Live in Douglasdale/Glen
A 1986 southeast community on the Bow River, built around Douglasdale, Douglas Glen and the redeveloped Quarry Park gravel pit.
Douglasdale/Glen was established in 1986 on a bend of the Bow River in southeast Calgary, and it is really three areas under one community name: Douglasdale, Douglas Glen, and Quarry Park — 400-plus acres of business park, retail and residential land built on a gravel quarry that operated for fifty years before closing in 2005. Fish Creek Provincial Park meets the community at the river's edge, and Ralph Klein Park, a constructed stormwater wetland, sits just south. This is what living here is actually like.
Three areas, one community, and a river on every side that matters
Bordered north by 114 Avenue SE, south by 130 Avenue SE, east by Deerfoot Trail, and west by the Bow River. Ward 11.
Douglasdale/Glen was established in 1986 on a bend of the Bow River in southeast Calgary, and it is really three areas under one community name: Douglasdale, Douglas Glen, and Quarry Park — 400-plus acres of offices, retail and housing built on a gravel quarry that operated for fifty years before a developer bought the site in 2005.
The boundaries are geographic rather than arbitrary: 114 Avenue SE to the north, 130 Avenue SE to the south, Deerfoot Trail forming the entire eastern edge, and the Bow River itself as the western boundary — with Fish Creek Provincial Park meeting the community right where Fish Creek joins the Bow.
Housing mix. This is close to as uniform as Calgary gets: essentially all single-family detached housing, with rental at roughly 1.7% and median household income at $85,350 as of 2000 — both figures dated, but the closest sourced numbers available. More recent aggregator data puts the community at around 12,920 residents and a substantially higher income, though those figures lack a clear primary citation.
Who lives here. The municipal census recorded 11,890 residents in 4,217 dwellings in 2012, with 15.2% immigrants — a long-tenured, family-heavy population in a community with almost no new land left to build on.
- Homes are generally 25 to 40 years old — check roofs, windows, furnaces and electrical panels against design life
- The Bow River is the western boundary — the community was evacuated in the June 2013 flood, even though Quarry Park's engineering kept that district dry
- Almost no rental stock and almost no condos — this is a single-family-house community end to end
- Deerfoot Trail runs the entire eastern edge — go and listen at different times of day before you buy near it
- The planned Green Line CTrain has a stop proposed for Douglas Glen; it is not built, so budget for driving or the bus network as it exists today
- Junior and senior high schools both sit outside the community boundaries
How Douglasdale/Glen got here
- 1985Eaglequest Douglasdale Golf Course opens on Douglas Wood Drive, ahead of the community's own formal establishment.
- 1986Douglasdale/Glen is established in southeast Calgary, combining the Douglasdale, Douglas Glen and Quarry Park areas under one community.
- 1997Monsignor J. S. Smith School opens its first year, serving Catholic students from Douglasdale and Douglas Glen.
- 2005A developer buys the former gravel quarry — worked for fifty years — and redevelopment of Quarry Park's offices, retail and housing begins.
- 2011Ralph Klein Park, a 30-hectare constructed wetland named for the former mayor and premier, opens to the public on June 18.
- 2012Municipal census counts 11,890 residents in 4,217 dwellings, a 1% increase on 2011.
- 2013The June flood pushes Bow River flow to eight times normal; Douglasdale and Quarry Park residents are evacuated, though Quarry Park's Dutch-polder-inspired flood engineering keeps the district itself dry.
A river on one side, a provincial park on the other, and a constructed wetland just south
The Bow River pathway runs the community's entire western edge, connecting directly into Fish Creek Provincial Park — one of the largest urban parks in North America — where Fish Creek meets the Bow. A few minutes south, Ralph Klein Park adds a 30-hectare constructed stormwater wetland with trails, learning gardens and an environmental education centre; 46 bird species have been recorded there.
The resident's angle: this is one of the better-positioned communities on this site for river access without a private lake fee — the trade-off is that the same river was the reason for the 2013 evacuation, and it is worth walking the pathway at high-water season before assuming the proximity is purely an upside.
21 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 21 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Quarry Park's retail and services sit inside the community itself, which is why the nearest entries here are unusually close.
Every gym within reach
The southeast is served by one large civic complex plus a chain club inside Quarry Park itself, with Eaglequest Douglasdale's golf course and the river pathway network as the free options.
