Bridgeland-Riverside, formerly known as Bridgeland and Germantown, is a neighbourhood in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, Canada, is located northeast of
Downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary is a dense urban district in central Calgary, Alberta. It contains the second largest concentration of head offices in Canada, despite only being the country's fourth largest city in terms of population. The downtown is divided in ...
. It is bounded to the south by the
Bow River
The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...
, to the east by
Deerfoot Trail
Deerfoot Trail is a freeway segment of Alberta Highway 2, Highway 2 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It stretches the entire length of the city from south to north and links suburbs to Downtown Calgary, downtown via Memorial Drive (Cal ...
, to the west by
Edmonton Trail and to the north by the community of
Renfrew
Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...
.
The community is primarily residential with a mix of parkside condominiums and single-family houses. Bridgeland contains a variety of restaurants, food markets, retail shopping, offices, financial services, churches and schools. The
Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo,
Telus Spark
TELUS Spark Science Centre is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are more than 430,000 visitors annually, including over 82,000 students.
The sci ...
, The Bridges
urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
development and access to the city's large network of
pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...
pathways (the
Bow River pathway
The Bow River pathway is a Trail, pathway system developed along the banks of the Bow River in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Calgary. It contains a network of pedestrian and bicycle paths connecting parks on both sides of the river.
The p ...
) and parks are unique focal points for the community and surrounding region.
Bridgeland borders a natural environment composed of the confluence of the
Bow River
The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...
and
Elbow River
The Elbow River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River. Its name is derived from the elbow-like turn the river takes before it joins the Bow.
Course ...
. Tom Campbell's Hill park lies on the eastern edge of Bridgeland and overlooks the downtown, Bow River and northeastern part of the city.
St. Patrick's Island and St. George's Island lie in the southern part of Bridgeland. St. George's Island is home to the
Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, Canada's second largest zoo.
Bridgeland is the site of the
Telus Spark
TELUS Spark Science Centre is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are more than 430,000 visitors annually, including over 82,000 students.
The sci ...
, a $160-million facility that opened on October 29, 2011 and Canada's first purpose-built science centre in more than 25 years.
History
The community of Riverside was established by
Russian-German immigrants during Calgary's first population boom in the 1880s, when Riverside was known as Germantown. At the beginning of the 20th century, immigrants were mostly of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and
Ukrainian origin.
The name "Bridgeland" appeared as a result of the
Dominion Bridge Company
The Dominion Bridge Company, Limited was a Canadian steel bridge constructor originally based in Lachine, Quebec. From the core business of steel bridge component fabrication, the company diversified into related areas such as the fabrication of ...
operating nearby.
Riverside incorporated as a village on July 6, 1903, and was subsequently
annexed
Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...
by the City of Calgary in 1910. In 1910, the Riverside School opened and served the community for 50 years. In 1908, the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association was founded.
A ''Red Light District'' survived in the neighbourhood until the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In 1910, the Calgary General Hospital was built in this area. It was closed in 1997 and was demolished in a controlled explosion on October 4, 1998.
Parts of lower Bridgeland were popularly known as "
Little Italy
Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...
" in emulation of similarly named enclaves in other cities of immigrants of Italian stock. The concentration of Italian bakeries, restaurants and groceries has diminished over time but the strip along 1st Avenue NE is sometimes still referred to by this name.
The
Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo was established on St. George's Island in 1929 with 36 mammals and 78 birds. By 2006, it had expanded to over 1,000 animals with 290 different species with exhibits from Destination Africa, Canadian Wilds, Australia, Botanical gardens, Eurasia, Prehistoric Park and South America. This area was severely damaged in the
2013 flood in southern Alberta.
Over 5,000 people participated in a public process that is underway in 2010 to develop a master plan for St. Patrick's Island.
In modern times, the community is recognized as a "distinct bobo (bohemian/bourgeois) residential neighbourhood" and having a high degree of
walkability
In urban planning, walkability is the accessibility of amenities within a reasonable walking distance. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport corridors designed for maximum vehicle throughput. Instead, it s ...
. In 2013, Bridgeland/Riverside was ranked by
Fast Forward Weekly
''Fast Forward Weekly'' (''FFWD'') was a news and entertainment weekly which provided news, alternative viewpoints, entertainment information, review articles and specialized advertising. It was distributed throughout Calgary, Banff and Canmore ...
magazine as the third "most
livable neighbourhood" in Calgary.
