The history of Bow Valley Ranche is peopled by storied pioneers of Calgary. The ideal site, where Fish Creek joins the Bow River, began as a farm homesteaded in the 1870s by John Glenn. In 1879, the government purchased Glenn’s homestead to use as an instructional farm to teach Indigenous peoples how to farm. In 1883, William and John Roper Hull bought the property and made many improvements, a signature one being the construction of a Victorian English style, two-storey brick ranch house. In 1902, Patrick Burns, one of the Big Four who founded the Calgary Stampede, followed and expanded his holdings to become a major rancher in Alberta. After his death in 1937, Burns’ nephew and his son carried on the ranching operation and the storied tradition of western hospitality at the Bow Valley Ranche House—a tradition that continues today in the restored house at the publicly owned BVR.

• Midnapore - Calgary Districts Clippings. Accessible at Calgary Public Library.
• Bow Valley Ranche. Bow Valley Ranche History. Online Resource.
• Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. Bow Valley Ranch House. Calgary: City of Calgary. Online Resource.
• The Deep South. Midnapore Historic Map. Online Resource.