Tracing the Roots of
Bridgeland
A neighbourhood remade again and again by newcomers, from its Germantown roots to its Little Italy years.
Bridgeland traces its roots to the 1880s, when the district was first platted as “Riverside.” Early Russian-German settlers gave it the informal nickname “Germantown,” and the community was formally brought into the City of Calgary in 1910. Its current name came later, borrowed from the nearby Dominion Bridge Company.
Layer upon layer of newcomers have shaped this community over the decades — after the German settlers came Italian and Ukrainian families, who turned 1st Avenue NE into what locals came to call “Little Italy,” complete with old-world bakeries and grocers. Redevelopment has since changed much of the streetscape, but the independent, close-knit feel has endured. For close to a century Bridgeland was also the site of the Calgary General Hospital, torn down in a much-watched 1998 demolition, and the community remains home to the Calgary Zoo, which has occupied St. George’s Island since 1929.
Between its storied past and easy inner-city walkability, it's no surprise Bridgeland stays near the top of buyers' and sellers' lists across the Calgary market.
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