On a cold February day in 1968, a fleet of heavy equipment began stripping the prairie grass from a tract of land in southeast Calgary for a new community.

But any spectators to the activity might have been surprised when the machines started excavating deep into the ground.

It was the unlikely beginnings of Lake Bonavista, a new neighbourhood built by legendary builder and developer E.V. Keith that would become the first manmade lake community in Canada. Calgary now has almost a dozen lake communities, but back in the late 1960s it was a radical idea.

"Crazy," is how Les Cosman recalled the reaction from most people to Keith's plans, formed after he took an airplane flight over some early lake communities in Los Angeles.

Don Boykiw has come full circle.

The president of the Willow Ridge Community Association grew up in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Willow Park before moving away to carve his own path. As fate would have it, he returned to the community 13 years ago.

130 years of Calgary homes

From the first rustic homes that dotted our city's landscape in 1887, to the sprawling modern masterpieces of today, Calgary has seen its share of architectural styles over the years: