Pump Hill: The making of a luxury neighbourhood

Built on a gentle westward slope, the upscale community of Pump Hill is located on the west side of 14 St SW between Southland Drive SW and 90 Ave SW. 

In the early days this community was a collection of acreages and market gardens way out in the country that supplied the new city of Calgary with vegetables.  The city finally grew out to this area in the mid-20^th century but it remained a tight-knit community of homes on one, two and three-acre lots until well into the 1970s.  Horses still grazed on the corner lot at 14^th and 90^th Avenue until 2000.

Land over the crest of the hill was developed in the 1970s with paved roads and large estate-sized homes, with an adult-only villa community constructed in the mid-1990s. But the majority of Pump Hill was prime land and subdivision seemed inevitable.  With some luxury homes already nestled among natural stands of trees and original residents with high net worth anxious to keep ancestral homes intact, the stage was already set in Pump Hill to create a truly exclusive neighbourhood.

Subdivision in Pump Hill began in earnest in the 1980s with the creation of cul-de-sacs branching of existing roads such as Jerusalem Road and 96 Ave SW.  There are still vacant lots and sub dividable land in Pump Hill.

Because of its topography, Pump Hill lends itself to two-storey homes with walkout basements.  Many homes are 3,000 to 5,000 square feet in size but there is a home on the market today that is 11,000 square feet at a price tag of more than $8 million.  Pump Hill is also where Calgary’s largest single-family home is located.  This steel-framed home has 22,000 square feet of living space on a gated lot which is patrolled 24/7 by guard dogs.   

The Calgary Jewish Centre and the House of Jacob Mikveh Israel, an Orthodox Synagogue, is located in Pump Hill.   Across 90 Ave SW is Glenmore Landing, a large shopping plaza with a Safeway, Starbucks, bank, ladies wear stores, pizza, hair salon, a Running Room and much more.  Beyond Glenmore Landing is the beautiful Glenmore Reservoir and all its scenic pathways.

So, where exactly did the Pump Hill name come from?  It’s not really a secret.

For years, the Patton family ran a market garden in the area.  Clarence Patton still lives on the land upon which is grandfather first grew vegetables beginning in 1903 and many streets in the neighbourhood are named in honour of the family.  A 40-foot windmill was erected on the farm in 1910, and it pumped water for the gardens – a large windmill in true prairie tradition – so tall that airmen headed for the air base in South West Calgary where Mount Royal College stands used it as a landmark.  The area was first known as Strawberry Hill for the wild strawberries that grew there, harvested by the nearby Sarcee tribe.  It was dismantled in 2002 and now stands at Fort Calgary.