Live in Lincoln Park
A 1.5 km² pocket on a levelled Second World War air strip, now Mount Royal University's campus and the rental blocks around it.
Lincoln Park sits on the ground where the Second World War air strip south of Currie Barracks ran until 1964. Mount Royal moved here from downtown Calgary in 1972, onto land previously used as an air force base, and the university is still the community's reason for being. At the 2021 census: 1.5 km², 1,590 residents in 925 private households, 60% of them renting and 58% of them a single person. The count was 2,617 at the City's 2019 civic census, so it fell by about a thousand in two years, and nothing this guide could open explains why.
A campus community on a levelled wartime air strip
North of Glenmore Trail and west of Crowchild Trail, in the city's southwest. Ward 8, inside the City of Calgary, Alberta.
The triangular air strip built south of Currie Barracks during the Second World War was officially closed in 1964 and removed a few years later. At the 2021 census the community that took its place held 1,590 residents in 925 private households on 1.5 km², with 60% of households renting. Wikipedia places the neighbourhood north of Glenmore Trail and west of Crowchild Trail, which puts Glenmore on its southern side.
One institution, one community. In 1972 Mount Royal moved from several buildings in downtown Calgary to a new campus here, on land previously used as an air force base, and it has driven almost everything since. It was granted university status in 2009 and had about 12,500 undergraduates in 2023-24. There is no old town centre and no legacy retail strip: the campus, a ring of apartment and row blocks, and not much else.
The population reflects it: 58% of households are a single person against 26% citywide, average household size is 1.7, and 69% of occupied dwellings are apartments in buildings under five storeys. The count also moves: the City's 2019 civic census recorded 2,617 residents, a thousand more than the federal census found two years later, and nothing this guide could open explains the gap.
What it costs. Median household income was $57,200 in 2020, well below the city's $98,000, and 38% of households spent 30% or more of their income on shelter against 23% citywide. That tracks with a renter-heavy, campus-adjacent population rather than a family neighbourhood.
- 60% rental and 58% one-person households mean real turnover. Check lease terms and condo documents carefully
- No CBE or Catholic school sits inside the community. Confirm the designation for a specific address
- Nothing in the occupied stock was built after 2015, and 39% of it went up between 2001 and 2010
- Amenity here is largely campus amenity, and Mount Royal publishes no recreation page this guide could open
How Lincoln Park got here
- 1935Currie Barracks opens, named for General Sir Arthur Currie.
- 1940sA triangular air strip is built on the property south of the barracks during the Second World War, home to No. 3 Service Flying Training School and No. 10 Repair Depot.
- 1964The air strip is officially closed, and is removed several years later.
- 1972Mount Royal moves from several buildings in downtown Calgary to a new campus in Lincoln Park, on land previously used as an air force base.
- 1996The federal budget announces the closure of CFB Calgary.
- 1998The base is officially decommissioned. The Currie married quarters are redeveloped by Canada Lands Company as the community of Garrison Woods.
- 2009Mount Royal is granted university status by the province.
- 2021The federal census records 1,590 residents in 925 private households, 60% of them renting, with a median household income of $57,200 for 2020. The City's 2019 civic census had counted 2,617 residents.
The nearest real park sits across Crowchild Trail
Lincoln Park has no park of its own that any publisher this guide opened names. The nearest substantial green space is the Glenmore Reservoir, which allows sailing, rowing and canoeing from 1 May to 31 October and no swimming, and the Weaselhead, 237 hectares of Elbow River delta with paved and unpaved trails, a short drive east across Crowchild Trail. Optimist Athletic Park's diamonds are closer to hand on Bow Trail.
What the map does not show: if green space matters to you day to day, you are driving or cycling out of the community for it: there is nothing to walk to inside Lincoln Park's own boundary.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Lincoln Park
13 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 13 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. Almost everything on this list is either on campus or a drive away. There is very little in between.
Every gym within reach
Mount Royal's campus sits inside the community, but the university publishes no recreation page this guide could open, so what is available to a non-student is not something this page can state. Confirm it before you count on it.
- Neither the university nor Wikipedia names a gymnasium, pool or fitness centre this guide could read
- Optimist Athletic Park is the free option for open fields, north on Bow Trail
- Westhills and Signal Hill add commercial gyms a short drive west
- MNP Community & Sport Centre, at 2225 Macleod Trail South, is the closest large facility, well across the city
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal University Recreation open | The campus is inside the community, but the university publishes no recreation page this guide could open and Wikipedia names no athletics facility. Confirm what is open to the public. | 5–8 min |
| Optimist Athletic Park pathways open | Free option: open fields and pathway access north on Bow Trail. | 5–8 min |
| Westhills and Signal Hill commercial gyms open | Cluster of commercial fitness chains around the Westhills and Signal Hill lots. | 4–6 min |
| MNP Community & Sport Centre open | Aquatic and fitness centre at 2225 Macleod Trail South, open since September 1983. It was the Repsol Sport Centre until spring 2022. | 10–15 min |
Outside the campus, this is a driving community for fitness, not a walking one.
