Fort Calgary was built in the summer of 1875 when fifty members of the North West Mounted Police arrived at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers to establish a new fort. The troop was sent to stop the whiskey trade and bring law and order to the west.

Fort Calgary was built 3 times. In 1882 there was a fire that destroyed the men's barracks. It was replaced by a two-story building that remained until 1914. With the growth of the city around the site the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway bought the land and demolished all the fort buildings except the Dean House.

The North West Mounted Police dug a three foot deep trench and put the big logs side by side upright in the trench. Do you know why they built this fort in this way? Because winter was coming soon and they needed to get shelter quickly so that they would keep warm. The logs did not fit close together so the wind would get through. So in the winter they used horse poo to fill the spaces between the logs and in the summer they used mud. Finally the wood rotted and they had to build a new one that looked exactly alike.

Inspector Brisebois lived in the fort then one day he left and never returned.