Looking North on 4 Street SW from 26 Avenue and Elbow Drive
The Mission shopping district in 1929. Stores included Roxboro Block (right foreground), Julien’s garage, Piggly-Wiggly grocery, and Temple-Duff Drugs. The First Baptist Church Spire can be seen in the distance.
“Mission Shopping District, Calgary, Alberta.”, [ca. 1929] (CU166667) by Bird, R.A.. Courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
In 1978, the Roxboro Block had been demolished, and a new, exclusive high-rise condominium was being built. The penthouses were selling for around $200,000 each. The new Rideau Medical Tower now blocked the view of the First Baptist Church Spire (Williams, 1978).
Image from Calgary Then and Now by Vicky Williams, Bodina Books, 1978
Today, stores include Safeway, Dollarama, South Block BBQ, La Boulangerie Bakery Café, and Shoppers Drug Mart. The Mission Bridge, from where all three of these photos were taken, was built in 1886 and is one of Calgary’s oldest bridges.
Image taken by Ashia Sanders, 2025.
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