History of the city of Vancouver

 

16,000 to 11,000 BC: Segments of the Coast Salish people-the ancestors of the Squamish, Burrard, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam (Xw'muthk'i'um), Tsawwassen, Coquitlam (Kwayhquitlam), Katzie and Semiahmoo Indian bands-arrive from Asia. They seem to be quite satisfied with the beaches teeming with seafood-they named English Bay Ayyulshun, which means 'soft under feet'. And they liked the forests teaming with wildlife. Not to mention that nearby is the mouth of a big river emptying into a vast ocean where big, fat, silvery salmon swam by six months out of every year.

1592 - 1774 AD: The Spaniards cruised by as part of their exploration of Canada's west coast. Spain claimed the west coast of North America by virtue of the Treaty of Tordesillas, which occurred in 1494. Their presence is still felt today even though the Spanish felt Friendly Cove at the entrance to Nootka Sound was a better place for a town. The City of Vancouver has a number of streets named after Spaniards: Cordova, Cardero, Valdez and Narvaez (Galiano Street in Coquitlam.)

1792: Captain George Vancouver arrived. He spent one day here, which was long enough to discover the Spanish had already claimed the place and headed off again. During the day British Captain Vancouver met with Spanish captains Valdez and Galiano and one of Vancouver's best beaches, Spanish Banks is named for the meeting place. That's also the same reason English Bay got its name. Note however, that the Bay is bigger than the Banks and there are a ton more streets in Vancouver named after the British. (There is a Vancouver Street but it's, um, in New Westminster.)

1808: Simon Fraser, an explorer and fur trader arrived here following an overland route from Eastern Canada by a river he thought was the Columbia. Even though he was wrong about his travel plan the river was still named for him.

1827: Hudson's Bay Company built a trading post on Fraser River. It was the first permanent non-native settlement in the Vancouver area. Since 1893 the company has occupied a prime location at the corner of Georgia and Granville in Vancouver's downtown core and they're still trading.

1858: The news there was gold on the banks of the Fraser raised a bit of interest. About 25,000 prospectors dropped in to have a look.

1860: Three English who should have stayed out of the sun built a brickyard. The business flopped amid much guffawing and "I told you so's" from the local population. They were called the "Three Greenhorns"; the area is now known as the West End, one of the most populated places in North America. And there's no shortage of brickwork in the surrounding buildings.

1867: A talkative chap nicknamed "Gassy Jack" opened a saloon for forestry workers on the shore of Burrard Inlet. It became so popular a community built up around the place and called itself Gastown.

1870: Gastown is incorporated as the town of Granville.

1884: The Canadian Pacific Railway moved its terminal from the head of Burrard Inlet to the area of Granville, now known as Coal Harbour. Port Moody was miffed but Granville grew like Topsy. That same year the vessel Robert Kerr left England with Seraphim Fortes aboard. Seraphim, from Barbados who had been living in Liverpool working as a bath attendant and swimming instructor, was heading for Victoria when the ship foundered. It was towed into English Bay and 'Joe' Fortes thought well, what the heck, I might as well stay and do the same kind of work here.

1886: Granville incorporated as the City of Vancouver: now that it had about 1,000 people. The first mayor was realtor M.A. McLean. On June 13 a brush fire got away and burnt the city to the ground in less than 30 minutes. McLean knowing the value of real estate got rebuilding going in a matter of days.

1887: The CPR's first train arrived; the final stop of the first transcontinental trip.

1888: The last body is buried in Pioneer Cemetery, the graveyard of many of Vancouver's earliest citizens. The cemetery stretched from Brockton Point to the Nine o'clock Gun. Why no more? Well: 1888 was when the road that would eventually wind around Stanley Park was first constructed in the Brockton Point area. The first perimeter road around Stanley Park was paved with the shells from native middens (refuse heaps) in the park.

1889: The first Granville Street bridge is completed. There was another one built in 1909. The one that's there now is the third built in 1954.

