Live in Inglewood
Calgary's oldest neighbourhood, founded in 1875 at the Bow-Elbow confluence, with the historic 9th Avenue SE main street as its spine and the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary as its backyard.
Inglewood was established in 1875, immediately after Fort Calgary went up across the Elbow River, and is Calgary's oldest community. It was known as East Calgary or Brewery Flats and was not officially renamed Inglewood until 1911, after Colonel James Walker's nearby homestead. At the 2021 census it counted 4,130 residents in 2,285 private households, 46 per cent of them one person and 44 per cent renting, with 9 Avenue SE, once Atlantic Avenue, still the community's spine of shops, restaurants and breweries. The Bow and Elbow Rivers wrap two sides of it, feeding both the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and the flood risk that put the community under a mandatory evacuation order in 2013.
Calgary's oldest neighbourhood, built around a main street that never stopped being one
Bounded by the Bow River to the north, Deerfoot Trail to the east, the CPR Alyth rail yards to the south toward neighbouring Ramsay, and the Elbow River to the west, directly across from Fort Calgary and downtown. Ward 9, in the City's Centre sector.
Inglewood was established in 1875, immediately after Fort Calgary went up across the Elbow River, which makes it Calgary's oldest neighbourhood. It started out as East Calgary or Brewery Flats and was not officially renamed Inglewood until 1911, after Colonel James Walker's nearby homestead: the same Walker who later set aside the land that became the bird sanctuary.
The boundaries. The Bow River wraps the north, Deerfoot Trail forms the eastern edge, the CPR Alyth rail yards mark the south toward Ramsay, and the Elbow River runs the west, directly across from Fort Calgary and downtown. At the 2021 census it held 4,130 residents in 2,285 private households across 2.5 km²: small and dense by Calgary standards. 46% of those households are a single person, against 26% citywide, and the average household is 1.8 people. Only 28% of the occupied dwellings are single-detached houses.
The main street. 9th Avenue SE, originally Atlantic Avenue, is still the community's spine of shops, restaurants and breweries, and Calgary's bus rapid transit runs off it: MAX Purple has connected City Centre to East Hills since 19 November 2018, and its bus-only 17 Avenue SE transitway begins at 9 Avenue SE. The named businesses on this page come from local knowledge rather than a publisher: no business association site for the street would open for this audit, so treat opening years and counts as unverified.
The green edge. The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, a federal migratory bird sanctuary since 1929, sits on the Bow River with 270 recorded bird species. Its lagoon was reconnected to the river in a City project begun in March 2022 and finished when the whole park reopened in October 2023, to improve water quality and cut the risk of damage from future floods: work made necessary by the same river that put Inglewood under mandatory evacuation during the 2013 floods.
- The Elbow River flooded seriously in 2013 and the community was evacuated. Check flood mapping for a specific address before you buy
- No publisher this guide could open lists a supermarket inside the boundaries, so budget for a short drive on the weekly shop
- CP's Alyth rail yard runs close to the southern edge, a working neighbour with real freight noise on some streets
- The Green Line's Ramsay/Inglewood station is one of ten under construction on the southeast segment, due to open in 2031: expect disruption through the build
- Only one school inside the community, Colonel Walker (K-6, about 127 students): junior and senior high both mean crossing the Elbow River
- Character housing stock in parts of the community is genuinely old. Confirm condition and any heritage designation before you buy
How Inglewood got here
- 1875The community is established immediately after Fort Calgary is built across the Elbow River, developed by a group headed by Acheson Irvine, Major John Stewart and James Macleod under the names East Calgary and Brewery Flats.
- 1911Annexed and officially renamed Inglewood, after the homestead established nearby by Colonel James Walker; 9th Avenue (then Atlantic Avenue) is already established as one of the city's first main streets.
- 1929Colonel Walker's family property on the Bow River is designated a federal migratory bird sanctuary by the government of Canada, the origin of today's 0.36 km² Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. Walker had established the homestead and a sawmill on the site in 1882.
- 1956The Inglewood Community Association is registered as a provincial society on 18 September. Its hall at 1740 24 Avenue SE runs a 200-capacity main hall, tennis courts, an outdoor rink and pool, playfields and a skate shack.
