James Alexander Lougheed - Early Life

Early Life

Lougheed was born in Brampton, Canada West, to Irish Protestant parents. The family moved to Weston, Canada West (now a community within Toronto, Weston, Ontario), when Lougheed was a child, and he attended King Street Public School (now H. J. Alexander Public School) and Weston High School (now Weston Collegiate Institute). He attended the University of Toronto and he studied law at the Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and was sworn in as a solicitor in 1881. In 1887 he formed a law practice with Peter McCarthy and two years later in 1889 He became a QC.

In 1882 Lougheed moved with his brother to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then to Medicine Hat, Northwest Territories, following the newly laid Canadian Pacific Railway main line. One year later he moved to Calgary, then at the end of the CPR line.

He started a legal practice in Calgary in the fields of real estate and transportation law, with the CPR as one of his main clients. He also invested heavily in real estate and opened a brokerage firm. His Lougheed Building in downtown Calgary still stands: it included a theatre which in 2006 became The Grand.

In 1891 he and his wife, the former Belle Hardisty, built a palatial mansion called "Beaulieu" (now Lougheed House) in what is now the Beltline district of Calgary. Beaulieu became the centre of Calgary's social scene, as the Lougheeds welcomed oil millionaires, politicians, royalty, and entertainment stars to their home. He and Belle had six children, four boys and two girls.

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