North Glenora sits on land that was originally part of River Lot 2, a 1,000 acre estate owned by Malcolm Groat in 1870. The Groat estate extended from 121 Street to 142 Street, and from the North Saskatchewan River to 111 Avenue. Although many of the older west end communities that sit within the historic River Lot 2, such as Groat Estate, Westmount and Glenora were actively being developed from t
he turn of the century, it was not until the post World War II economic boom that North Glenora began developing. North Glenora was one of Edmonton’s first comprehensively planned communities. The original subdivision plan, however, followed a grid street pattern typical of many neighbourhoods developed prior to the Second World War. This plan was prepared and the land surveyed during a period of intense land speculation before the First World War, but was
left undeveloped as the result of the economic impact of two World Wars and the Depression. During the 1940s, the impact of the automobile became an important consideration in theplanning of communities and a primary planning objective was to minimize cut-through traffic. Noel Dant was hired as the City’s first planner. He designed communities
using a modified grid pattern of streets, incorporating crescents and cul-de-sacs to divert traffic around rather than through residential neighbourhoods. North Glenora was therefore re-subdivided and planned using this new street pattern design. The street pattern proved so effective at deterring traffic short-cutting that newspapers of the day reported that Mr. Dant once got lost in North Glenora as a result of trying to find his way through the newly developing community. With a total area of approximately 87 hectares, North Glenora is one of the smaller residential neighbourhoods in the city. North Glenora is bounded by four major roadways: 107 Avenue, 111 Avenue, 142 Street on the west, and Groat Road to the east. Residential construction in North Glenora occurred in the 1950s almost exclusively. The first building project in the neighbourhood was a recreation complex built in 1953. Most of the public facilities and multi-unit housing complexes in North Glenora are centrally located, surrounded by the neighbourhood’s many single family dwellings. Located just north of the neighbourhood, Westmount Mall, Edmonton’s first suburban shopping mall, has served residents of North Glenora since the mid-1950s.
