Live in Southwood
A 1960 community built where the Corral Drive-in used to run, bracketed by two CTrain stations on the original South Line.
Southwood was established in 1960, or 1959 in the community association's own account: 2.6 km², 6,095 residents in 2,535 private households at the 2021 census, with renters at 44%. Southland and Anderson CTrain stations sit at its northern and southern edges, both opened on May 25, 1981, and Anderson was the original southern terminus of Calgary's first LRT line. Macleod Trail and Southcentre Mall run along the east, 14 Street SW forms the western boundary, and the Corral Drive-in theatre stood here through the 1960s and 1970s before Calgary Transit's Anderson Station shops took the site. The Southland Drive Bridge area still carries the local nickname S Block.
A 1960 community bracketed by two CTrain stations
Bounded by 98 Avenue, an alley north of Southland Drive, to the north, Macleod Trail to the east, Anderson Road to the south and 14 Street SW to the west. The Federation of Calgary Communities gives the northern edge as Springwood Drive and Southland Crescent. Ward 11.
Southwood was established in 1960, or 1959 in the community association's own account: 2.6 km² by the City's boundary polygon, 6,095 residents in 2,535 private households at the 2021 census, with renters at 44%. The community held the Corral Drive-in theatre through the 1960s and 1970s, until it closed to make way for Calgary Transit's Anderson Station shops.
The two stations. Southland and Anderson CTrain stations sit at the community's northern and southern edges, both opened on 25 May 1981, and Anderson was the original southern terminus of Calgary's first LRT line. It still holds the Anderson Shops and Garage where CTrain vehicles are maintained, plus 1,323 paved park and ride spaces and a 427-space overflow lot. The area around the Southland Drive Bridge carries the local nickname S Block, which Wikipedia records for the graffiti there.
The housing is a genuine mix rather than a bungalow monoculture: 51% single-detached, 18% row house and 19% apartment in buildings under five storeys, with 72% of the occupied stock built between 1961 and 1980. Renters are 44% of households, and 17% of employed residents take transit to work against 9% citywide, which is what two stations buy you.
What it costs. Median household income was $80,000 in 2020, below the city's $98,000, and 24% of households spent 30% or more of their income on shelter, about the citywide rate.
- Renters were 44% of households at the 2021 census, and the stock is 37% row house and low-rise apartment
- 72% of occupied dwellings date from 1961 to 1980. Check foundations and original wiring
- Two CTrain stations bracket the community, with the park-and-ride traffic that comes with both
- Southland Drive Bridge and the S-Block area have a rougher edge than the rest of the community
- Macleod Trail traffic past Southcentre Mall is a constant on the eastern boundary
How Southwood got here
- 1960Southwood is established. The community association's own record gives 1959.
- 1962The Southwood Community Association is registered as a provincial society on October 17.
- 1966Rockyview General Hospital opens at 7007 14 Street SW, north of the community.
- 1960s and 1970sThe Corral Drive-in movie theatre runs here, closing to make way for Calgary Transit's Anderson Station shops.
- 1981Southland and Anderson stations both open on May 25 on Calgary's first LRT line, with Anderson as its original southern terminus and the site of the Anderson Shops and Garage.
- 2021The federal census records 6,095 residents in 2,535 private households, with renters at 44%.
A community park at the centre, a provincial park a short drive south
Southland Park, around the Southland Drive Bridge, is Southwood's own green space and the centre of the local S Block area. Fish Creek Provincial Park, 13.48 km² and 19 km end to end, is Canada's second-largest urban park and a short drive south.
What the map does not show: Southland Park is small and well used; Fish Creek does the heavy lifting for anyone who wants real distance on a trail.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Southwood
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. Southcentre Mall and Fish Creek both sit within a ten-minute drive.
Every gym within reach
Southland Leisure Centre runs five to eight minutes west; the Trico Centre and Southcentre Mall's commercial clubs sit on the other side of Macleod Trail.
- Wave pool, dive tank, water slides, a climbing wall, a gymnasium, squash and racquetball courts and arenas, on the City's own list
- Trico Centre for Family Wellness at 11150 Bonaventure Dr SE adds a beach-entrance wave pool and a fitness centre
- Southcentre Mall's own commercial gyms sit four to seven minutes east, none of them with a page this audit could open
- Fish Creek Provincial Park's 100 km of trails are the free option, a short drive south
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Southland Leisure Centre open | City leisure centre at 2000 Southland Dr. S.W., listed with a wave pool, dive tank, hot tub, steam room, water slides, a climbing wall, weights and cardio, a gymnasium, squash and racquetball courts and arenas. | 5–8 min |
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | Non-profit centre at 11150 Bonaventure Dr SE, with a fitness centre, a beach-entrance wave pool and hot tub, and gym and arena programmes. | 6–9 min |
| Southcentre Mall district clubs open | Commercial gyms around the mall. This audit found no publisher page for any of them. | 4–7 min |
| Fish Creek Provincial Park pathways open | Free option: more than 100 km of paved and unpaved trails, a short drive south. | 7–10 min |
Fish Creek is the free option people actually use. The trailheads are close enough for a regular loop.
