin owner and also a member of the Calgary Yacht Club, made them from 1/2″ x 7″ birch in AB Himmelman’s workshop in Calgary. AB was a boat maker and the first Commodore of the Calgary Yacht Club. Photo from Himmelman Family Collection.
1922 – UBC Library Rare Books & Special Collections -‘Abandoned, Chestermere Lake Station’ – Chestermere Station was built in 1914 by the Canadian Northern Railway. It was one of three stations built in Alberta for the tourist trade. It was believed that the boom in Calgary would result in people flocking to Chestermere Lake for water recreation and holidays as they were doing to Alberta Beach and Jasper. Unfortunately the boom was bust. The station remained on the CNoR schedule until 1918 but unfortunately burned down in 1930. The station is located on the south side of the tracks, approximately halfway between the RR crossings on Range Road 282 and Rainbow Road. There is nothing left of the station to show exactly where it was. You can read more about the Chestermere Station here.
1906 – From the University of Calgary Digital Collections CU179113 – ‘Boating on Canadian Pacific Irrigation Canal’ – As soon as the CPR dug the Main Canal from the Bow River, and water began to flow to what is now Chestermere Lake, people were using it for recreation. This photograph from the CPR collection was also coloured and printed for mailing as a post card.
1940 – ‘Making homemade ice cream, Chestermere Lake, Calgary area, Alberta.
For [a] little girl’s second birthday party. L-R: Henry Mikkelsen; Diane Carlyle; Ken Carlyle.’ CU1CT5414 University of Calgary Digital Collections.