609 Rideau Rd. S.W., Rideau Park
In 1907, Baron Robert Baden-Powell of Gilwell established the Scouting movement in Britain. He visited Calgary in 1910, the year the movement reached Calgary; by the time he returned a decade later, fourteen troops had been organized in the city.
Established in 1914, the 10th Scout Troop met in a series of temporary quarters until 1920 or 1921, when it acquired space in the former Elbow View Hotel (338 – 26 Avenue W.), built originally as the Albion Hotel and closed when Prohibition became law in 1916. Fire gutted the building in the summer of 1925, and the troop lost its records and equipment. By that time, Frederick Leslie Sara (1886-1940) had become the troop’s leader, a position he held from 1923 until June 1934. Under Sara’s dynamic leadership, the troop built its own hall – the first such purpose-built structure in the city, and the oldest remaining. The building committee consisted of R.C. Burns and Ole Kirkwold; contractor Reginald Peach, a friend of Sara’s, donated his services. The hall was built through volunteer labour, on a pie-shaped parcel of land donated for the purpose. John A. Stiles, Chief Commissioner for Canada, officially opened the hall in 1927. The building was constructed at a cost of $2100.00.
Born in England, Leslie Sara was active with the Scouting movement before moving to Calgary in 1913. He worked as a manufacturers’ agent for hardware firms. Sara became well known as a naturalist through his local and national radio broadcasts on CBC, and through his Calgary Herald feature, “What Nature Shows Us”. He formed a Sea Scout Patrol for members of the 10th Troop, and taught them boating and life-saving skills on the Elbow River. Boys called their scoutmaster “Skipper”. Sara secured a lease on a nearby island in the Elbow River, which boys of the 10th Troop cleaned up and maintained as a bird sanctuary. In the last decade of his life, Sara served as the Boy Scouts Association of Alberta’s commissioner in charge of publicity. One of Sara’s greatest accomplishments was the establishment of the Scout toyshops, a program by which city scouts and guides – including boys of the 10th Troop – repaired old, donated toys for distribution to poor children at Christmas time. Sara’s wife, who was active with Girl Guides, beautified the hall on Rideau Road by planting tulips.
In a ceremony held on October 29, 1948, the newly-renovated 10th Calgary Troop Boy Scout Hall was renamed Sara Scout Hall to honour the Troop’s former leader, and Sara’s widow presented a framed portrait of her late husband. Three weeks later, the building was damaged by fire when two girl guides built a fire in a non-functioning fireplace that had no chimney. Sara’s portrait was destroyed in the blaze. The building was repaired and has since undergone interior renovations.
In early 2013 plans were underway to renovate the hall but the June flood event damaged the structure resulting in partial demolition. The hall has since been re-built using some original material.