Demographics
In the City of Calgary's 2012 municipal census, Bridgeland/Riverside had a population of living in dwellings, a 6.5% increase from its 2011 population of .
With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2012.
The City of Calgary adopted an area redevelopment plan
Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while ''surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-dimen ...
for this community in 2006, which regulates construction of buildings and recreational areas, with the intention of increasing population density in certain areas, as well as development of a public transit oriented community.
At the beginning of the 21st century, gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
was occurring in Bridgeland. This resulted in new residents and business moving into the community. In addition, household incomes rose by +44.7% within Bridgeland between 2005 and 2015. This compares against a household income growth of +22.7% in the rest of Calgary over the same period.
Crime
Historically Bridgeland was a very challenged area, but has been undergoing redevelopment throughout the 2000s.
Government
The community is represented in the Calgary City Council
The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The council consists of 15 members: the chief elected official, titled the mayor, and 14 councillors. Jyoti Gondek was elected mayor in October 202 ...
by Gian-Carlo Carra and Druh Farrell, wards 9 and 7 respectively. On a provincial level, Bridgeland is part of the Calgary-Mountain View
Calgary-Mountain View is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district was created in 1971 and ...
constituency in Alberta's Legislative Assembly and is represented by Liberal MLA Dr. David Swann
David Richard Swann (born June 19, 1949) is a Canadian medical doctor and politician. He was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature from December 2008 until resigning as party leader in ...
. On a federal level, Bridgeland falls in the electoral district
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of Calgary Centre-North
Calgary Centre-North (formerly known as Calgary North Centre) was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015. It was a mixed urban and s ...
and is represented in the House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...
by MP Len Webber
Leonard Warren Webber (born November 10, 1960) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Confederation from 2015 until 2025 as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. During the 43rd Ca ...
.
Recreation
Bridgeland is the start and finish point for the Scotiabank
The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five (banks), Big Five banks, it is the ...
Calgary Marathon, Canada's longest running marathon. In 2009, the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon was rated as Alberta's best road race and is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...
.
Public recreational facilities within Bridgeland include Harvie Passage whitewater kayak
Whitewater kayaking is an outdoor adventure sport where paddlers navigate a river in a specially designed kayak. Whitewater kayaking includes several styles: river running, creeking, slalom, playboating, and squirt boating. Each style offers ...
park, soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
pitch, tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
court, community garden
A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot ...
, baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
field, off-leash dog park
A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners.
Description
Dog parks have varying features, although they typically offer a fence, separate double-gated entry an ...
, disc golf course, children's playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...
and toboggan
A toboggan is a simple sled used in snowy winter recreation. It is also a traditional form of cargo transport used by the Innu, Cree and Ojibwe of North America, sometimes part of a dog train.
It is used on snow to carry one or more people (o ...
run.
In 2010, based on an Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos Reid was the name of a Canada-based research company, still existing under the name Ipsos as the Canadian arm of the global Ipsos Group. Founded in Winnipeg in 1979 as the Angus Reid Group, the company expanded across the country and was pu ...
Needs and Preferences study, the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association initiated a conceptual design for an ice rink
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...
.
Bridgeland has a summer farmer's market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...
on Thursday afternoon and evenings.
The Calgary Tool Library was established in 2014. The first of its kind in Alberta, members pay a small annual fee and in return have access to some of the most essential household tools without having to buy, store or repair their own.
Infrastructure
C-Train stations
The community is served by the Bridgeland/Memorial Station and Zoo Station of the light rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
C-Train
CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Much of the system functions as a high-capacity light metro, while in the downtown free-fare zone, trains run like a modern tram with a dedicated right-of ...
transit system. As of 2007, there were 1,900 boardings per day at the Bridgeland/Memorial Station, and 1,700 boardings per day at the Zoo Station.
The Bridges
A major redevelopment dubbed "The Bridges" commenced in 2004 on land previously occupied by the General Hospital and is underway as of 2007. It is a inner city
The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...
development, consisting of multi-family residential
A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...
and mixed use buildings. The project includes of parks and open space.
