Vancouver’s 100 Centennial Plaques
[Date above is last edited. First published: May 28, 2024]
I want to acknowledge that this project is looking at sites located within the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
I’ve always loved reading any plaque I can find – they’re a great way to get a little snapshot of history. When I started looking into these yellow ovals I’d found around town, I discovered that 100 plaques were installed to celebrate Vancouver’s centennial in 1986 and I decided to look for them all!
As the plaques were installed in 1986, there probably won’t be much focus on Vancouver’s diversity and different cultural experiences. Probably very few women too. It’ll be interesting to see what the Vancouver Centennial Commission chose and if there are any surprises.
The List
| # | Title | Plaque? |
| 1 | City Payroll Stolen | Missing |
| 2 | Shanghai Alley | Missing |
| 3 | Arrival of the First Train | Missing |
| 4 | The North Arm Road | Missing |
| 5 | BC Electric Head Office and Depot | Missing |
| 6 | BC Electric Depot | Found, but gone |
| 7 | The Great Fire | Still up |
| 8 | Houdini's Great Escape | Missing |
| 9 | The False Creek Trail | Found, but gone |
| 10 | The Oldest Building in Chinatown | Missing |
| 11 | Reading of the Riot Act | Still up |
| 12 | The Hotel Vancouver | Missing |
| 13 | The Vancouver Opera House | Missing |
| 14 | End Of The Road | Found, but gone |
| 15 | Hastings Mill | Still up |
| 16 | First City Council Meeting | Found, but gone |
| 17 | Young Men's Christian Association | Missing |
| 18 | Deadman's Island | Still up |
| 19 | The Avalon Dairy | Still up |
| 20 | The Hotel Vancouver Bandstand | Missing |
| 21 | Hastings Park | Found, but gone |
| 22 | Cedar Cottage | Still up |
| 23 | Tilley's Bookstore | Missing |
| 24 | The Anti-Oriental Riots | Missing |
| 25 | Stevens' Folly | Missing |
| 26 | Jeremiah Rogers | Missing |
| 27 | Whoi-Whoi | Missing |
| 28 | Denman Arena | Missing |
| 29 | The Komagata Maru | Missing |
| 30 | The First Newspaper | Missing |
| 31 | The Oppenheimers | Missing |
| 32 | Kanaka Ranch | Missing |
| 33 | Fairview Shacks | Still up |
| 34 | Memorial Park South | Still up |
| 35 | Pantages Theatre | Found, but gone |
| 36 | Brockton Graveyard | Found, but gone |
| 37 | The First Ukrainian Church | Still up |
| 38 | Con Jones Park | Still up |
| 39 | False Creek Reclamation | Missing |
| 40 | Percy Williams | Still up |
| 41 | Papal Visit | Missing |
| 42 | The First Synagogue | Still up |
| 43 | Denman Auditorium | Missing |
| 44 | Cambie Street Grounds | Missing |
| 45 | Historian of His People | Missing |
| 46 | Wreck Beach | Missing |
| 47 | Brewery Creek | Still up |
| 48 | Theatre Under The Stars | Missing |
| 49 | LD Taylor | Missing |
| 50 | Stained Glass Pioneers | Missing |
| 51 | Sam Stands Firm | Missing |
| 52 | The First Mail Delivery | Still up |
| 53 | False Creek Industry | Still up |
| 54 | Waterworks | Missing |
| 55 | The Hollow Tree | Missing |
| 56 | Coal Harbour Industry | Missing |
| 57 | Athletic Park / VAC Gym | Missing |
| 58 | Polar Bear Club | Still up |
| 59 | Japanese Internment | Missing |
| 60 | South Vancouver | Still up |
| 61 | Point Grey | Still up |
| 62 | VanDusen Gardens | Missing |
| 63 | Pioneer Businesses | Missing |
| 64 | Lord's Day Act | Missing |
| 65 | Left to Right | Missing |
| 66 | Sun Yat Sen | Missing |
| 67 | Sadie Marks | Still up |
| 68 | CPR Tunnel | Still up |
| 69 | The Chain Gang Strike | Missing |
| 70 | Sam Kee Building | Found, but gone |
| 71 | St Paul's Hospital | Missing |
| 72 | Council of Women | Missing |
| 73 | First Labour Temple | Missing |
| 74 | The MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion | Missing |
| 75 | Andrew Roddan | Missing |
| 76 | Crystal Pool | Missing |
| 77 | Father of BC Archaeology | Still up |
| 78 | Union Steamships | Missing |
| 79 | In the Line of Duty | Missing |
| 80 | From Buckets to Aerial Trucks | Missing |
| 81 | Hastings Mill Store | Still up |
| 82 | The Old Post Office | Found, but gone |
| 83 | Carnegie Centre | Found, but gone |
| 84 | Labour Strife | Missing |
| 85 | Lucklucky | Found, but gone |
| 86 | Gun Emplacements | Missing |
| 87 | Malcolm Alexander MacLean | Missing |
| 88 | Greenpeace | Missing |
| 89 | Ackery's Alley | Still up |
| 90 | St Mary's | Missing |
| 91 | Sikh Temple | Missing |
| 92 | Land Speculation | Missing |
| 93 | Carleton School | Found, but gone |
| 94 | First Baptist Church | Missing |
| 95 | Lemon Squash | Missing |
| 96 | False Creek South | Still up |
| 97 | English Bay | Still up |
| 98 | Vancouver Rowing Club | Still up |
| 99 | Hart's Opera House | Missing |
| 100 | Jericho Military Base | Still up |
Credit: Vancouver Centennial Commission, Historic Plaque Program – final list (June 18, 1986). Courtesy of Vancouver Archives
Background
If you’ve ever wandered around Vancouver, you’ve probably spotted a bunch of historical plaques. The most common type is the Heritage Building sign – a bronze rectangle with a blue triangle at the top. These designate a building that has historic significance and they’re pretty formal.
You may have also seen a Places That Matter plaque – a blue oval. The PTM program was started in 2011 to celebrate 125 years since Vancouver was incorporated. These signs are much more community-minded and commemorate some of the lesser-known places, events and people that make Vancouver.
However, in between these two types, there was another plaque program – in 1986, 100 plaques were installed to celebrate 100 years – and those are the ones I’m looking for!
It's really important to acknowledge that this project is looking at sites located within the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. People have been living in this area for 8-10,000 years.
The first non-Indigenous settlements in the area only began in the late 1800s, with the first “official” townsite surveyed in 1870. The Canadian Pacific Railway selected the town as the terminus of their transcontinental railway and Vancouver was incorporated as a city on April 6, 1886 (then promptly burnt to the ground two months later).
100 years later, Vancouver celebrated its centennial. This evolved into Expo 86 with all its huge developments, but there were also lots of little events and programs to celebrate the city’s history. And one of those was the installation of 100 plaques: