31 Facts About Eric Harvie

Eric Harvie is best remembered as the founder of the Glenbow Museum and Devonian Gardens in Calgary, which opened in 1966.

Eric Lafferty Harvie was born on 2 April 1892 in a house at 136 Matchedash Street in Orillia, Ontario, to William Mcleod Harvie and Elizabeth Cecile "Cicely" Lafferty.

Eric Harvie was the fourth of five children, Alan, Ruth, and Jean his elders, and Dane his junior.

William Eric Harvie was a dentist in Orilli a who served as they town mayor from 1891 to 1892, and Cicely Eric Harvie was a school teacher.

Eric Harvie first visited Calgary in 1905, travelling with his mother to visit her siblings Janet and James Delamere Lafferty, both of whom had moved west.

Eric Harvie graduated high school in 1911 and entered into the Articles of Clerkship with John Thomas Mulcahy.

Shortly thereafter Eric Harvie was admitted into the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Not long after joining Mulcahy Eric Harvie had decided to move to Calgary, and wrote a letter to the Law Society of Alberta asking to be admitted as a student.

In Calgary, Eric Harvie lived with James Lafferty and began articling at James Short's office, Short, Ross and Selwood.

Eric Harvie completed his intermediate examinations in the springs of 1913 and 1914 and his finals in the spring of 1915.

On 30 June 1915, Eric Harvie was granted his interim certificate, and received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta on 10 May 1916, in absentia.

Eric Harvie was an officer of the 103rd Regiment.

Eric Harvie later joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the 56th Battalion and left for training in England on 20 March 1916.

On 8 October 1916 Eric Harvie was injured in the Battle of Ancre Heights.

Eric Harvie was sent back to England to recover, and on 1 February 1917 returned to Canada on sick leave, staying with his parents in Barrie.

Fully recovered, on 2 August 1917 Eric Harvie entered into the Royal Flying Corps Canada, training at Camp Borden and Deseronto.

In June 1918, while on leave in Hamilton Eric Harvie met Dorothy Jean Southam, the granddaughter of newspaper publisher William Southam.

In 1935 Eric Harvie left his partners and formed his own practice, and from 1936 to 1939 had Ted Manning as a partner.

Between 1925 and 1933 Harvie served as the director of W S Herron's Okalta Oils, and in 1933 he became the solicitor for British-American Oil Company's ventures in Turner Valley.

British-American and Harvie were both involved in the financing of the Royalite No 1 well, which blew in on 16 June 1936, becoming Alberta's first major oil discovery.

In 1943, Eric Harvie purchased the rights to the remaining portion for $10,000.

Eric Harvie was initially nervous about the investment and concluded that he would have to make $100,000 for the investment to pay off after taxes.

In 1947, Eric Harvie leased oil rights on a portion of land to Imperial Oil Company, with a five-year option.

In 1949 Eric Harvie retired from law and dedicated his time exclusively to oil.

Eric Harvie continued his association with the military as first the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, and later Honorary Colonel, of The Calgary Highlanders from 1948 to 1962.

Now able to travel, Eric Harvie acquired an eclectic array of antiquities from across the world.

Eric Harvie joked that he wanted to die broke, and thus turned the majority of his wealth back to the province in the form of gifts.

In 1962 Eric Harvie was made an honorary chief of the Blackfoot Nation, and in 1967 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada.

In 1934 Eric Harvie acquired the Glenbow Ranch near Cochrane, Alberta, comprising 2200 acres of land.

The Eric Harvie family spent extensive time at the ranch, which was eventually taken over by Neil.

Eric Harvie died on 11 January 1975 at the age of 82.