Our History

The land that is now West Jasper Place and Sherwood was open prairie in the early 1900s, subdivided around 1910 as part of the broader Jasper Place area west of Edmonton. Settlers came for cheap land and low taxes, and through the interwar years a loose community of small farms and homesteads slowly took shape.

Everything accelerated after the war. The 1947 Leduc oil discovery brought thousands of workers and their families to the Edmonton region, and Jasper Place absorbed much of that growth. By 1948 it had 4,000 residents and was the largest hamlet in Alberta. It incorporated as a village in 1950, was reclassified as a town almost immediately, and by 1954 had swelled past 13,600 people. At its peak, the Town of Jasper Place held the remarkable distinction of being the largest town in Canada, with over 37,000 residents by 1964.

A town that size needed city-scale infrastructure. On August 17, 1964, the Town of Jasper Place amalgamated with the City of Edmonton. The municipal boundary disappeared, but the neighbourhoods it contained, including West Jasper Place and Sherwood, kept their identities.

Community leagues were part of the post-war building boom. The Sherwood Community League was established in 1949, and the West Jasper Place Community League followed in 1950. Both shared the same east and west boundaries—149 and 156 Street—but sat one above the other: Sherwood between 92 and 95 Avenue, West Jasper Place between 95 Avenue and Stony Plain Road. Both were volunteer-run from day one, organizing sports, running events, and advocating for the services that young, growing neighbourhoods needed.

For over three decades, the two leagues operated independently. By the mid-1980s the neighbourhoods shared many of the same families, the same facilities, and the same priorities. In 1985 they formally merged to create the West Jasper Sherwood Community League (WJSCL), combining their resources into a single organization that better reflected how residents actually lived.

The league is part of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL), a century-old network of over 160 volunteer-run leagues across the city, the largest system of its kind in North America.

In 1980, Alderman Ken Newman put forward a motion to Edmonton City Council: the residential core of West Jasper Place, between 95 Avenue and 100 Avenue, from 149 Street to 156 Street, would remain zoned for single-detached housing. Council passed it, and for 35 years the Newman's Resolution held, an unusual instrument in Edmonton planning that preserved the neighbourhood's interior character while development pressures reshaped much of the surrounding area.

During that time, the neighbourhood continued to grow on its own terms. Between 2002 and 2012 alone, 45 new single-detached houses were built within the protected area.

In 2015, council replaced the resolution with the Jasper Place Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP), developed through three years of community workshops and public consultation. The ARP took a more nuanced approach: protecting the character of interior residential streets while enabling greater density and mixed-use development along corridors like Stony Plain Road and 149 Street. The principles behind the original resolution, thoughtful development, respect for what exists, and genuine community input, carried through.

The WJSCL Community Hall at 9620 152 Street NW is the league's home base. It features a commercial kitchen, a stage with a full sound system, and air conditioning. The hall hosts league programs year-round and is available for private rentals.

Next to the hall, Arthur Elliott Park provides green space. In winter, the league maintains an outdoor ice rink; in warmer months, tennis courts are open for use.

The most significant change on the horizon is the Valley Line West LRT, a light rail extension that will run along Stony Plain Road at the neighbourhood's northern edge. A stop at 156 Street will sit right at the league's western boundary, giving residents a direct, car-free connection between the west end and downtown.

Infill development is gradually bringing new housing to the neighbourhood's generous lots. Young families are a growing presence, particularly near Sherwood School. The league's volunteer Board of Directors, elected annually by the membership, continues to work with the City of Edmonton on planning and development, making sure growth happens with input from the people who live here.

West Jasper Place and Sherwood were built by families who saw promise in the west end. That hasn't changed. What has changed is the neighbourhood's position: no longer at the edge of the city, but increasingly one of its most connected and livable communities.