In 1908, John Hextall bought the Bowness Ranche, a 2,482-acre piece of land west of the city. With his eye on the population boom in Calgary, Hextall intended to develop part of his land as a luxury country suburb. Three years later, he built a bridge across the Bow River and pushed The City to extend the new streetcar line into “Bowness Estates.” Streetcars were a relatively new, high-tech innovation for Calgary, having made their debut in 1909 with one dedicated line from downtown to the fairgrounds at Victoria Park.
The City agreed to extend the Calgary Municipal Railway to Bowness in exchange for a couple of things: Hextall’s bridge needed to be open for public use and he must donate two islands on the Bow River to the City in return for the service.
Only a 40-minute ride from downtown, street car service ran every 30 minutes from Eighth Ave. and Centre St. starting at noon each day. In the 1920’s, the streetcars ran every 15 minutes on summer weekends and it was estimated that as many as 25,000 people would visit the park over the course of a weekend when the weather was good.