In 1986, Vancouver celebrated the city’s 100th birthday by installing 100 plaques around the city. My goal is to find all of them! At the end of the project, I hope it’s like a little guidebook to the city’s history.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER: George Brown, the owner and editor, began The Vancouver Weekly Herald and North Pacific News on January 15, 1886 using a hand-operated press. The paper continued after the fire but later gave way to the Daily Advertiser, which began publishing May 8, 1886.
THE KOMAGATA MARU: On May 23, 1914, the Komagata Maru – chartered to test a federal government order halting East Indian immigration – was refused permission to land her Sikh passengers. After food shortages, the loss of an appeal, mutiny and foiled boarding attempts she sailed on July 23 with some 350 still aboard.
DENMAN ARENA: In 1911, near the north-west corner of Georgia and Denman, Frank Patrick built a 10,000 seat arena – the largest in the world. It was the second artificial ice rink in Canada and the home of the Vancouver Millionaires, who defeated the Ottawa Senators to win the 1915 Stanley Cup.
WHOI-WHOI: The original people of this region, the Salish, lived here for many centuries before the arrival of the first European explorers and settlers. From their village near this site they paddled out to greet Captain Vancouver and his crew on June 13, 1792.
JEREMIAH ROGERS: In 1865 Jeremiah Rogers began logging Point Grey from an area known as Jerry's Cove, later “Jericho”. An innovative logger, he built his own tug in 1873, and began using a steam tractor in 1874. He specialized in ship's spars and supplied the Hastings Mill.
STEVENS' FOLLY: To coincide with the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, H.H. Stevens, M.P. initiated and promoted the construction of Dominion No. 1 grain elevator. Because World War I and a recession delayed the first bulk shipment until 1921 the elevator was dubbed Stevens' Folly.
THE ANTI-ORIENTAL RIOTS: On September 8, 1907 participants in an anti-immigration rally organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League stormed from here to the City Hall at Pender and Main. Later, the mob looted Chinatown and marched on Japantown, where it engaged in a pitched battle with waiting Japanese.
TILLEY'S BOOKSTORE: Seth Tilley's store was Vancouver's first post office and telephone exchange. One of the items saved during the 1886 fire was the switchboard – rescued by Tilley's son, Charles. In late 1885 the telephone service had 35 subscribers.
CEDAR COTTAGE: In 1888 Arthur Wilson started the Cedar Cottage Nursery on 40 acres. Other settlers followed, establishing small farms. The 1891 interurban line encouraged commercial development and by 1910 Cedar Cottage was a thriving village.
HASTINGS PARK: Hastings Park, 160 acres, was created in 1889 and the Vancouver Exhibition Association held its first Fair in 1910. In 1946, Hastings Park and the VEA became Exhibition Park and the Pacific National Exhibition respectively. The annual parade, Miss PNE Pageant and Timber Show are long time popular events.
THE HOTEL VANCOUVER BANDSTAND: Outdoor concerts were a popular feature of Vancouver's early cultural life. In May 1892 a bandstand was built on this site to complement one in Mount Pleasant and another at the north end of Richards Street. The city band, under J.W. Trendell, gave the first concert here.
