Lynnview Ridge Revisited

As the title proclaims, we’ve returned to Calgary’s Lynnview Ridge. Truth is we’ve been back numerous times since we first wrote about it some seven years ago, but this is the first since it was officially turned into a city green space. So what’s the deal? Well…we’re speaking of a legend here and that status came for all the wrong reasons…read on.

Not all that long ago it was a vibrant residential neighbourhood, but earlier the site of a refinery. It’s all gone now and for the last couple decades has been allowed to revert to nature (while being somewhat kept up). Fenced off for the most part, you could still pay it a visit, some sections anyway, but had to walk in.

The barricades are mostly gone now and even with more access there’s still a kind of a weird Omega Man thing going on here. Where did everyone go? You still have visit on foot, but it’s more open.

It feels so strange, this once industrial property, later full of homes and present day an odd chunk of empty land deep inside the big city. You know there was something here and more story behind it all, but there’s few clues. It’s puzzling to many I bet.

From the 1920s-1970s the property was home to a sprawling industrial complex. Most of the refinery operation was down the hill, past the train tracks and close to the river, but on the site that was later Lynnview Ridge, sat some giant storage tanks. No doubt over the years, a lot of yuck made it’s way into the ground from them and contaminated the soil.

And therein lies the problem – they were not always that careful in the old days yet afterwards, and knowing this very well, residential housing was allowed to be built here. I see many raised eyebrows out there.

A neighbourhood for families established here? Really? Yes and this begs the big question…”people, what the heck?” That’s what we said in this post and it got us into a lot of hot water (and still does): Lynnview Ridge (from 2014). That article, incidentally, goes into more details of the history of the place and well worth a read. It’s a story of broken dreams and finger pointing.

Here in this post, it’s a look at what’s been left behind since our last visit. This is the legacy of Lynnview Ridge I guess and even now, it feels eerie wandering about.

Lynnview Road still runs through the property although all other side streets and alleys have been removed (with some marked by road closed signs). Rows of trees speak of lanes long gone.

The streetlamps light up come nightfall and there’s sidewalks to nowhere. Look for old bus stops and other odd bits and pieces, all reminders that people once called it home. There’s no sign of the refinery, but what came after has left its mark. Sort of, but you have to look close.

You can hear the kids playing and the dogs barking. There’s rows of minivans, a BBQ on Friday night and Christmas decorations on the lawn come the holidays. Neighbours and friends, work and leisure, life playing out as it does all over and it all happened here. Closing your eyes one can picture it, even if now it’s just a couple empty fields. The trees are so orderly…there must have been something here.

The property seems popular with dog walkers, however most of the time we were alone.

There’s a fine view of the city skyline from the escarpment on the NW corner and if not for trees that have grown up, so would there be of the rest of the refinery lands. That’s where the processing happened, some of the property still a no-go zone after all these years and with remediation work ongoing. There’s nasty stuff underfoot and so many questionable things done in the good old days in the pursuit of profit.

Scratch that – has anything really changed? Today big business and in heartbeat mind you, would sell you down the river for a dollar

It’s not clear what the city has in store for the Lynnview Ridge lands. The ground’s (still) too toxic for housing, and anyway there’s the attached stigma that one wants to touch, but it’s seemingly okay for the occasional walkabout. I guess all it’s suitable for is that of a park of sorts, not that trees and grass are a bad thing. The land was cleaned up somewhat when the community was demolished, but monsters still lurk so it’ll likely see little change in the future. It’s non-developed, by the way, and left as it was when the housing was removed. So no picnic tables or workout stations here, just green.

Come walk with us and take in Lynnview Ridge as is looks today. It’s a silly little tour, as we say, of a place we’ve documented before and know well. Here we thought it was time to pay a revisit and that you might like to see how it’s changed. Oh, and we needed some filler material!

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Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die…

To know more about the community: Lynnview Ridge Calgary.

They’re saying…

”Chris and Connie delve into the nooks & crannies of the Canadian Prairies (ed: we do mountains too!). They detail interesting histories accompanied with revealing photos. A lot of information and work and the results are fantastic.” Naomi Kikoak.

A Calgary theme…
Mayland Heights School – Brutal!
Super S Drugs – Everyone remembers it!
Retro Service Stations – Lakeview Husky – The city’s most retro!

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: contact us!

Date of Adventure: June, 2020.
Location: Calgary, AB.
Article references: Our friends at the City of Calgary and the great people there busting their butts in the trenches.

We’ve come back to Calgary’s Lynnview Ridge.

This was the main road in.

It sees only foot traffic now.

A once vibrant community.

Contaminated soil was its undoing.

The Omega Man.

Downtown from the escarpment.

It’s a story of broken dreams.

Correction: No Bus Zone (ever).

Boler!

Fact check: “True!”

There used to be houses in this greenspace.

A reoccurring theme.

Along Lynnview Road SE.

An out of work traffic sign.

Lynnview Ridge existed for only a couple decades.

A refinery tank farm once stood in this section.

You’ll be waiting a while.

And like the setting sun, we’ll soon be gone.