Beltline

Two older communities under one name, taken from a streetcar route.

The name is a streetcar route. Calgary Municipal Railway's Route No. 5, the belt line, picked up on 17 Avenue from 1912, ran north along Macleod Trail, crossed downtown on Stephen Avenue and came back south down 14 Street. The community underneath that name is really two. Connaught was established in 1905 and named for Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Connaught. Victoria Park followed in 1914. They merged as the Beltline in 2003, and both halves are still legible on the ground. Warehouses along 10 and 11 Avenues were built to take freight off the CPR tracks, and the Stampede grounds have held the eastern end since 1912. Lougheed House and Central Memorial Park anchor the west. The stock runs to apartment and condominium towers with heritage low-rise between them, and 17 Avenue closes the southern edge.

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