Live in Haysboro
A 1958 community on Harry Hays's old dairy farm, bisected by Elbow Drive and bordering the Glenmore Reservoir.
Haysboro was established in 1958 on land annexed in 1956, originally the dairy farm of future Calgary mayor Harry Hays. The City's boundary polygon covers 2.65 km², and the 2021 census counted 6,960 residents in 3,440 private households, 43% of them renting against 31% across Calgary. Elbow Drive bisects the community, the Glenmore Reservoir forms the western edge, and Heritage station sits inside the community while Southland station serves it from the south. Just over half the occupied dwellings are single-detached and 32% are apartments in buildings over five storeys, against 8% citywide. Households here average two people and 40% are one person.
A 1958 dairy farm, half bungalows and a third towers
Bounded by Heritage Drive to the north, Macleod Trail to the east, 98 Avenue and the alley north of Southland Drive to the south, and 14 Street W and the Glenmore Reservoir to the west. Bisected by Elbow Drive. Ward 11, in the City's South sector, classed Established with a 1950s community structure.
Haysboro was established in 1958 on land annexed two years earlier: originally the dairy farm of future Calgary mayor Harry Hays, who sold it in 1959 to fund his mayoral campaign and went on to serve as Federal Minister of Agriculture and as a senator. The City's boundary polygon covers 2.65 km², and the 2021 census counted 6,960 residents in 3,440 private households.
The spine and the edge. Elbow Drive bisects the community. The Glenmore Reservoir forms the western edge, Heritage station sits inside Haysboro at 12 Haddon Road SW with 557 park and ride spaces, and Southland station, at 10158 Sacramento Drive SW in northeastern Southwood, serves it from the south with another 650. Both opened on 25 May 1981.
The housing mix is the story. 51% of the occupied dwellings are single-detached, but 32% are apartments in buildings over five storeys, against 8% across Calgary, and another 16% are walk-ups. Almost nothing here is a row house or a semi-detached. Forty per cent of the stock predates 1961 and another 19% went up between 2001 and 2015, so the community is bungalows and towers with very little in between. 43% of households rent, and households average two people, with 40% of them a single person against 26% citywide.
What it costs. Median household income was $78,500 in 2020, below the city's $98,000. Median monthly shelter costs are $1,340 for owners and $1,360 for renters, both under the citywide figures, but 42% of renter households still spend 30% or more of income on shelter, against 34% across Calgary.
- 43% of households rent, and 32% of the occupied stock is apartment above five storeys against 8% citywide
- 40% of the housing predates 1961 and carries the era's full inspection list: foundations, wiring, plumbing
- Two CTrain stations with 1,207 park and ride spaces between them, which also means two sources of platform and parking traffic
- Rockyview General Hospital, with a 24-hour emergency department, is on 14 Street SW near the western blocks
- Almost no row or semi-detached housing here. The choice is a bungalow or an apartment
How Haysboro got here
- 1956The land, originally a dairy farm owned by Harry Hays, is annexed by the City of Calgary.
- 1958Haysboro is established.
- 1959Hays sells the land to fund his mayoral campaign. He goes on to serve as Calgary's mayor, as Federal Minister of Agriculture from 1962 to 1965, and as a senator.
- 1960The Haysboro Community Association registers on 18 August. Its hall is at 1204 89 Avenue SW.
- 1966Rockyview General Hospital opens on the Glenmore Reservoir, north of the community.
- 1981Heritage station and Southland station both open on 25 May, on Calgary's first CTrain line. Heritage is at 12 Haddon Road SW with 557 park and ride spaces; Southland is at 10158 Sacramento Drive SW with 650.
- 2001–2015Nineteen per cent of the community's occupied dwellings are built in these years, well after the 1958 originals: the apartment stock along the Elbow Drive corridor.
- 2021The federal census counts 6,960 residents in 3,440 private households, with a median household income of $78,500 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary, and 43% of households renting.
The reservoir as the community's western wall
The Glenmore Reservoir runs the length of Haysboro's western boundary, which is where Wikipedia puts the community's edge. Heritage Park, 127 acres of living history village open since 1 July 1964, sits on the reservoir's shore a short drive west. Inside the boundary, the community association's own grounds at 1204 89 Avenue SW carry outdoor skating and hockey rinks and tennis courts.
What the map does not show: the reservoir is a real amenity for the western half of the community and a drive for the eastern half nearer Macleod Trail. No publisher this audit opened describes what recreation the reservoir itself offers from the Haysboro side, so walk it before you assume.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Haysboro
16 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 16 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Heritage station is inside the boundary; Southland station is not.
Every gym within reach
Southland Leisure Centre and the Trico Centre both run seven to eleven minutes from Haysboro's centre. Only the first is on the City's own list of pools and leisure centres.
- The City lists a wave pool, water slides, a gymnasium, squash courts, arenas and a climbing wall
- Trico Centre for Family Wellness is near Southcentre Mall, but it is not on the City's list and this audit did not open its site
- Chinook Centre's own gyms sit five to eight minutes north, though nobody publishes a list of them
- The association's rinks and tennis courts at 1204 89 Avenue SW are the free option inside the boundary
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Southland Leisure Centre open | City leisure centre at 2000 Southland Dr. S.W.: wave pool, water slides, gymnasium, squash courts, arenas and a climbing wall. | 6–8 min |
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | Community-run fitness centre and pool near Southcentre Mall. | 6–10 min |
| Chinook Centre area clubs open | Commercial gyms in and around the mall. No publisher this audit opened lists them. | 5–8 min |
| Glenmore Reservoir pathways open | Free option: the reservoir edge along the community's western boundary, plus the association's outdoor skating and hockey rinks and tennis courts at 1204 89 Avenue SW. | 3–6 min |
The one facility inside the boundary is the association's. A hall for 144, outdoor rinks and tennis courts. Everything larger is a drive.
