McKernan is across from Belgravia near the University LRT and provides residents quick acess throughout our city. It is named for John McKernan, a prominent businessman in the City of Strathcona whose parents' farm was located there beginning in the late 1870s. The bulk of residential real estate construction in McKernan, which occurred in the first two decades following the Second World War. Today, McKernan homes offer a mixture of single-family houses and several new duplex infill housing. Along with University Avenue, many McKernan properties offer legal basement suites making them a great investment and provide residual income for property owners in southwest Edmonton.
Houses in McKernan range from post-war dwellings to more modern dwellings in quiet tree lined streets. McKernan is close proximity to the Cross Cancer Institute, Canadian Blood Services, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, and the University of Alberta Hospital. Today, a few of the McKernan houses will be infill houses with legal basement suites.
The neighbourhood was named for James McKernan, a well known businessman a citizen of Strathcona. The land currently occupied by the McKernan neighbourhood was originally part of James McKernan’s original land holding. In earlier years, the McKernan Lake Streetcar was operated here connecting Calgary Trail to 116th Street along 76th Avenue. Known as the Toonerville Trolley, it was replaced by the more modern streetcar in 1948. In the subsequent years, until 1953, most of the residential development in McKernan was completed.
