June 29, 1970: Veteran walks down memory lane as RCMP building closes
THIS DAY IN JOURNAL HISTORY
One of Alberta’s oldest Mounties joined more than 1,000 people in saying goodbye to the old provincial RCMP headquarters building at 95A Street and 101st Avenue.
Fred Bard, 92, was the only man to serve in all three stages of the federal force’s development — the North West Mounted Police, the Royal North West Mounted Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“I remember the time when this country was just section, township and range … no roads and no bridges,” said Bard, who first joined in 1903.
“It was so cold in the wintertime that we never left water in basins when we left the detachment. As a matter of fact, even ink would freeze solid, so we had to write all our reports in pencil.” The open house at RCMP headquarters was highlighted by the removal of a historic hitching ring, originally used by the Royal North West Mounted Police in 1910. Sunk into the wall of the subdivision building in 1957, the ring commemorated the force’s members who went out on investigations on horseback.
It was removed by former sergeant-major C.F. Wilson of Calgary.
The open house was held to let current and former RCMP members, civilian employees and their families view the buildings before police moved into larger quarters by July 31.
The new location of K-Division headquarters was the former Imperial Oil Building at Kingsway Avenue and 109th Street.