The year is 1960. Calgary's population sits at 234,428. Completion of the Trans-Canada Highway is still two years away. A new $1-million terminal at McCall Field welcomes airline passengers, with the first non-stop, transatlantic flight from Calgary to Amsterdam still a year away. The first two buildings on the new University of Calgary campus open and the newly minted community of Brentwood sits on the very edge of the city.

How times have changed.

For many Calgarians, the idea of living beside a lake is extremely appealing. Thankfully, Calgary is home to several lake communities, and each has its own unique character and mix of amenities.

For those thinking about buying their own lakefront oasis, here's a look at each of Calgary's established lake communities to help you find the one that's right for you:

The communities of Upper and Lower Mount Royal have long been home to an eclectic mix of everything Calgary's real estate scene has to offer.

To their credit, many Calgarians have not let the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic dampen their spirits or diminish their sense of community. This fact can be seen in the many heartfelt – and sometimes humorous – messages of thanks and support displayed throughout the city.

These may be uncertain times, but, as one of the messages reminds us, "we're all in this together."

As Calgary's oldest community, Inglewood is a neighbourhood that has been through a lot.

Since it pre-1900 founding as Brewery Flats, Inglewood – along with its neighbour Ramsay – has weathered both the First World War and Second World War, the Great Depression, and countless booms and busts. The communities have bounced back time and time again, emerging as two of the most desirable places to call home in the city.

The lands that became northwest Calgary's Mount Pleasant community were annexed by the City in 1910, making it one of Calgary's older neighbourhoods. When development began in the area in 1912, Calgary's population numbered fewer than 50,000 people.

Inhabited by First Nations people long before settlers had notions of calling the banks along the Bow River home, the Bowness/Montgomery area has a history that predates most communities in Calgary.

Bowness would later become one of the city's first satellite communities, complete with its own streetcar line, as part of a scheme by landowner John Hextall to develop an exclusive suburb "in a natural scenic setting of great beauty."

First settled in the 1880s, when Calgary itself was little more than a fort on the banks of the Bow River, the community of Bridgeland is one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods.

First settled in the 1880s, when Calgary itself was little more than a fort on the banks of the Bow River, the community of Bridgeland is one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods.

Since the demolition of the Calgary General Hospital 21 years ago, the northeast neighbourhood of Bridgeland has undergone a massive transformation. In fact, that transformation is ongoing and will intensify over the next three years, as one of Calgary's oldest communities continues to reinvent itself.