Land for the park was donated to the City of Calgary in 1911 by John Hextall, as part of a deal to secure the extension of streetcar service into Bowness Estates, which he was developing as an exclusive suburb.[3] The land consisted of two islands in the Bow River, separated from the south bank by a narrow channel, now dammed off to create a lagoon and small canal.[4]
Although hardly any development took place in Bowness before the end of the second world war, Bowness Park itself was extremely popular, due to the streetcar service which took Calgarians right to the door when automobiles were rare. In the 1920s and 30s service on summer weekends was every 15 minutes and it was estimated that on a fine weekend up to 25,000 people would visit the park, with 28 streetcars being assigned to handle the traffic. Streetcar service was maintained from 1913 through 1950.[5]
Facilities in the park in the early days were extensive. There was a swimming pool, the lagoon for canoeing and boating (with a fountain and central phonograph “playing gentle music”), a large dancing pavilion, a merry-go-round (now in Calgary's Heritage Park), picnic tables and shelters, swings and teeter-totters, camping sites and cabins which could be rented by the week or month and later a scenic railway.