Renfrew (late 1930s - )
Renfrew, meaning “point of the current”, is likely named after the County of Renfrew in south-central Scotland. The community is an amalgamation of Renfrew, Regal Terrace and St George’s Heights, all of them beginning in the early 1900s and developing gradually over the next six decades. Unlike Regal Terrace, which was substantially established by the end of the 1930s, Renfrew’s development surged in the 1940s and ’50s, particularly its wartime-housing units. Renfrew is also the site of Calgary’s first hangar, the Rutledge Air Service Hangar, which served as the Calgary Municipal Airport Hangar and as an RCAF training site. This inner-city neighborhood is on a prairie terrace north of the Bow River escarpment above the community of Bridgeland and east of Crescent Heights. Renfrew’s boundaries are Edmonton Trail NE to the west, Nose Creek escarpment to the east, Bow River escarpment to the south, and 16th Avenue NE to the north.
To learn more:
- Humber, Donna Mae. 1995. What’s in A Name-- Calgary? Vols 1 & 2. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises. Accessible at Calgary Public Library.
- Tarrant, Hillary. 2003. Regal Terrace Building Inventory. Calgary: Renfrew Community Association. Accessible at Calgary Public Library.
- Tarrant, Hillary. 2003-2005. Renfrew Building Survey, Calgary. Calgary: Renfrew Community Association. Accessible at Calgary Public Library.