The Husky Tower :
Calgary Celebrates Canada's Centennial


 circa 1968

Calgary Tower 2014

The Husky Tower (now the Calgary Tower) was constructed as a joint venture between Marathon Realty and Husky Oil. The Tower was built to honour Canada’s centennial and was also intended to promote the downtown core as a part of a Calgary urban renewal program.

 

 Construction of the 626 foot Tower commenced on February 19, 1967 and was completed in June 1968 at a total cost of $3.5 million dollars. The Tower officially opened to the public on June 30, 1968.


Opening Day Souvenir Cover

Calgary, June 30, 1968 Embossed cachet 

The embossed cachet  is a stylized representation of the top of the Tower.

 

Husky Tower Handstamp

Mail deposited at the top of the Tower received a souvenir handstamp.

1968

July (August?) 28, 1968

1970

Calgary, February 6, 1970

POSTED FROM TOP OF HUSKY TOWER CALGARY, ALBERTA

The Tower Inn

 The Tower Inn, located one floor above street level in the Husky Tower, featured Olde English decor by John Rogers [London] Ltd. 

 

On November 1, 1971, the Husky Tower was officially renamed the Calgary Tower as a tribute to the citizens of Calgary.

Source

Calgary Tower

Change of Address Announcement Cards
Centennial Period (1967-1973)



The "Postage Free"  Change of Address Announcement Card was introduced  by Canada Post Office in 1961.Change of Address Announcement Cards available for use during the Centennial period (1967-73) are shown in this post.

1. 1964 Card: 86B-(8/64)

"Postage Free" to Canada, the United States and Mexico

Front Side



 Gibbons, B.C. to Cloverdale, March 19, 1968

Reverse Side




 Printing Order Number







Postage Information

Address cards could be sent postage free to Canada, the United states and Mexico. The rate to other countries was 3 cents (printed matter rate)







2. 1966 Card : 33-86-037 (8-68)

a) Mailed to Canadian Address

Front Side


Galt, Ontario to Westt Bank, B.C., April 8, 1968


Reverse Side



Printing Order Number



Postage Paid

 



 b) Mailed to US Address

 Pointe-Claire-Dorval to Roosevelt, N.J., June 17, 1968


3. 1968 Card : 33-86-037 (6-68)

Front Side


New Westminster to Cloverdale, January 31, 1969


Reverse Side




Printing Order Number



Postage Paid




4. 1969 Card : 33-86-037 (3-69)


a) Mailed to Canadian Address


Front Side


Powell River to Vancouver, July 31, 1970


Reverse Side




Printing Order Number





b) Mailed to Europe via Air Mail

 
Rexdale to Delft, Netherlands, October 30, 1969
10 cents international air mail post card rate

Difference Between the 1968 and 1969 Cards

There is one minor difference between the "Subscription No." boxes of the 1968 and 1969 cards. 

 1968 Card

Account, Subscription No., etc.

  

 1969 Card

Reference, Subscription No., etc.

5. 1972 Card : 33-86-037 (5-72)

Mailed to England

Front Side




Reverse Side




Printing Order Number

The Canadian Contingent: South African War

Oval Canadian Army Post Office cachet

The South African War, also know as the Boer War, was fought from 1899 to 1902 between Great Britain and  the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, two independent republics in South Africa. The republics, founded by Boers, descendants of Dutch immigrants who had first settled in the area, were rich in diamond and gold deposits.

Initially, the Boers inflicted heavy losses on the British, but by September 1900, they had been defeated in several key engagements. Refusing to surrender, the Boers launched a protracted guerilla war against the British forces.The British, under the leadership of Lord Kitchener. responded with a scorched earth policy of destroying Boer farms and moving civilians into concentration camps, where thousands died from disease. Boer forces finally surrendered in May, 1902. Both republics were annexed by the British Empire which became incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910.


Canadian Participation

While many English-Canadians supported Britain's cause in South Africa, most French-Canadians and many recent immigrants from countries other than Britain were opposed to Canadian involvement. However, pressured by Pro-Empire Canadians, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier agreed to send volunteers to South Africa. Over the three years of the war, more than 7,000 Canadians, including 12 women nurses, served overseas. Of the Canadians who served in South Africa, 267 were killed.

