St Mary's Parish

Two decades before confederation, The Hudson’s Bay Company asked two Quebec priests to travel west to minister to the company’s employees on the West Coast. During the journey, they travelled through the Rockies, where they stumbled upon Banff and established St. Mary’s of the Assumption. In 1888, the community built a log-cabin church for a Catholic parish, but in 1950, St. Mary’s upgraded to a grander building, designed by the resident priest (a former architectural engineer with the Banff Springs Hotel). The church is still in active and provides regular services.