Bankview

The escarpment grid above 17th Avenue, laid over a ranch that drew its own boundaries.

William Nimmons bought a half section here from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1882 and ran the 3-D Bar Ranch from 17th Avenue to 26th and from 14th Street west toward Crowchild. Those four lines are the community's boundaries today. The City took the rest in 1908, laid a grid over it, and redrew that grid in 1950 to make room for apartment blocks. The result is a hillside where roughly 1,950 of 2,535 parcels carry a multi-residential designation and around 180 still date from the 1910s. The half-streets, 14A through 18A, are the 1950 plan showing its work. Buckmaster Park holds the high edge and the view.

We wrote the full story on The Desk. Living in Bankview.