RAMSAY HEIGHTS REAL ESTATE

Ramsay Heights is located in an area that was annexed to the City of Edmonton in 1960. In 1961, the area was included within a plan for phased development of a large portion of southwest Edmonton. In terms of development sequence, Ramsay Heights followed after the two Riverbend neighbourhoods to the north.

In 1969, the Riverbend-Terwillegar Heights Outline Plan detailed a development scheme for a comprehensively planned community, which included Ramsay Heights. With a predicted ultimate population of 95,000 people, Riverbend-Terwillegar Heights was the first of Edmonton’s residential areas to be planned on such a large scale. The Ramsay Heights neighbourhood was subdivided in the early 1970s, although a number of large lots from the previous Glamorgan subdivision plan remain on the neighbourhood’s west side, adjacent to the river valley.

In Ramsay Heights, the mix of housing units is roughly equally split between single-family homes and higher-density multi-unit structures. The neighbourhood is designed around a centrally located multi-purpose educational and recreational site and a spinal collector roadway. A high elevation vantage point at the central site offers a panoramic view of Edmonton. Multiple-unit housing and the neighbourhood’s commercial site are located adjacent to the collector roadway.

Interior residential roadways were designed along a pattern of curvilinear streets with cul-de-sacs. A number of strategically placed pathways promote pedestrian and bicycle movement within the neighbourhood. The collector roadway, Riverbend Road, bisects the neighbourhood from north to south and is linked to the Whitemud Freeway. The overall objective of the neighbourhood design was to provide for efficient yet safe traffic movement through the neighbourhood.

Ramsay Heights residents have good access to river valley recreational facilities in both Terwillegar Park and the Whitemud Creek Ravine. The residents are served by business located at the Terwillegar Shopping Centre, and the Whitemud Freeway provides access to major commercial and employment centres in other parts of Edmonton.

Ramsay Heights was named in honour of Walter Ramsay, who moved to the Edmonton area in 1899. He became the principal at McKay Avenue School, and later Queen’s Avenue School. Later still, he became Edmonton’s first commercial florist. In 1986, a permanent greenhouse at Fort Edmonton Park was opened as a tribute to Ramsay.