From the archives: Meet the dude who gave Calgary its name​on February 10, 2025 at 12:00 pm

There’s a story behind every city’s name and Calgary’s story starts with Col. James Macleod, who was the commissioner of the North West Mounted Police or the NWMP (the forerunner to the RCMP). The city’s name originated with Macleod, but we weren’t the first “Calgary” in the world.

The NWMP had established a fort at the junction of the Bow and Elbow rivers in 1875. Several of the Indigenous peoples who lived here for centuries before that often referred to the area as “elbow” in their languages, a reference to the distinct bend in the waterways where the two rivers meet. But a NWMP inspector, Ephrem-A. Brisebois decided the site should be named after him and be called Fort Brisebois. That didn’t sit well with his bosses — Major Acheson Irvin and Col. James Macleod. Macleod suggested the alternate name of Calgary.

There’s a Calgary — a hamlet — that exists on the Isle of Mull all the way across the ocean in Scotland. That Calgary has a nice beach and it drew Macleod there one summer, while he was visiting the U.K. Macleod had been born in Scotland, but moved to Canada with his family when he around nine years old. It provided the inspiration for our community’s new moniker and in 1876, Fort Calgary became the area’s official name.

Macleod’s name itself also became a place name in Alberta; Fort Macleod in southern Alberta was named after him, as was Macleod Trail — a major road in Calgary. Not only was Macleod respected for his work with the NWMP; he was also a lawyer, magistrate and politician who influenced the development of this part of the world 140 years ago.

When Alberta celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005, the local branch of the RCMP Veterans Association gifted the city with a statue of Macleod at the historic venue of Fort Calgary. A similar statue was unveiled at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa that same year. Here’s a story by author, photojournalist and former Calgary Herald journalist David Bly published at the time.

Calgary Herald
Tue Nov 8 2005
Page: B3
Byline: David Bly

The man who named Calgary and whose ideals shaped the Mounties will be honoured Friday with the unveiling of his statue at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

Also standing as a memorial to RCMP officers killed in the line of duty, the larger-than-life statue of Col. James Macleod is a replica of the bronze designed and cast by Don and Shirley Begg’s Studio West in Cochrane.

The original was unveiled at Fort Calgary on Sept. 1, a centennial gift to Calgarians from the local branch of the RCMP Veterans Association. At that ceremony, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli announced that a second casting of the statue would be erected in Ottawa.

Among those attending the unveiling will be Gus Buziak and Walter Sedler, the retired Mounties who conceived the idea of the statue; Toby Lawrence, Macleod’s great-grandson; and Sara-Jane Greutzner and Terry McCoy of Fort Calgary.