Inglewood, Edmonton

Inglewood
Neighbourhood
Inglewood Location of Inglewood in Edmonton
Coordinates: 53°33′54″N 113°32′17″W / 53.565°N 113.538°W / 53.565; -113.538
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
City	Edmonton
Quadrant[1]	NW
Ward[1]	2
Sector[2]	Mature area
Government[3]
• Administrative body	Edmonton City Council
• Councillor	Kim Krushell
Area[4]
• Total	1.65 km2 (0.64 sq mi)
Elevation	672 m (2,205 ft)
Population (2012)[5]
• Total	6,310
• Density	3,824.2/km2 (9,905/sq mi)
• Change (2009–12)	-1.3%
• Dwellings	4,140

Inglewood is a residential neighbourhood in north west Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Between 1946 and 1996, Edmonton's Charles Camsell Hospital was located in the neighbourhood. The hospital was named after Canadian geologist and map maker Charles Camsell.

The neighbourhood is bounded on the north by 118 Avenue, on the south by 111 Avenue, on the west by Groat Road, and on the east by the a former Canadian National Railway right of way.

127 Street in Inglewood

History

As of 1882, portions of the present neighbourhood were owned by an employee of the Hudson's Bay fur trading company, operating a few kilometers away at Fort Edmonton.^[6] Located along the original St. Albert Trail, connecting the settlements of St. Albert and Edmonton, the area was used by Métis and First Nations peoples for their campsites when they came to do business in Edmonton.^[6]

The majority of Inglewood was added to Edmonton during an annexation in 1904, with the portion west of 127 Street added in a 1908 annexation.^[7]

Demographics

In the City of Edmonton's 2012 municipal census, Inglewood had a population of 7003631000000000000♠6,310 living in 7003414000000000000♠4,140 dwellings,^[5] a -1.3% change from its 2009 population of 7003639400000000000♠6,394.^[8] With a land area of 1.65 km² (0.64 sq mi),^[4] it had a population density of 7003382420000000000♠3,824.2 people/km² in 2012.^[4][5]

Residential development

Inglewood near the site of the former Charles Camsell Hospital

Residential development in Inglewood began prior to the end of World War II, when roughly one residence in eight was constructed. However, most of the existing residences (78% of the total) were built during the next 35 years. Residential construction tapered off during the 1980s and was substantially complete by 1990.^[9]

According to the 2005 municipal census, the most common type of residence in the neighbourhood is the rented apartment; these constitute seven out of ten (69%) of the residences. Most apartments are in low-rise buildings with fewer than five stories. Single-family dwellings account for only one in four (25%) of all residences. Duplexes account for the remaining 6%.^[10] Three out of four (76%) of residences are rented with the remainder being owner occupied.^[11]

Population mobility

The population in Inglewood is highly mobile. According to the 2005 municipal census, one in four (25.4%) residents had moved within the preceding 12 months. Another one in four (26.8%) had moved within the previous one to three years. Only one in three (33%) of residents had lived at the same address for five years or more.^[12]

Schools

Inglewood Elementary School

There are four schools in the neighbourhood.

• Edmonton Public School System
  • Inglewood Elementary School
  • Westmount Junior High School
• Edmonton Catholic School System
  • St. Andrew Catholic School
• Other
  • Indigo Sudbury Campus

Charles Camsell Hospital

Charles Camsell Hospital as of 23 May 2009

In 1946, Governor General of Canada Lord Alexander opened The Charles Camsell tuberculosis hospital in Edmonton. This hospital, which was located in the Inglewood Area, was named after Charles Camsell (1876–1958), a geologist and map-maker dedicated to the exploration of Canada's North.^[13]

In 1964 the Department of Indian and Eskimo Affairs, which operated the Charles Camsell Hospital, established the Northern Medical Research Unit under the direction of Otto Schaefer. The Unit was created to address the overwhelming response to a 1959 paper about Arctic health Schaefer published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The paper was a summary of his medical and personal observations of the changes to Inuit lifestyle with the coming of the DEW Line and increasing southern influence. For the next two decades Schaefer and his staff travelled the Arctic collecting medical information, administering vaccinations to remote camps, and seeing to the general health care of Inuit and First Nations groups in the Arctic. The Unit spent two months a year in the Arctic, as well as occasional emergence trips, and at the Charles Camsell Hospital analysing the data collected and seeing to patients. The conclusions of this research indicated changes to traditional life by increased influence of southern non-Native culture on lifestyle, diet, and social structure had enormous negative health effects. Schaefer became a vocal advocate for a return to traditional lifestyles as a means of countering declining health and better treating medical problems in the Arctic and in hospitals like the Charles Camsell.

Between 1945 and 1967, the hospital operated an occupational therapy program for aboriginal patients. In 1990, the hospital donated a collection of over 400 arts and crafts items made by patients in the program to the Royal Alberta Museum.^[14]

The hospital was an "Experimental Hospital" run by Canada's Indian Affairs and the United Church was known as the "Indian Hospital". Stigma surrounds the hospital as it is alleged that the aboriginal population was treated poorly, abused, and murdered. It is also alleged that south of the building near what used to be the staff garden is a mass grave of aboriginal children, though when officials questioned about this it is denied and stated that most of the people that died in this hospital were buried near a residential school in St. Albert north of Edmonton. These rumours and others regarding hauntings of the hospital are based more in urban legend than fact.

The hospital was closed and abandoned in 1996, condemned due in part to asbestos. The hospital has been owned by a number of people over the past few years with development in mind, and some construction and gutting of the floors has taken place, but nothing substantial has been done. No actual development has been finished. The movie "White Coats," released in 2004, was filmed in this hospital. In 2006, there was a fire in the building caused by a demolition crew, but firefighters had to fight the fire from the outside of the building since barbed wire had been wrapped around the railings of staircases, in a poor attempt to keep the homeless population out of the building. As of 2009, the building and grounds sit empty, and are surrounded by a fence. A private security service actively patrols the facility, and hefty fines are given to trespassers.

Surrounding neighbourhoods

	Dovercourt	Sherbrooke, Prince Charles,	Edmonton City Centre Airport
	Woodcroft		Prince Rupert
		Inglewood
	North Glenora	Westmount	Queen Mary Park

References

External links

• Inglewood Neighbourhood Profile
• http://www.nativevillage.org/Messages%20from%20the%20People/location_of_mass_graves_of_resid.htm