Rent in Bowness, Calgary's historic riverside streetcar suburb by Bowness Park [from $1,249/mo].

The Bow Valley around Bowness has seen human activity for more than 10,500 years, home over the centuries to the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot), Stoney, Cree, and Tsuu T'ina peoples. European settlement began with the Bowness Ranche, established in 1890-91 by Thomas Stone and Jasper M. Richardson, and the area was later developed by landowner John Hextall as one of Calgary's first satellite communities, complete with its own streetcar line, envisioned as an exclusive suburb 'in a natural scenic setting of great beauty.' Bowness became a village in 1948 and a town in 1951, and after a resident vote, joined the City of Calgary on August 15, 1964. Bowness Park, a 30-hectare urban park created in 1911 on the Bow River, remains one of the community's defining features, popular for picnics and boating in summer and ice skating on its lagoon in winter; it closed after the 2013 flood and reopened in stages through 2016. The community is bounded by the Bow River to the north and east, 16th Avenue to the south, and Stoney Trail to the west, with Montgomery sitting directly across the river. For renters who want a neighbourhood with genuine, centuries-deep roots and a landmark riverside park, Bowness offers a character few Calgary communities can match.