- 1963The Inglewood Aquatic Centre opens as an outdoor pool on land donated by the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, later enclosed for year-round use.
- 2013The Elbow River floods, and Inglewood is placed under a mandatory evacuation order. One of the costliest disasters in Canadian history.
- 2021Construction begins on the Green Line's Ramsay/Inglewood station, one of ten on the southeast segment the City is building.
- 2023The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary fully reopens in October, after a City project begun in March 2022 reconnected its lagoon to the Bow River to improve water quality and cut the risk of damage from future floods.
- 2031The Green Line's southeast segment is due to open: 16 km of track and ten stations from Shepard to downtown, Ramsay/Inglewood among them.
A federal bird sanctuary at the confluence, not a backyard park
The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary has protected this stretch of the Bow River since 1929, with 270 recorded bird species across 0.36 km² of riverine forest, boardwalk and lagoon. Pearce Estate Park and the Bow Habitat Station sit just northeast along the same river, and the paved Bow River pathway connects both into the regional network toward downtown and Bridgeland.
What the map does not show: this is a working conservation area, not a manicured city park: the lagoon reconnection ran from March 2022 until the park fully reopened in October 2023, a reminder that the same river that makes the sanctuary worth having is the one that flooded the community in 2013.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Inglewood
22 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 22 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. Inglewood's downtown commute and its main-street amenities are unusually close; the trade-off is crossing a river bridge for almost everything else, including its own designated schools.
Every gym within reach
The community's own aquatic centre, open since 1963, anchors recreation inside Inglewood, with the MNP Community & Sport Centre, formerly Repsol, a short drive across the Elbow River at Lindsay Park for a larger facility.
- The MNP Community & Sport Centre, 2225 Macleod Trail SE, adds pools, dive towers and an indoor track across the river
- Victoria Park's commercial studios cluster around the Stampede grounds and Studio Bell
- Ramsay and Ogden's independent gyms and yoga studios sit a short drive across the river
- The Bow River pathway and Bird Sanctuary trails are the free option, on the community's own doorstep
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Inglewood Aquatic Centre open | The City lists Inglewood Aquatic Centre at 1527 17 Ave. S.E. with a pool, an aquatic climbing wall, slides and a dry sauna. Wikipedia says it opened in 1963, originally as an outdoor pool. | 2–4 min |
| Bow River pathway & Bird Sanctuary trails open | Free option: paved riverside pathway plus the bird sanctuary's own trails, fully reopened in October 2023. | 2–3 min |
| Inglewood Community Association open | The association at 1740 24 Avenue SE runs Jazzercise, yoga, Zumba and dance out of its hall, with tennis courts, an outdoor rink and pool, playfields and a skate shack outside it. | 1–2 min |
| Victoria Park district clubs open | Commercial gyms and studios around the Stampede grounds. No publisher lists them by name, so treat this as a category rather than a booking. | 4–6 min |
| Ramsay & Ogden independent studios open | Independent gyms and yoga studios in the neighbouring communities. No publisher lists them by name, so treat this as a category rather than a booking. | 4–6 min |
| MNP Community & Sport Centre open | At 2225 Macleod Trail SE at Lindsay Park, the facility formerly called Repsol Sport Centre: pools, dive towers, an indoor track, a fitness centre and gyms, hot tub, steam room and a cold recovery tub. | 6–10 min |
The Inglewood Community Association runs yoga and fitness programming out of its own hall: check current class schedules before you plan around it.
