Fort Calgary was a North-West Mounted Police outpost at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in present-day Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after the outpost's first commander, the outpost was renamed Fort Calgary in June 1876. The outpost was built in 1875 as a part of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) larger effort to curtail American rum and whisky runners in the region, and to create 'good relations' with the Indigenous peoples of the territory. The fort was expanded in 1882 after it was designated as a "district post". The NWMP continued to use the fort until 1914 when the site was sold to Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The fort was demolished to make way for a rail terminal. The site was later purchased by the municipal government of Calgary in 1973, with work on an interpretive centre taking place in 1977. The site was reopened as a historic site and museum in 1978, with the museum initially documenting the NWMP and its role in the area. The scope of the museum was later reoriented in 1995 to focus on the local history of Calgary. During the 1990s, reconstructions of several buildings that once stood at Fort Calgary took place at the historic site. Background The confluence of the Bow and Elbow River, where the fort was built, is on the traditional territory of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy; Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the îyârhe Nakoda (Chiniki, Bearspaw, Wesley), the Tsuut'ina people and Métis Nation, Region 3, and has been a significant age-old gathering place. By the early 1870s, American whisky and rum runners were conducting trade with First Nations in the area. The illegal trade and American incursion prompted the government of Canada to create the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873 to reassert Canadian sovereignty and curtail the whisky trade in the region. By 1874, the NWMP had captured or chased away most of the illegal traders, and had begun work on several forts in the area; believing that the lawlessness seen in the settlement of the American west was preventable if law enforcement was in place before settlers arrived into the area. After Fort Macleod was established, the whisky traders moved their operations further away from it. A decision was made to build an NWMP outpost at the midway point between Fort Macleod and Fort Edmonton in June 1875. "F" Troop, commanded by Éphrem-A. Brisebois,