The community of Kildare is also known as Londonderry. Kildare, Londonderry Mall, and several surrounding neighbourhoods are named for Irish towns and counties. Kildare is named after the town and county of Kildare, Ireland. A nunnery was founded there by St. Bridget (453-523), who changed the name from Druim Criaidh to Cill-dara, which means “church of the oak.” The anglicized version of Cill-dara became Kildare.

 

Most of Kildare was developed during the 1960s, but residential development continued well into the 1980s.

Residential housing accounts for approximately 45 percent of the neighbourhood's property area.

Kildare Park provides residents with a large open space and the students of adjacent Kildare Elementary with recreational space. The neighbourhood’s close proximity to 137th Avenue and 97th Street provides residents with easy access to other parts of the city. Kildare has a greater mix of land uses than most mature suburban neighbourhoods.

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Approximately 55 percent of Kildare’s property area is commercial and institutional. This mix of land uses is largely due to the presence of St. Michael’s Cemetery and Londonderry Mall, which provides a wide range of retail businesses and services. Both of these dominant features consume large, highly visible parcels of land.

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