User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Baker Park (Calgary)

Baker Park is a 12 ha urban park on the left bank of the Bow River in the city of Calgary which is part of the pedestrian and bicycle Bow River pathway that links a vast network of urban parks on both sides of the river. Baker Park is situated across from Bowness Park. With its river observation point, archways and arbours, it is the "most popular" park in Calgary for outdoor weddings.

Features
The park is maintained by the city of Calgary Recreation Department. It consists of "picnic areas, pathways, promenades, archways, arbour, grass amphitheater, river observation point, and a disc-golf course".

History
Baker Park is named after Dr. Albert Henry Baker (1883-1953), the director of a TB sanitorium located on the same site from 1920 to 1950. Established in 1919 for returning World War I veterans who suffered from tuberculosis (TB), the Central Alberta Sanatorium as it was then called, was typical of its era, "isolated, treed and divided into many separate buildings." It was "downstream from the old Alberta Ice Company warehouse" (now the Shriner's storage area for antiques). In 1916 Dr. A. H. Baker served on a medical advisory committee investigating the prevalence of TB among Canadian indigenous populations and in 1917, as a member of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, he served in China. In 1918, following a diagnosis of TB he was discharged—though he never required hospitalization. He came to Alberta where he served as Medical Superintendant of the Central Alberta Sanatorium from 1920 to 1950 and as the Alberta Department of Health's director of the tuberculosis division. In honour of his service, the sanitorium was renamed the Baker Memorial Sanatorium. The site was nearest what would become the village of Bowness and eventually many Bowness villagers worked at the Sanitorium. By the early 1950s—as more accommodations for TB patients were created elsewhere—the Sanitorium was gradually converted to the Baker Center for the Services of the Handicapped. It was developed as a river side family recreation park.