MISSION, CALGARY

The 'Mission' district is an inner city neighborhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada that originated as 'Notre Dame de la Paix', a Catholic mission, and was for a time the incorporated 'Village of Rouleauville'. Mission contains the very popular 4th Street with many trendy restaurants and shops, and it hosts the Lilac Festival in May.
It is represented in the Calgary City Council by Ward 8 Alderman Madeleine King.^[1] The community has an area redevelopment plan in place.

Contents

History

Institutions

Demographics

References

External links

History

After a temporary location 40 km (25 miles) away (started in 1872), Father Doucet, on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church founded the permanent location in 1875. It was the only Catholic mission west of Saint Boniface, Manitoba. In 1883 Oblate missionary Father Albert Lacombe obtained two quarter sections of land for a "Mission district", to ensure a strong French speaking Catholic community.
After obtaining the rest of the land that's now Mission, the area was incorporated as the 'Village of Rouleauville' in what was then the Northwest Territories.^[2] Despite Lacombe's desire to preserve the French language and culture, Rouleauville progressively lost its French character, becoming overwhelmingly English. In 1907 the village was annexed by Calgary. In the process all the French names of streets were replaced by Calgary's street numbering system. ^[3]

Institutions

In the latter part of his life, Lacombe helped found a number of Catholic schools throughout the West, including St. Mary's School in 1885, initially using a two-storey log cabin convent in Mission district (Rouleauville). It is now the oldest school still operating in Calgary (though in a newer building). Talisman Centre is also located in this neighborhood.
In 1889 St. Mary's Church was founded, and in 1912 it became St. Mary's Cathedral when it became the seat of the newly formed Diocese of Calgary.

Demographics

In 2006 the neighbourhood had a population of 4,433. Residents in this community had a median household income of $37,040 in 2000, and there were 25% low income residents living in the neighborhood. As of 2000, 20.1% of the residents were immigrants. A proportion of 94.6% of the buildings were condominiums or apartments, and 70% of the housing was used for renting.

References

1.
2. Rouleauville at Glenbow Museum - Information on the history of the French speaking village.
3. Rouleauville at Alberta Heritage - Discusses Father Lacombe and the village

External links

★ Local Mission Cliff Bungalow Community Association