ALBERTA

Canadian Forces Base Calgary (Currie Barracks):

Currie Barracks, named in honour of General Sir Arthur Currie, was established in 1934 on land near the Sarcee Indian Reserve. This was the home of the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Headquarters and B Squadron (later replaced by the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) 2nd Canadian Armoured Regiment), the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps Supply Depot, the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Canadian Signals Communication Centre, and the headquarters for the 13th Military District.

In 1938, No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron and No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron moved to Currie Barracks from RCAF Station Ottawa (Rockcliffe), and occupied the portion of the barracks that later became Royal Canadian Air Force Station Lincoln Park.

On 15 February 1941, No. A-16 Advanced Canadian Infantry Training Centre opened at the barracks, remaining until the end of the War.

Over the years Currie Barracks would be home to several units including: The 1st & 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI & 2 PPCLI) arrived at Currie Barracks in 1946 and permanent married quarters (PMQ) were built in 1948. The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada also made Currie Barracks their home from 1953 until the regiment disbanded in 1968. The 1st Battalion, Queens Own Rifles from occupied space at Currie from1953-1960 and The Fort Garry Horse, from 1965 until the unit disbanded in 1970.

2 PPCLI moved to Griesbach Barracks in Edmonton in 1958 and The Lord Strathcona’s Horse relocated to Sarcee Barracks the same year, remaining until transferring to Germany in 1965. 1 PPCLI re-located to Work Point Barracks in Victoria, B.C. in 1963.

Currie Barracks underwent rapid expansion during the Korean War as the facility transformed into a major military centre. The Headquarters Calgary Garrison was formed on 26 October 26 1950 to coordinate the administration of army units stationed at Currie Barracks.

With the closure of RCAF Station Lincoln Park, the buildings, the hangars to the north and south of the airfield and the Lincoln Park PMQs all became part of Currie Barracks. From the mid-1960s until 1983, the abandoned north-south runway was used as a racetrack for sports cars and motorcycles under the name Calgary International Raceway.

As a result of the Unification in 1968, Sarcee Barracks and Currie Barracks were merged into one base to become Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Calgary, although the names Sarcee and Currie continued to be used. Also in 1968, 1 Service Battalion was formed.

In later years, CFB Calgary would become home to No. 10 Personnel Depot and 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG), consisting of 1 Service Battalion, 1 Field Ambulance, 1 Military Police Platoon, Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadian Armoured Corps), the Regional Equipment Depot and 1 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters and Signals Unit.

1 PPCLI returned to Currie Barracks in 1970.

In the mid 1990s, a reorganization and consolidation occurred within the Canadian Military. Several bases were either downsized, merged or closed and as a result, CFB Calgary was order closed down.  Currie Barracks closed on 1 February 1998, with Harvey Barracks closing the previous June. 1 CMBG relocated to CFB Edmonton’s Grieshbach Barracks.

Area Support Unit Calgary was established on a small section of the former Currie Barracks , with a complement of 26 Regular Force personnel, to provide the local Reserve, Cadet and remaining Regular Force units with administrative and logistical support. A new armoury was built to house the remaining Regular Force sections that made up Area Support Unit Calgary.

41 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters (41 CBG HQ) moved into the LGen The Honorable Stanley Waters Building, formerly the 1 PPCLI headquarters building, after the departure of the Regular Forces to Edmonton.

Many of the original buildings remained at Currie Barracks for almost 2 decades as the property was slowly re-developed and turned over to a variety of commercial and residential uses, including a full-service film and television production centre, “Canadian Forces Base Studio Centre”, which has since closed.

The former Currie Barracks school became the home of Master’s Academy & College and remains so today.

The Calgary Farmers Market occupied one of the former Lincoln Park Hangars, but later moved to a new location on 77 Avenue South-east.

Not long after the base closure, the former Currie PMQ area was re-developed into a mixed upscale residential area called “Garrison Woods” featuring up to 600,000 residences, condominiums and a small shopping centre.  Some of the original PMQ homes at Curry Barracks were retained, extensively remodeled and integrated into the Garrison Woods development.

Similarly, some of the former Lincoln Park PMQs were also extensively remodeled retained as part of the “Garrison Green” residential community.

In March 2013, ASU Calgary disbanded along with other ASUs across Canada, ending almost 16 years of service. Taking over ASU Calgary’s functions were 1 Area Support Group in Edmonton and locally by ASG Detachment Calgary. Collectively, all Regular and Reserve Force units in the Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge areas are now known as Calgary Garrison.

Currie Barracks is currently undergoing a massive re-development that once completed.  It will include about 5,200 housing units in a variety of types from single-detached to apartments and condos, 245,000 square feet of retail development in a mixed-use High Street, about 750,000 square feet of commercial office space and 9.67 hectares of Municipal Reserve.

Approximately a dozen buildings are designated provincial heritage sites and will be refurbished and, in some cases, used as business space.  Buildings that are to be included in the re-development are the Athlone building, the Bessborough and Bennet buildings, both currently occupied by Clear Water Academy, a private Catholic school, the Pellet Block, the Stables building, the Officers’ Mess and garden, Remstead House and Brad House.

The parade square will become a sports field.

Only one of the six former Lincoln Park hangars along Richardson Way SW remains, along with a green Quonset occupied by the Wild Rose Brewery, the Drill Hall and Building AF-23 which was formerly the military clothing supply.

The Calgary Heritage Initiative Society, is scrambling to save McHugh House, a 117-year-old brick and sandstone building in Mission and one of the city’s oldest heritage homes, and the Barron Building, an art moderne tower in the Beltline that went up after the 1947 Leduc oil strike.

The last remnants of this once important army base include the Calgary Military Family Resource Centre and 41 CBG HQ, who occupy a small fenced complex on the east side of the barracks that includes the LGen The Honorable Stanley Waters Building and the former Headquarters building.

The Military Museums (formerly The Museum of the Regiments), located in the former base junior high school, now a part of Garrison Woods, remains as a link to the military heritage of Currie Barracks.

Source Material: information supplied by Captain D. Sweeney, Deputy Commanding Officer, Area Support Unit Calgary (1999), information supplied by Carol Stokes, Archivist, The City of Calgary (1999), information supplied by Ken Craig, Volunteer Researcher, Museum of the Regiments, Calgary Alberta (1999), “The Politics of Contested Space: Military Property Development in Calgary” – a thesis paper by P. Whitney Lackenbauer, University of Calgary, Department of History, Faculty of Graduate Studies (1999), DND press release from November 1998, information supplied by Terri Griffin (2002), information supplied by Ian Gray, Calgary resident (2003), information supplied by June Flegg, Historian, Saskatoon Public Library (2000), Calgary Forces Base Studio Centre web site – http://www.cfbstudios.com, Canada Lands Corporation Web site – http://www.clc.ca, information supplied by the Tsuu T’ina Police Service (2004), the personal recollections of the author (2004), “ASU Calgary Closes”, The Western Sentinel 28 March 2013, the Calgary Herald, 5 May 2013 – http://www.calgaryherald.com/Remnants+Second+World+flying+school+Calgary+disappearing/8340972/story.html, Calgary Military Family Resource Centre – https://www.familyforce.ca/sites/Calgary/EN/About%20the%20Community/Pages/MilitaryPre.aspx, “The Garrison” newspaper from March 1995 and Sept 1999, “Open house scheduled for Currie Barracks redevelopment plan,” Calgary Herald, 24 February 2015 and Currie Life – www.currielife.ca.