Parkdale is a mature, inner city neighbourhood in the city of Calgary, Alberta along the north bank of the Bow River between the communities of West Hillhurst and Point McKay. It is bounded on the south by the Bow River, 28 St NW to the east, Shaganappi Trail NW to the west and on the north by 16th Avenue. Parkdale is in close proximity to both the Foothills Medical Centre and the Alberta Children's Hospital constructed in 2006, as well as the University of Calgary. Memorial Drive provides access to downtown Calgary and to Highway 1 which leads to the Rocky Mountains. Parkdale was annexed to the City of Calgary in 1910 when Calgary began to experience a "major economic and building boom." The boom ended in 1913 and further development of the Parkdale Addition as it was called, was halted because of World War I. Following World War II in the 1950s the dominant housing type that characterized Parkdale, was the bungalow. By 2014 Parkdale, like other inner city communities in Calgary, was experiencing gradual gentrification with small cottage-style bungalows being replaced by spacious flat roofed, Prairie School Frank Lloyd Wright inspired infills attracting young families with children away from the long commute suburbs to inner city ease of access to downtown, transit and work.
It is represented in the Calgary City Council by the Ward 7 councillor, Terry Wong, who is serving his first term after being elected in 2021.
History
In 1910, when Calgary was in a period of growth, Parkdale was annexed. By 1911 two streetcar lines provided access to the sparsely populated Parkdale community. The Bowness streetcar line went from Centre Street through Parkdale to Bowness and the Grand Trunk line, and the Parkdale-Hillhurst cars had its terminal at the Parkdale loop on 34th Street N.W. On 7 March 1911 Alfred S. McKay with Parkdale's pioneer real-estate developers, Scott and Hartronft, created a subdivision known at the time as Parkdale Addition, in the area between 29th Street N.W. and 37th Street N.W. They envisioned a subdivision for Calgary's professional class on the streetcar lines. Between 1911 and 1913 they built six houses along the north side of Parkdale Boulevard including the Craftsman style Betz and Withrow residences — heritage houses with character that contribute to the historic residential streetscape. McKay and his partners also built five upscale, larger brick homes on 37th Street N.W., some of which are also heritage homes.
According to Parkdale's resident historian, Marcel Hebert, by 1912, there were approximately 12 houses/farms located in Parkdale as farmers began to homestead there. One of the earliest Parkdale houses which was built in 1910, was a farm house that is still occupied by the original intergenerational family on 35th street NW.
According to Parkdale resident and author Robert M. Stamp, in April 1950 surveyor "R.M. McCutcheon trod through the grassy field on the north bank of the Bow River" in Parkdale and blocked out lots. They were about 45 to 48 feet wide and 108 to 120 in length. Nu-West Homes Ltd. built the standard story and a half Wartime Housing Models. During World War II homes built known as Victory Housing emerged in suburbs in several Canadian cities and towns to provide housing for workers in factories supplying items for WWII. Victory Housing employed a cheap and simple design meant for temporary use. After the war many of these houses were maintained (and many remain into the twenty-first century), but newer versions improved on the basic format. During the 1950s Keith Construction built 130 homes in Parkdale and Parkdale Addition. By 1951 13 of the new homes were inhabited.
In 1952 the Calgary Board of Education opened the 15-room spacious, modern and bright Parkdale Elementary School in 1952. It was the "largest of four schools opened by the Calgary School Board that year." In a Calgary Herald October 6, 1952 article, Parkdale was described as being located "on the Western outskirts of Calgary" in "one of the new and rapidly populating districts of Calgary." Along with the new school, city planners land use development in the 1950s also included the Parkdale Crescent for local businesses and recreational green space (in what is now the Parkdale Community Association complex where the Parkdale Community Garden and Gathering Place is located).
Calgary experienced another major economic and building boom from 1972 to 1982. The city's economy grew when oil prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo. In 1971 the city's population was 403,000. By 1989 it was 675,000; in 2007 it reached 1,020,000 and in 2014 it reached 1,419,800.