- Twin ice arenas, a community gymnasium, a YMCA and the NSD Sport and Fitness Club under one roof
- GoodLife Fitness inside Quarry Park is the closest paid gym to the community, three to six minutes away
- Brookfield Residential YMCA at Seton adds a second large-scale option, twelve to seventeen minutes south
- Eaglequest Douglasdale's golf course and the Bow River pathway are the free, on-your-doorstep options
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| South Fish Creek Recreation Complex open | The area's anchor civic facility: twin ice arenas, community gymnasium, a YMCA, the NSD Sport and Fitness Club and a public library branch, in Shawnessy Town Centre. | 9–14 min |
| GoodLife Fitness — Quarry Park open | National chain club inside the Quarry Park business district — the closest paid gym to the community. | 3–6 min |
| Brookfield Residential YMCA at Seton open | Among the largest YMCAs in the world — pools, twin arenas, climbing wall and a library branch. | 12–17 min |
| Eaglequest Douglasdale Golf Course open | Public 18-hole, par-60 course with a grass range and chipping green, inside the community. | 1–3 min |
| Douglasdale/Quarry Park pathway network & Ralph Klein Park open | Free option: riverside pathways along the Bow, plus Ralph Klein Park's wetland trails a few minutes south. | 1–8 min |
Confirm golf-course hours seasonally. Eaglequest Douglasdale is a public course, not a private club, but it closes for the winter — it is a spring-through-fall amenity, not a year-round one.
Two schools inside the community, from kindergarten through grade nine
Douglasdale School serves the community for public K–5, and Monsignor J. S. Smith School — open since 1997 — covers Catholic K–9 for Douglasdale, Douglas Glen and Mahogany. Junior and senior high designations both sit outside the boundaries.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Douglasdale School | Calgary Board of Education | Public K–5, inside the community, serving Douglasdale, Douglas Glen and Quarry Park. |
| Monsignor J. S. Smith School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic K–9, inside the community, serving Douglasdale, Douglas Glen and Mahogany. |
| Junior and senior high designations | Both boards | Designated junior and senior highs sit outside the community boundaries. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy. |
| Calgary Catholic School District | Calgary Catholic | Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. |
| Post-secondary | Post-secondary | No campus inside the community; SAIT, University of Calgary and Bow Valley College are all a drive or transit ride north. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current junior and senior high designation for a specific address with the board before you buy — southeast designations shift as communities further out continue to fill in.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Bow River pathway packed with snow but still walked and run
- Eaglequest Douglasdale's clubhouse is closed for the season
- Deerfoot Trail is a priority-plowed route, so commuting holds up
- Ralph Klein Park's Environmental Education Centre runs winter programming Wednesday to Sunday
- South Fish Creek's twin arenas carry the organised hockey season
- Chinooks can strip the riverbank pathways bare for a few days at a time
- Family Day long weekend keeps the Quarry Park Market busy
- Coldest stretches of the year, typically breaking by month end
- Bow River ice begins to break up
- Eaglequest Douglasdale reopens for the season, weather permitting
- Spring break fills the South Fish Creek YMCA
- Melt and refreeze on side streets through the community
- First golfers out at Eaglequest Douglasdale
- Ralph Klein Park's wetland comes back to life — early migrating waterfowl arrive
- Pathway network along the Bow reopens in earnest
- Last hard frosts before planting season
- Long evenings return — sunset past 9pm by month end
- Fish Creek Provincial Park's trails dry out at the community's western edge
- Junior golf camps begin at Eaglequest
- Hail season begins across the southeast
- Peak daylight at the solstice — over 16 hours
- Flood-watch season on the Bow River, a live consideration this close to it
- School year ends at Douglasdale School and Monsignor J. S. Smith
- Thunderstorm season is fully under way
- Calgary Stampede — ten days, about 20 minutes north on Deerfoot
- Ralph Klein Park's learning gardens and orchard at their fullest
- Bow River pathway busiest of the year, cyclists and runners alike
- Evening thunderstorms roll in from the west
- Warmest weeks for the Bow River pathway and Fish Creek's trails
- Quietest stretch before school returns
- Eaglequest's Ladies League and junior camps wind down
- 46 recorded bird species make Ralph Klein Park worth a summer visit
- School year restarts at Douglasdale School and Monsignor J. S. Smith
- Migrating waterfowl stage on the Ralph Klein Park wetland
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Quarry Park Market busiest with back-to-school traffic
- Eaglequest Douglasdale's season winds down
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on
- Shorter evenings noticeable by mid-month along the river pathway
- Dark by 5pm
- South Fish Creek's indoor rinks fill up for the winter season
- Ralph Klein Park's Environmental Education Centre shifts to winter hours
- Bow River begins to ice over
- Holiday quiet across the community
- Deerfoot Trail carries the bulk of holiday shopping traffic to Chinook Centre and Southcentre
- River ice takes hold along the pathway
- Chinooks, when they come, can strip snow overnight and bring it right back
36 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed and served from this app — nothing loads from a third party. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 36 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library, plus the Fish Creek image — used deliberately here, because Fish Creek Provincial Park genuinely borders this community, unlike the other southeast pages where it is excluded. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Douglasdale/Glen itself.