A university, and not much else
Mount Royal University, founded in 1910 and a university since 2009, is the only school of any kind this guide could place inside the boundary. No CBE or Catholic elementary, junior high or senior high sits inside Lincoln Park. Master's Academy & College, an independent Christian kindergarten-to-12 school, publishes no address, so this guide does not place it either.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal University | Post-secondary | Founded in 1910 and granted university status in 2009. It moved to this campus in 1972, on land previously used as an air force base, and had about 12,500 undergraduates in 2023-24. |
| Master's Academy & College | Private (independent) | An independent Christian school running kindergarten to grade 12. Its site publishes no address, so this guide does not place it. |
| Designated CBE schools | Calgary Board of Education | No CBE elementary, junior or senior high sits inside Lincoln Park; confirm the current designation for a specific address. |
| Designated Catholic schools | Calgary Catholic School District | No Catholic school sits inside Lincoln Park. The district's site refuses automated clients, so confirm the designation for a specific address with the board directly. |
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 designation for a specific address before you buy: with no school inside the community, families are entirely dependent on the surrounding neighbourhoods' designations, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so nothing on that side was read from the board.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- MRU's winter term starts mid-month, and the open former airfield gives the campus no windbreak from the cold
- Richardson Way and 37 Street get plowed only after the arterials
- The high share of one-person households means many units sit dark during the day
- Grey Eagle's casino floor is the closest indoor evening option, a short drive west
- Reading week empties the MRU parking lots for a week
- A chinook can strip the open campus grounds to bare pavement in an afternoon
- Ski traffic on Glenmore Trail and Crowchild Trail builds on Friday afternoons
- The coldest week of the year often lands here rather than in January
- Melt runs off the flat campus grounds faster than it does on the older, treed streets nearby
- MRU's open-house season for prospective students brings weekend traffic to the community
- Cleats are the right footwear on the exposed walkways between the parking lots and the buildings
- Optimist Athletic Park's infield turns to mud weeks before it's playable
- MRU's winter term wraps and residence move-out loads vehicles along Richard Road for a week
- Weaselhead's cottonwoods bud out first, visible east across Crowchild Trail
- Garden centres at Westhills open for the season
- Last hard frosts pass before Signal Hill's outdoor patios open
- Convocation traffic fills the campus lots for two weeks running
- Long evenings put the Glenmore Trail rush hour back into daylight
- The exposed former airfield turns green fast once the frost is out of it
- Grey Eagle's outdoor patio season opens a short drive west
- MRU's campus empties out between spring and fall terms, and the community goes quiet with it
- Weaselhead's trails see their heaviest cyclist traffic of the year, a short ride east
- Thunderstorms building over the foothills are visible across the open campus grounds
- Optimist Athletic Park's diamonds book out most weeknights for league play
- Stampede traffic backs up the Crowchild Trail interchange for the full ten days
- The exposed campus grounds run hot with no tree cover most afternoons
- Grey Eagle's summer concert season draws evening traffic west on Glenmore Trail
- Westhills' parking lots are busiest of the year over Stampede weekend
- The lull before MRU's fall term is the quietest the community gets all year
- Rental listings start appearing early for the university's September turnover
- Wildfire haze can settle over the open airfield grounds on windless days
- Optimist Athletic Park winds its league season down before September
- MRU's fall term starts and the campus lots fill for the first time in three months
- September is the real moving month here, with 60% of households renting
- Morning traffic thickens on Crowchild and Glenmore Trail with the term restart
- First frost typically arrives on the exposed campus grounds before it reaches the sheltered streets nearby
- Peak colour is thin here. The former airfield never grew the tree canopy older communities have
- MRU's mid-term traffic settles into its steady autumn rhythm
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall reaches the exposed campus
- Weaselhead's aspens turn first, visible east across Crowchild Trail
- Dark commutes mean the Crowchild Trail interchange lights come on before five
- MRU's winter-term rental listings start appearing for the January intake
- Wind off the open former airfield makes the campus feel colder than the forecast
- Grey Eagle's holiday events draw evening traffic west
- MRU's campus empties out for the winter break, and the whole community quiets with it
- A chinook can clear the exposed grounds to bare pavement in an afternoon
- Outdoor rinks in neighbouring Rutland Park open once the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days on a pocket dominated by a single institution
1 more photograph of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–1 of 1 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Lincoln Park, 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.