Live in Montgomery
A former town on the Bow's bend: annexed in 1963, rebuilding fast, with Shouldice Park at its foot.
Montgomery, like Bowness next door, was its own municipality first. Established 1911 as Shouldice Terrace, renamed in 1943 after Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, incorporated as a town on 24 December 1957, and amalgamated into Calgary on 15 August 1963. It wraps the Bow's big bend below Market Mall: 4,175 residents in 1,770 private households at the 2021 census, 37 per cent of those households renting, and one of the city's most active infill markets as wartime bungalows give way to new builds.
The other former town, on the river's big bend
Bounded east by Shaganappi Trail, north by 32 Avenue and Market Mall, and south and west by the Bow River. Ward 7.
Montgomery ran its own affairs before Calgary absorbed it. It started as Shouldice Terrace, named for James Shouldice, who bought the land in 1906 and gave 100 acres of it to Calgary for park space; a row with the post office in 1943 ended with a new name, after Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. It became a town on 24 December 1957, a village again four months later, and was amalgamated into Calgary on 15 August 1963. It wraps the Bow's big bend below Market Mall: 4,175 residents in 1,770 private households at the 2021 census.
It is mid-rebuild, and the City's own construction table says so plainly: 26% of the occupied stock predates 1961 and 19% of it went up after 2010, against 18% citywide. Only 45% is single-detached; a quarter is semi-detached and another 12% is a flat in a duplex. 37% of households rent. The old main street on Bowness Road is reviving café by café.
The geography is the buy: Shouldice Athletic Park at 1515 Home Road NW, with four soccer fields, eight softball diamonds and three artificial turf fields, a City pool at 5303 Bowness Road NW, the river pathway on two sides, both hospitals and the university minutes up the hill, and the Trans-Canada west from the doorstep. It shows in the commute: 30% of employed residents are at work in under fifteen minutes and 10% walk, against 21% and 4% citywide.
- Check the flood maps before you buy on the low edges of the bend
- Wartime stock and new infill need era-specific inspections: a quarter of the stock predates 1961
- 16 Avenue traffic defines the southern blocks: listen first
- Infill construction is constant somewhere in the community
How Montgomery got here
- 1906James Shouldice buys the land and donates 100 acres to Calgary for park space. The settlement takes his name: Shouldice Terrace.
- 1911Montgomery is established on the Bow's bend.
- 1943A dispute with the post office over the name ends with a new one: Montgomery, after Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery.
- 1957–1958Incorporated as a town on 24 December 1957, then reduced to a village less than four months later, on 15 April 1958.
- 1963Amalgamated into the City of Calgary on 15 August. The Montgomery Community Association is registered on 2 January the following year.
- 2019The City's last civic census counts 4,505 residents in 2,013 dwellings, 1,845 of them occupied and 1,027 owner-occupied.
- 2021The federal census counts 4,175 residents in 1,770 private households. A quarter of the occupied stock predates 1961 and a fifth of it went up after 2010: the rebuild in one table.
An athletic park for a front yard
Shouldice Athletic Park fills the river flat at the community's foot: four soccer fields, eight softball diamonds and three artificial turf fields at 1515 Home Road NW, with a City arena at the same address and a City pool on Bowness Road. The pathway runs both river sides, with Edworthy Park a footbridge away.
What the map does not show: the footbridge to Edworthy and the Douglas Fir Trail is the community's secret exit. Mountain-grade trail ten minutes from your door.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Montgomery
12 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 12 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. Hospitals, campus and mall all sit on the hill above; the drive times mostly measure the climb.
Every gym within reach
Shouldice at the foot, campus up the hill, WinSport across the river. Confirm hours before you count on anything.
- University Active Living up the hill: fitness centres, gymnasiums, an aquatic centre, climbing walls and the Olympic Oval, open to the general public
- WinSport's training centre and ski hill across the river
- The river pathway is the free option, both directions
- Field sports live at Shouldice all summer: four soccer fields, eight diamonds, three turf fields
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Shouldice Aquatic Centre open | On the City's list of thirteen indoor pools, at 5303 Bowness Road NW, beside Shouldice Athletic Park and the City's Shouldice arena at 1515 Home Road NW. | 4–5 min |
| University of Calgary Active Living open | Fitness centres, gymnasiums, an aquatic centre, climbing and bouldering walls, a racquet centre and the Olympic Oval. Active Living states its facilities are open to the general public and communities. | 6–9 min |
| WinSport / Canada Olympic Park open | Olympic-legacy training centre, ice houses and the doorstep ski hill. No operator page was opened for this audit. | 8–11 min |
| The river pathway open | Free option: the Bow wraps two sides; the pathway follows it. | 1–3 min |
Few communities put a full athletic park at the end of the street: Montgomery does.
Elementary inside, ladder to Bowness
Terrace Road is the Calgary Board of Education school inside the community; its own site runs to grade 9, while Wikipedia calls it an elementary. Foundations for the Future Charter Academy occupies the former Montgomery Junior High. The senior ladder runs to Bowness High School, which carries Advanced Placement, a trades centre of excellence and a high performance athlete pathway.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Terrace Road School | Calgary Board of Education | Calgary Board of Education school inside the community. Its own site runs to grade 9; Wikipedia calls it an elementary. Neither prints an attendance area. |
| Foundations for the Future Charter Academy | Charter | Wikipedia says the charter academy occupies the former Montgomery Junior High. FFCA's own site lists eight campuses across Calgary by compass point and grade band, without addresses. |
| Junior and senior designations | Both boards | Bowness High School carries the senior ladder, with Advanced Placement, a trades centre of excellence and a high performance athlete pathway. It publishes no grade range or attendance area, so confirm for a specific address. |
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: none of the schools here publishes an attendance area, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The river mist mornings are Montgomery's own weather
- Priority snow routes keep the main roads clear
- Indoor recreation carries the season
- Long dark evenings, but rarely for weeks at a stretch
- Ski traffic west on the Trans-Canada peaks on Friday and Sunday
- Coldest snaps usually break with a chinook
- Noticeably longer light by month end
- Indoor pools at their busiest
- Melt and refreeze on the side streets: ice cleats weather
- Pathways reopen as the snow goes
- First patio afternoons on the warm chinook days
- Street sweeping begins late in the month
- Last hard frosts: planting waits for the May long weekend
- Pathway and park season opens properly
- Garden centres open across the quadrant
- Migratory birds return to the parks
- Flood watch is part of the calendar on the bend
- Lilacs and crabapples through the older streets
- Field sport seasons start on the community greens
- First genuinely warm stretches
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends and the parks fill
- Evening thunderstorms begin building over the foothills
- Farmers' markets open for the season
- Calgary Stampede: ten days across the city
- Hottest month, with cool nights at this elevation
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Canada Day events in the parks
- Folk Festival on Prince's Island mid-month
- Kananaskis and Banff at their best, straight west
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Smoke from western wildfires is possible
- School year restarts and morning traffic thickens
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Poplar and aspen colour begins
- Evenings shorten fast
- River colour on two sides of the community
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on across the quadrant
- Nose Hill's grasses turn gold
- Ski season opens west on the Trans-Canada
- Dark by 5pm
- Freeze sets in for good
- Holiday retail season begins
- Chinook arches over the western skyline on clear days
- Holiday lights through the community streets
- Outdoor rinks open when the freeze holds: the community association runs a skating rink and a hockey rink at 5003 16 Avenue NW
- Quiet, short days between the holidays
2 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–2 of 2 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Montgomery, 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.