What was The Vancouver Board of Trade doing 110 years ago? Complaining about the White Pass & Yukon Route railway! Member R.P. McLennan had harsh words for the railway—which had started operations in Skagway, Alaska four months earlier, and which connected Skagway to Whitehorse in the Yukon—saying it charged too much to carry freight and passengers and, moreover, charged a fee of anywhere from $3 to $10 on every invoice their brokers passed, while U.S. government fees were 50 cents. (And there’s a funny story about a Seattle agent who didn’t quite succeed up here!) Check out
Biz Biz for 1900 »
First History of Vancouver in More Than 20 Years
Photo: Jason
Vanderhill
Vancouver writer Chuck Davis (left) is preparing a major new history of this region and is doing it with financial support from local businesses. The History of Metropolitan Vancouver is a four-year project and has a unique format: each year in the region's past gets its own chapter. The book covers the history of the entire lower mainland, starting in 1827 with the building of the first Fort Langley. Vancouver is the focus of the book, but Burnaby, New Westminster, Langley, North Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, West Vancouver and all the city's other suburbs are part of the story, too.
YOU CAN BE A SPONSOR OF THIS EXCITING NEW BOOK ON THE CITY’S
HISTORY!
100 block West Hastings, c. 1905
Photo: Philip Timms, VPL #5208
Sponsor
a Year in the History of Metropolitan Vancouver! More than 80 companies
have become sponsors. YOUR year may still be available.
Click here to
see.
VANCOUVER BOOKS
Hundreds of books have been produced by Vancouver writers, and dozens more have been written about Vancouver. Now, researched exclusively for vancouverhistory.ca, Karen Cannon has compiled an annotated list of 945 Vancouver books. Ms. Cannon is a retired librarian. You'll make some fascinating discoveries in her collection. Come on in!
The American Page
Americans
have had a major influence on the history of Metropolitan Vancouver. An American gave Vancouver its name!
William Cornelius Van Horne, of Chelsea, Illinois,
was the man who headed the CPR, the Canadian Pacific Railway that
opened up the Canadian West... more
»
A YEAR IN FIVE MINUTES
View our weekly feature called A Year in Five Minutes, in which the major events of each year in the city’s history can be read and reviewed in five minutes. You can access it here, the web site of re:place Magazine.
Pauline Johnson was ill in 1912 with breast cancer, a patient at the Bute Street Hospital. Her illness was noted in newspapers all across Canada, because she was our most famous poet. The country had never seen (or heard) anyone like her before—her father was a Mohawk chief—and she was an immediate star. “To attract crowds,” says a web site devoted to her, “she recited the first half of her program in a ball gown. For the second half she recited her ‘Indian’ poems in a costume which she made herself from buckskin, Mohawk metal work, rabbit pelts, a hunting knife, her grandfather's Huron scalp and another scalp which she bought from someone in the American mid-west.”
In 1909, after 17 years of touring, she retired and came to live in Vancouver.
By 1912 she was in the hospital—and in financial difficulty—when the Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, came to visit. He wanted to reminisce about the day in 1869 when he had been made an honorary chief of the Six Nations at its Ontario reserve. (She had been at that ceremony.) The prospective visit disturbed her, because her dressing gown was shabby and she couldn't afford a better one. Friends chipped in to buy her a new one.
Few read her poetry today, but Johnson's retelling of local Indian legends has lasted and her image is an enduring icon. She died at age 51 on March 7, 1913—97 years ago.
We contribute brief items on local history to an interesting blog on BC history: www.knowbc.blogspot.com, administered by Daniel Francis, editor of The Encyclopedia of British Columbia. The above is a sample.
The Scottish Page
Scottish
influence in metropolitan Vancouver was important from the very
beginning of our post-native history . . . and that’s not counting
the statue of Robert Burns in Stanley Park, nor our first purpose-built
library, the Carnegie, paid for by Scotland-born U.S. industrialist
and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie... more
»
Be a Part of History
The book also offers a unique opportunity for local
businesses: the chance to sponsor a year. The Vancouver
Board of Trade is the lead sponsor for the book, and is encouraging
business leaders to join in sponsorship. Each year in the book
is sponsorable, and the years are on a first-come, first-serve
basis. Join other sponsors such as CIBC, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada, UBC, Kal Tire, the Jim Pattison
Group, BC Hydro, Sierra Systems, Tom Lee Music, HSBC, Concord
Pacific, Placer Dome, Channel M, Telus, BCAA and Boston Pizza,
to name just a few.
Secure Your Year!
For a list of sponsors,
and for information on how you can be a sponsor for The History
of Metropolitan Vancouver, click
here
Our site is always under
construction, and there are constant additions. Please be sure
to check back often. And tell your friends!
**************************************************************************
Site administrator and developer: Quasar Design & Data Management Inc.
Original site design: Stephanie
Davis
Photo accession and supplemental research: Jim McGraw Index page slideshow images:
Jason Vanderhill Vancouver Books page:
Karen Cannon
Biographical research: Constance Brissenden Larry Loyie Donna Jean McKinnon
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Please note: For optimum viewing
experience, set monitor resolution at 1024 x 768 pixels or higher.
Aileen Campbell wrote October 19, 1984 in the Province of the new Danish Lutheran Church, on Kincaid Avenue in Burnaby, that it was a replica of an 800-year-old church in Denmark. “The pews,” Aileen wrote, “carry plaques donated by congregations in Denmark. A traditional ship's model is suspended from the ceiling.” A large bell, donated by a congregation near Copenhagen, arrived later. More 1984 events »
Some odd stuff has happened in Vancouver's past. Click to view a sampling...
The Museum of Vancouver has been remaking itself, and the results are worth a visit, both on line and in person. Pay them a visit!
The BC Historical Federation has been keeping British Columbians well informed about their history for decades! Drop in!
The Vancouver Police Department has an excellent web site, including a page dedicated to fallen officers.
Visit them here.
The always interesting web site of the City of Vancouver Archives now includes fascinating moving images.
Check them out here.
The Teacher's Page
We’ve discovered
that learning our local history can be fun AND interesting.
Have a look at our Teacher’s
Page, then let your students in on the adventure.
Click here »