Canadian contingent in Quebec City, 1899 before departure

Sources:
Canadian War Museum
Wikipedia


 Mail from the Canadian Contingent South Africa

Postal services provided to Canadian troops in South Africa are described at pages 7 and 8 of L. Dawson`s excellent 1992 treatise, A History of the Canadian Forces Postal Services.

The covers shown below were mailed by George Hulme to Lieutenant Colonel Ponton of the 15th  Argyll Light Infantry, Belleville. Hulme was wounded at the Battle of Paardeberg in February 1900. 

 YMCA Stationery

"Active Service" RCR (Royal Canadian Contingent) in blue pencil under flags

British Army Field Post Office circular date stamp, September 20, 1900

London Transit October 20, 1900

 Canadian Contingent Oval Cachet

 British Army P.O. 55 handstamp, October 27, 1900

Canadian Contingent South Africa cachet November 7, 1900

Montreal transit December 8, 1900

Toronto South African War Memorial


 Toronto`s South African War Memorial was unveiled in 1908:

Medical Innovators
Dr. Hans Selye

On January 17, 2000,  Canada Post issued a stamp for its "Millenniun Collection" honoring Vienna-born endocrinologist Hans Selye (1907-1982) whose scientific work at the Université de Montréal  greatly increased our understanding of the biological factors causing stress and of how to control it.


 




The Canadian Institute of Stress , founded by Dr. Selye, provides this biography on its website:

Hans Selye is internationally acknowledged as "the father of the stress field" and, as such, a Canadian resource to the world. Since publishing the first scientific paper to identify and define "stress" in 1936, Dr. Selye wrote more than 1700 scholarly papers and 39 books on the subject. At the time of his death in late 1982, his work had been cited in more than 362,000 scientific papers, and in countless popular magazine stories, in most major languages and in all countries worldwide. He is still by far the world's most frequently cited author on stress topics. 

 Dr. Selye gained enduring international respect not only for his scientific innovations, but equally for his commitment to sharing the practical benefits of his work with everyday people. Two of his books, "The Stress of Life" and "Stress Without Distress" were unequalled bestsellers (the latter in 17 languages). His collaborative research with Dr. Richard Earle, resulted in his two final contributions "Stress and the Workplace" and "Your Vitality Quotient".

Selye Correspondence 1944

The postcard shown below, signed by Dr. Selye. is a request for a reprint of a scientific article written by Dr. R. Choisy in Rev. Med. de la Suisse Romande.

Montreal to Geneva Switzerland,  September 12, 1944

Toronto Postal Terminal "A" Fire

December 1974

A fire at Postal Terminal "A", Toronto, in December 1974 caused the damage to a cover containing the above group of Schering 1974 first day covers. The letter from Customer Service, Central Ontario Postal District, December 16, 1974,along with the charred FDCs make for an interesting example of delayed mail:

The enclosed item of mail was damaged by fire at Postal Terminal "A" Toronto, Ontario.

Please accept the sincere regrets of the Post Office Department for this unfortunate occurrence.

L. Etchell
Customer Service
Central Ontario Postal District

Unfortunately neither the original outer envelope nor the Post Office ambulance envelope is in the author's collection.

WWII Real Photo Postcards
German POWs Interned in Canada

During WWII, photographs of German POWs interned in Canadian camps were taken and reproduced on postcard size stock. The cards provided family and friends with visual assurance of the prisoners' well-being.

The cards shown in this post were printed on Eastman Kodak silver chloride paper called Azo which is identified in the upper right hand corner of the address side.


Azo photographic postcard stock
was introduced by Kodak in the
early 1900s.


Camp 20 Gravenhurst




An enlargement shows details captured on the Real Photo
postcard


February 17, 1945


Camp 30 Bowmanville




December 1, 1944


Camp 44 Grande Lygne




May 12, 1945


Camp 133 Lethbridge

Two postcards from the Lethbridge camp are shown.




June 21, 1943




July 20, 1943