1890: The first lighthouse is built at Brockton Point. Electric streetcars began operating this year.

1891: The city's first tram-based public transit system, the Interurban starts up.

1898: Sand is added to English Bay Beach. Up to that time you had to walk through bushes to get to it. A large rock on the beach separated men and women bathers (no peeking!) The Nine o'clock Gun is placed at Brockton point. People still set their watches by it.

1900: Vancouver surpasses the provincial capital of Victoria in size. Did they immediately move the capital to Vancouver? No.

1902: The first meeting of the Vancouver Information & Tourist Association was held on June 25, 1902. Today, the organization celebrates more than 100 years of operation and is now known as Tourism Vancouver.

1905: Johann and Anna Breitenbach arrive in Vancouver from Brisbane, Australia aboard the Aorangi. They were two of hundreds of new immigrants to Vancouver as the flood of people moved through to settle the Prairies. The Breitenbachs stayed and their descendants are still in Vancouver. The trip took a month; they travelled in steerage the whole way. They brought their ten kids with them. And you think commuting today is tough.

 

1909: The Dominion Trust Building, the city's first skyscraper opens at Hastings and Cambie. It's still there but looking kind of puny. The same year the second Granville Street Bridge opens.

1911: Canada's first artificial ice rink, the Arena, opened. People immediately begin skating around the edge counter-clockwise. It was at 1805 West Georgia at the corner of Denman. At the time it was the largest indoor ice rink in the world. The Vancouver Millionaires, the city's first hockey team, was built out of players swiped from the National Hockey League.

The 1914-15 season: The Millionaires become Stanley Cup champions.

1915: The first lighthouse at Brockton Point is torn down and the current one is built. You notice the arch at the bottom of the current lighthouse? That was going to be part of a boathouse until somebody noticed that the ocean current right there would make it easier to not store boats there.

The University of British Columbia opens for business. A few students showed up. There are 17,000 there now.

1938: The Lions Gate Bridge is completed so a real estate company can at last sell the property it bought on the North Shore. It was engineered to last about 50 years.

1964: For the first time the BC Lions won the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup.

1970: The Vancouver Canucks played their first game in the National Hockey League. They played the Los Angeles Kings (and lost.)

1974: The locomotive Royal Hudson logs its inaugural run since being rebuilt. People are steamed today, not because the famous loco plied the Squamish run for so many years, but because it's now toast. Efforts however are currently underway to rehabilitate the Royal Hudson and hopefully it will soon be making its picturesque journey.

1979: The Vancouver Whitecaps won the North American Soccer League championship.

1983: BC Place Stadium inflates and becomes the world's largest air-supported dome. It has 60,000 seats. Let's put that in perspective. If you put all the residents of Vancouver in it when the city was incorporated 97 years earlier, you would have 59,000 empty seats.

1964: For the first time the BC Lions won the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup.

1970: The Vancouver Canucks played their first game in the National Hockey League. They played the Los Angeles Kings (and lost.)

1974: The locomotive Royal Hudson logs its inaugural run since being rebuilt. People are steamed today, not because the famous loco plied the Squamish run for so many years, but because it's now toast. Efforts however are currently underway to rehabilitate the Royal Hudson and hopefully it will soon be making its picturesque journey.

1979: The Vancouver Whitecaps won the North American Soccer League championship.

1983: BC Place Stadium inflates and becomes the world's largest air-supported dome. It has 60,000 seats. Let's put that in perspective. If you put all the residents of Vancouver in it when the city was incorporated 97 years earlier, you would have 59,000 empty seats.

2003: Mercer Human Resource Consulting rates Vancouver as top city in North America for quality of life.

July 1 - Canada Day - 2003, Vancouver is selected as the Host City for 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. GM Place broadcasts the announcement live to a sold out crowd, while celebrations take place across the city.

2004: The hosting of the first large outdoor public arts show on the streets of Vancouver called 'Orcas in the City' by the BC Lions Society.