Landmark Building
BLUE ROCK HOTEL SITE
4th Street and 25th Avenue SW, Calgary
Built in 1884
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On the southeast corner of 4th Street and 25th Avenue SW stood the Blue Rock Hotel. It started as a clubhouse for the Calgary Pigeon Shooting Club in about 1884, serving food, providing a meeting place for members, and a few beds for travellers. In 1893 it became a hotel, taking its name from the Blue Rock pigeons that members shot for sport, both along the Elbow River and from a 104-foot tower built for the purpose just north of the hotel. That year the sale of liquor by the glass became legal in the North-West Territories, and the congenial proprietor, Edward \"Irish\" Mellon welcomed locals and thirsty cowboys. Mellon was a local character well known to his customers, who included NWMP officers, newspapermen and lawyers. Cowboys rode in for exciting weekends -especially when the Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee Indians) were holding a pow-wow on the Mission Flats to the west.
After World War I, the Blue Rock became a Chinese laundry named Canada Laundry Finally, the hotel and its log stables were owned by Adanac Tile, Old Marble Company, before being demolished in 1970.
The Landmark Buildings and Places Database draws on the series of walking and/or driving tour booklets produced by Alberta Culture (now Alberta Culture and Community Spirit). The Heritage Community Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry through permission to reprint these materials online. Extracted from Calgary Historical Walking Tour: Mission and Cliff Bungalow. Alberta Community Development and the City of Calgary, 2001., with permission from Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. Visit the Alberta Culture and Community Spirit for more information.