Richard or 'Ree-shar'? Debate over Calgary road's murky origins refuses to die

Driving along southbound Crowchild Trail in southwest Calgary you'll see a green exit sign for a road running adjacent to Mount Royal University. Its name is Richard Road.

But how did you just pronounce that name in your head?

For many, it would be Richard, like Nixon, Branson or Little. Little Richard, that is.

But to some Calgarians, that's using the wrong emphasis. The wrong accent, if you will.

The debate over that road and its pronunciation resurfaced recently on CBC Calgary airwaves when a listener challenged the pronunciation of Richard Road.

He argued — quite stridently — that it is pronounced using the French emphasis.

And the reason for that, the Calgary Eyeopener listener wrote, is because it was named in honour of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, an iconic Montreal Canadiens winger who played from 1942-1960.

This isn't the first time this has been pointed out to CBC Calgary. A mere mention of the road's name has elicited similar calls to the station's traffic line for years.  

So what is the origin story of this road in Calgary? That question is not easy to answer.

Between the City of Calgary's archive department and an online archive of printed newspapers in Alberta, there are a few early mentions of Richard Road.

In 1970, when the city was considering names for future development in the area where Richard Road is now, there was actually a bit of controversy on the Calgary Planning Commission.

In notes from the commissioners' report on March 4, 1970, council approved two street names for what was formerly the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Lincoln Park: Richard and Richardson.

What made headlines at that time, however, was not the names that were approved, but one that was shot down that day: Richthofen.

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