Palliser Hotel

Renowned historian Harry Sander’s Fairmont Palliser: The Story of Calgary’s Most Iconic Hotel is the definitive history of how one hotel has defined the city of Calgary from the first oil boom to modern times.

In the opening chapter, Sanders begins the narrative at the time Indigenous people were living along the Bow River, then describes the establishment of Fort Calgary and the arrival of the transcontinental rail line. The story then moves to the hotel’s construction by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the arrival of Winnipeg bank manager Charles W. Rowley, who on May 28, 1914, became the hotel’s first official guest. Since Rowley checked in, through the glittering era of the 1920s and on to modern times, this 12-story sandstone edifice in the heart of downtown between 9th Avenue and the railway line has radiated wealth and luxury.

The extensively researched history is combined with stories of the hotel that have enriched the city and the province, from links to the CPR to visits of royalty and movie stars. How did such a grand hotel come to be built on what was then sparsely populated prairies? Who designed it? Who selected its furnishings? Which famous visitors has it hosted? And why is now known as the Fairmont Palliser? These and many more questions are answered in Fairmont Palliser: The Story of Calgary’s Most Iconic Hotel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry Sanders is a Calgary-based historical consultant and freelance writer and the editor of Alberta History, the quarterly journal of the Historical Society of Alberta. He earned a BA (Hons.) in history at the University of Calgary in 1988, and he has worked for the Calgary Public Library, the City of Calgary Archives, the Glenbow Library and Archives, and the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta. In 2012–13, Harry was Calgary’s historian laureate, a position created and sponsored by the Calgary Heritage Authority (later renamed Heritage Calgary). Fairmont Palliser is his 11th book.