Three board schools inside the community
Haysboro School carries kindergarten and junior high programmes alike, though the board publishes no grade range for it. Woodman School runs grades 7 to 9 with Early and Late French Immersion. Eugene Coste School is a Spanish Bilingual school from kindergarten to grade 5, designated an International Spanish Academy by Spain's Ministry of Education, with entry at kindergarten and grade 1 only. Wikipedia also names Our Lady of the Rockies High School and STEM Innovation Academy on the Catholic side, and an Akiva Academy this audit could not place.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Haysboro School | Calgary Board of Education | Inside the community. Its own page carries kindergarten and junior high programmes alike but states no explicit grade range and no attendance area. |
| Woodman School | Calgary Board of Education | Grades 7 to 9 inside the community, with Early and Late French Immersion. Its page names no attendance area, so this guide no longer claims one. |
| Eugene Coste School | Calgary Board of Education | Kindergarten to grade 5 and a Spanish Bilingual school, designated an International Spanish Academy by the Ministry of Education of Spain. Entry at kindergarten and grade 1. |
| Our Lady of the Rockies High School and STEM Innovation Academy | Calgary Catholic School District | The two Catholic schools Wikipedia names for Haysboro. The district's site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from it. Confirm the designation for a specific address. |
| Akiva Academy | Listed by Wikipedia | Wikipedia lists Akiva Academy among the schools serving Haysboro. This audit opened no page for it and does not know which board, if any, runs it. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. The Catholic district's site refuses automated clients, and no board page here names an attendance area. Confirm the current designation for a specific address before you buy.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Elbow Drive's apartment blocks keep their sidewalks the best-shovelled stretch in the community
- Heritage and Southland platforms both sit exposed to the wind off Macleod Trail
- The association's outdoor skating and hockey rinks on 89 Avenue SW run through the coldest weeks
- Rockyview's 24-hour emergency department is 14 Street traffic all winter, audible from the western blocks
- A chinook can strip Elbow Drive's snowbanks bare in a single afternoon
- Woodman and Haysboro School both run indoor recess through the cold snaps
- The community hall on 89 Avenue SW carries the winter programme calendar
- Southland Leisure Centre's wave pool runs at its busiest of the year
- Meltwater off the Glenmore Reservoir dam runs high along Haysboro's western edge
- Cleats are the right footwear on the reservoir pathway's shaded stretches
- Eugene Coste's grounds reopen as the last ice breaks up
- The apartment blocks facing south onto Elbow Drive shed their snow first
- Garden centres along Macleod Trail and Elbow Drive open for the season
- Glenmore Reservoir's pathway network reopens along the water's edge
- Last hard frosts pass and the community's older bungalow gardens get their first digging
- Field sports restart on the association's grounds at 1204 89 Avenue SW
- Sailboats reappear on the Glenmore Reservoir on the first warm weekends
- Elbow Drive's apartment turnover picks up ahead of the July 1 rush
- Long evenings, sunset past 9pm by month's end
- Eugene Coste's Spanish Bilingual programme runs its spring assessments
- School lets out at Haysboro School, Woodman and Eugene Coste within days of each other
- Peak daylight at the solstice, over sixteen hours
- The reservoir edge fills with walkers most weekday evenings
- Evening thunderstorms build over the foothills, visible west past the reservoir
- July 1 is the single busiest lease-turnover day along the Elbow Drive apartment corridor
- Stampede traffic adds to the usual Macleod Trail queue past Chinook Centre
- Hottest month, with the reservoir's west arm noticeably cooler in the evening
- Heritage Park's 127 acres draw weekend crowds a short drive west on the reservoir shore
- The association's tennis courts run late into the long evenings
- Back-to-school traffic builds around Chinook Centre before the long weekend
- Quietest weeks in the community before the school year returns
- Wildfire smoke can settle over the reservoir on windless days
- School restarts at Haysboro School, Woodman and Eugene Coste, and morning traffic thickens on Elbow Drive
- First frost usually arrives late in the month
- The reservoir's water level starts its late-summer drop
- Heritage and Southland platforms crowd again with the school-year commute
- Peak colour runs along the Glenmore Reservoir's shoreline
- The reservoir level drops as autumn goes on
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall sticks
- First snow is normal, and normally melts within a day
- Dark by 5pm along the Elbow Drive apartment corridor's exposed sidewalks
- Freeze sets in on the Glenmore Reservoir's shallow east end first
- Ski season opens west, reachable via Heritage Drive and Sarcee Trail
- Holiday retail traffic builds around Chinook Centre through the month
- A chinook arch over the reservoir can turn a −20 morning into a +5 afternoon
- The association's outdoor skating and hockey rinks open once the freeze holds
- Heritage Park on the reservoir shore draws weekend crowds nearby
- Quiet, short days along Elbow Drive between the holidays
29 more photographs of Calgary and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Calgary photo library, not photographs of Haysboro itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 29 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Haysboro itself.