The Bridges is a transit-orientated development.[ The three phase project is located next to the Bridgeland-Memorial LRT station which is on the 202 Saddletowne/69 Street line of the city's ]LRT
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
, the C-Train
CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Much of the system functions as a high-capacity light metro, while in the downtown free-fare zone, trains run like a modern tram with a dedicated right-of ...
. Early success of the project has seen it become an example development for cities interested in creating TODs.
Due to its proximity to downtown and access to great restaurants, shops and parkland, Bridgeland has been a focal point for multi-family development. Currently being built in The Bridges community are Bridgeland crossing I & II, Steps Bridgeland and Radius by Bucci is set to go to market in the fall of 2015.
St. Patrick's Bridge
A design competition was held in 2009, by the Calgary MLC for St. Patrick's Island Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge. The bridge will link Bridgeland and St. Patrick's Island to the East Village in the south and the Bow River pathway
The Bow River pathway is a Trail, pathway system developed along the banks of the Bow River in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Calgary. It contains a network of pedestrian and bicycle paths connecting parks on both sides of the river.
The p ...
system. It will provide improved linkages to many different nearby communities including Bridgeland, Inglewood Inglewood may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Inglewood, Queensland
* Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area
*Inglewood, South Australia
*Inglewood, Victoria
*Inglewood, Western Australia
Canada
* Inglewood, Ontario
*Inglewoo ...
, East Village and Downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary is a dense urban district in central Calgary, Alberta. It contains the second largest concentration of head offices in Canada, despite only being the country's fourth largest city in terms of population. The downtown is divided in ...
. The international design competition received 33 entries, with the winning design selected as RFR of France and Halsall of Calgary. The design is said to, "remind the public of a stone skipping across the river or an arch of clouds in the Calgary sky. The goal of the design was to have as little structure as possible in the river channel, to respect the context of the island and to provide a pedestrian and cyclists link." Construction is scheduled for 2010 at an estimated cost of $25 million.
Reconciliation Bridge
The Reconciliation Bridge was opened in 1910 and was initially named Langevin Bridge for Sir Hector-Louis Langevin
Sir Hector-Louis Langevin, (August 25, 1826 – June 11, 1906) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and one of the Fathers of Confederation.
Early life and education
Langevin was born in Quebec City in 1826. He studied law and was called to ...
, one of the Fathers of the Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...
. In 2017, the City council voted to change the bridge's name to Reconciliation Bridge.
In 2009, the City of Calgary set up 5,600 programmable lights on the bridge for Christmas, at a cost of $370,000, as a part of Downtown East Village re-vitalization efforts. The LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
, built by Montreal-based Lumenpulse, is composed of 5600 LED grouped in 156 programmable light assemblies, and is part of the RiverWalk project, an effort to improve the pathways along the Bow and Elbow rivers adjacent to the East Village.
Education
The community is served by the following schools:
Elementary
*Delta West Academy (private)
*St. Angela School (Catholic)
*Riverside School (public; specialized science program)
Junior High
*Delta West Academy (private)
*Christine Meikle School (public; special needs)
*Riverside School (public; specialized science program)
High School
*Delta West Academy (private)
*Christine Meikle School (public; special needs)
Bridgeland is also served by the following schools in adjoining neighbourhoods:
*Stanley Jones Elementary School (public; Renfrew
Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...
neighbourhood)
*Colonel McLeod Junior High School (public; Renfrew
Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...
neighbourhood)
*Crescent Heights High School (public; Crescent Heights neighbourhood)
*St. Alphonsus Junior High School (Catholic; Renfrew
Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...
neighbourhood)
*St. Mary's High School (Catholic; Mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
neighbourhood)
See also
*List of former urban municipalities in Alberta
The Province of Alberta currently has 253 urban municipalities including 19 cities, 105 towns, 78 villages and 51 summer villages. In addition, there are 106 communities that previously held some form of urban municipality status. These include 2 ...
*List of neighbourhoods in Calgary
This is a list of neighbourhoods in Calgary, Alberta.
As of 2016, Calgary has 197 neighbourhoods, which are referred to as "communities" by the municipal government, and 42 industrial areas. A further 15 communities were included in the Municip ...
References
External links
Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association
{{Calgary neighbourhoods
Neighbourhoods in Calgary
Transit-oriented developments
Shopping districts and streets in Canada