Highlands

Highlands, situated on River Lots 30, 32, and 34, once seemed an unlikely site for development due to its distance from Edmonton’s center. However, McGrath, Holgate, and Company’s efforts, including extending the electric streetcar line, paved the way for development. The neighborhood’s name was chosen through a contest, offering a fifty-dollar prize for the winning suggestion. By 1911, grand mansions adorned Ada Boulevard, named after McGrath’s wife, with more modest homes further from the valley. Annexed in 1912, the neighborhood’s development spanned from the 1911 land boom to the late 1940s and 1950s, preserving its historical charm amidst single-detached homes, with pockets of commercial and apartment developments along 118 Avenue. Notably, the Highlands Historical Foundation, founded in 1988, remains dedicated to preserving the neighborhood’s rich heritage resources.