One school inside the community, and a river crossing for the rest
Colonel Walker School carries kindergarten to grade 6 inside the community, on 9 Avenue SE. Designated junior and senior high (Rideau Park School and Western Canada High School) both sit across the Elbow River, which means a bus or a drive from grade 7 onward for most families.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel Walker School | Calgary Board of Education | Public kindergarten to grade 6 inside the community, with about 127 students on its own page, named after the homesteader Inglewood itself is named for. |
| Rideau Park School | Calgary Board of Education | Named here as Inglewood's public junior high, across the Elbow River. No board page this guide could open prints an attendance area, so the designation is unverified. |
| Western Canada High School | Calgary Board of Education | Named here as Inglewood's public senior high, west of downtown. No board page this guide could open prints an attendance area, so the designation is unverified. |
| Designated Catholic schools | Calgary Catholic | The Catholic designation sits outside the community, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from the district. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy. |
| Bow Valley College and SAIT | Post-secondary | The nearest post-secondary options, downtown and in the northwest. Neither publishes a page this guide could open. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current Catholic designation for a specific address with the board before you buy: no Catholic school sits inside Inglewood's own boundaries, and the district's site refuses automated clients, so nothing on the Catholic side here was read from it. No board page this guide could open prints an attendance area, so the Rideau Park and Western Canada designations are unverified too.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Bird Sanctuary's lagoon freezes over, but the open Bow River keeps wintering ducks and geese around
- The Bleak Midwinter Film Festival, running since 2007, brings crowds to Inglewood's Music Mile venues
- 9 Avenue SE's brewery taprooms are the warm indoor draw once the shops close early
- CP's Alyth yard switching carries further across the valley on the stillest nights
- A chinook can strip the Bird Sanctuary's paths bare of snow within an afternoon
- Bleak Midwinter Film Festival programming continues at Inglewood venues
- The Inglewood Aquatic Centre's indoor pool runs its busiest weeks of the year
- The Bow and Elbow both run low and slushy at their confluence
- Meltwater runs off 9 Avenue SE's older storefronts toward the river
- Green Line construction crews resume full activity on the southeast segment
- Spring flood watch on the Elbow becomes a standing feature of the calendar, as it has been since 2013
- Migratory waterfowl begin returning to the Bird Sanctuary's lagoon
- Bird migration peaks at the sanctuary: 270 species have been recorded there over its history
- Last hard frosts: planting waits for the long weekend
- Fort Calgary's grounds reopen for the season across the Elbow River
- Colonel Walker School's outdoor programs restart
- Long evenings on the Bow River pathway become a genuine after-work habit
- Paddlers reappear on the Bow's calmer stretches past the Bird Sanctuary
- 9 Avenue SE's patio season and community league sports both start
- Hail season begins: a real factor for the district's older roofs
- School lets out at Colonel Walker and the Bow River pathway gets its first real crowds
- Inglewood Night Market season gets underway on 9 Avenue SE
- Peak daylight at the solstice runs past 9pm
- Green Line work on the southeast segment continues through the long days
- Sunfest draws more than 30,000 people to 9 Avenue SE on the last Saturday of the month, pie-eating contest included
- Calgary Stampede runs its ten days a short walk or drive across the Elbow River
- Calgary International Fringe Festival brings performances to Inglewood's stages
- Hottest month, with the river valley noticeably cooler after dark
- Folk Festival crowds pass through on their way to Prince's Island
- Inglewood Night Market runs its late-summer dates
- Low water on the Bow and Elbow exposes the gravel bars below the Bird Sanctuary
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- School year restarts at Colonel Walker, with Rideau Park and Western Canada High taking the older grades
- The International Festival of Animated Objects screens at Inglewood venues
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Migrating geese stage over the Bow River corridor past the Bird Sanctuary
- Peak colour along the Bow River pathway and the Bird Sanctuary's cottonwoods
- First snow is normal, and normally melts within days
- Snow tires go on before 9 Avenue SE's older streets ice over
- CP's Alyth yard lighting comes on earlier as the days shorten
- Dark by 5pm, and the Bird Sanctuary's boardwalks empty out for the season
- Bleak Midwinter Film Festival's advance programming begins
- Indoor recreation season restarts at the Inglewood Aquatic Centre
- Freeze sets in on the Bird Sanctuary's lagoon first, ahead of the open river
- Zoolights at the Calgary Zoo, a short drive north across the Bow River
- A chinook arch over downtown is visible from the 9 Avenue SE bridge
- The Bow River stays open through most cold snaps, keeping wintering waterfowl in the sanctuary
- Quiet, short days between the holidays, with 9 Avenue SE's shops on reduced hours
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds one photograph and the page has already printed it. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Inglewood, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Calgary library.