Mission

A French Catholic mission that became a village, then a main street.

Oblate missionary Constantine Scollen founded the mission here in 1875, and the settlement around it incorporated in 1899 as the Village of Rouleauville, named for the Rouleau brothers. Calgary annexed it in 1907 and renamed it Mission. The Whiteline streetcar reached 4th Street in 1909 and made it the commercial street it still is. Rezoning in 1935 opened the area to apartments, which is why century homes and low-rise buildings sit on the same block here. Cliff Bungalow, west of 4th Street and east of the escarpment, only took that name in the 1970s.

We wrote the full story on The Desk. Living in Mission.