Two board schools inside the community, and a Catholic pair
Ethel M. Johnson Elementary and Harold Panabaker Junior High are the board schools inside the community, with St. Stephen Elementary & Junior High named by Wikipedia as the Catholic option. Harold Panabaker draws from Southwood, Woodlands, Canyon Meadows, Belmont, Yorkville, Silverton and Silverado, and runs a Mandarin bilingual programme; nothing on its page mentions French immersion.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ethel M. Johnson Elementary | Calgary Board of Education | A board school inside the community, named by Wikipedia among Southwood's schools. Its own page gives no grade range and no address. |
| Harold Panabaker Junior High | Calgary Board of Education | A middle school inside the community. Its regular programme draws from Southwood, Woodlands, Canyon Meadows, Belmont, Yorkville, Silverton and Silverado, and it runs a Mandarin bilingual programme, a Learning and Literacy programme and an Adapted Learning programme. Nothing on its page mentions French immersion. |
| St. Stephen Elementary & Junior High | Calgary Catholic School District | Named by Wikipedia as the community's Catholic elementary and junior high. The district's site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from the district itself. |
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 designation for a specific address before you buy: the public board publishes designations only through an address search, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so the Catholic school here comes from Wikipedia.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Anderson Station bus loop, on the old Corral Drive-in site, is the coldest wait on this stretch of the line
- Southwood Skatepark sits buried under its winter snowbank on Sackville Drive
- The Southland Drive Bridge ices over on its shaded side, the one S-Block stretch that stays slick all winter
- Priority routes on Macleod Trail and Anderson Road get plowed before Southwood's own crescents
- A chinook can bare the Southland Drive Bridge deck in a single afternoon
- Ethel M. Johnson and Harold Panabaker both run indoor recess through the cold snaps
- The S-Block underpass near Southland Drive Bridge stays the last icy patch on the school walk
- Southland's indoor pool, just north of the community, runs at its busiest of the year
- Meltwater pools under the Southland Drive Bridge before the storm drains catch up
- Cleats are the right footwear on Southwood Skatepark's shaded ramps
- The Anderson Station bus loop floods with runoff on the warmest afternoons
- South-facing slopes along the community's crescents lose their snow first
- Southwood Skatepark reopens for the season once the last ice clears Sackville Drive
- Garden centres along Macleod Trail open for the season
- Last hard frosts pass and the community's 1960s bungalow gardens get their first digging
- Field sports restart on the Ethel M. Johnson and Harold Panabaker greens
- Southland Park fills with skaters and dog walkers on the first warm weekends
- Southwood's older elm-lined crescents are the last streets in the community to fully green up
- Southwood's community garden plots go in along the Community Hall grounds
- Lease turnover season starts building ahead of the July 1 rush
- School lets out at Ethel M. Johnson and Harold Panabaker within days of each other
- The longest day of the year keeps Southland Park's picnic tables full past nine at night
- Southwood Skatepark sees its heaviest traffic of the year through the long evenings
- Evening thunderstorms build over the foothills, visible west from Anderson Road
- Stampede traffic adds to the usual Macleod Trail queue past Southcentre Mall
- July 1 brings a real wave of lease turnover: 44% of households here rent
- The asphalt on the Anderson Station bus loop holds its heat well into the evening
- Fish Creek's trailheads, a short drive south, see the year's heaviest weekend traffic
- Southwood Skatepark's evening crowd peaks before the school-return rush
- Back-to-school traffic builds around Southcentre Mall before the long weekend
- Southcentre Mall's lot empties out in the last quiet week before the school year returns
- Wildfire smoke from the west can settle over Anderson Road on windless days
- School restarts and the Southland and Anderson platforms crowd with students again
- The first frost of the season usually shows on Southwood Skatepark's ramps before anywhere else
- Southland Park's cottonwoods begin turning first, ahead of the rest of the community
- The school-run queue past Ethel M. Johnson stretches back toward Anderson Road
- Peak colour runs through Southland Park and along the older crescents
- A dusting of early snow on the Southland Drive Bridge deck typically melts by afternoon
- Southwood's older driveways get their first coat of winter sand before the real cold arrives
- Southwood Skatepark closes out its season on the first hard frost
- Dark by 5pm on the Anderson Station bus loop
- Freeze sets in on the Southland Drive Bridge deck first
- Ski season opens west, reachable via Anderson Road and Stoney Trail
- Holiday retail traffic builds around Southcentre Mall through the month
- A chinook arch over Anderson Road can turn a −20 morning into a +5 afternoon
- Outdoor rinks open in Southwood's own parks once the freeze holds
- Southland and Anderson platforms are at their coldest and darkest for the evening commute home
- Quiet, short days along the community's crescents between the holidays
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 Southwood, 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.