In honour of International Women's Day, I thought I'd write a short piece on one of the most dynamic women ever to grace Grandview and Commercial Drive. Catherine Bufton (nee Drake) was born in Gloucester, England, in 1881. She emigrated to Manitoba where she met and married Hubert Bufton. After Hubert's service in World War … Continue reading International Women’s Day: Catherine Bufton
. The summer of 1910 was a hot one for labour across North America. In the first couple of weeks of July, more than fifty thousand garment workers went on strike in New York in a dispute that would eventually draw in more than 100,000 workers; bricklayers and stonemasons walked off the job in Montreal; … Continue reading The Italian Labourers’ Strike, July 1910
The first Isolation Hospital, known then as the pest house, in Vancouver was just a shack on the Inlet near where B.C. Sugar refinery would soon be built. However, when smallpox -- “the loathsome disease” -- struck in 1892, the shack was quickly abandoned, and infectious disease victims were shuffled off to a temporary camp … Continue reading Smallpox! Grandview’s Isolation Hospital
Visitors and locals alike often wonder why Commercial Drive south of First Avenue -- a wide arterial road -- is different than the northern half which is narrower and more intimate. The reason goes back more than 110 years and it all had to do with political intrigue in the Balkans. Like many streets in … Continue reading The Widening of Commercial Drive
. At the last monthly meeting of the Grandview Heritage Group, Jak presented his research on an early church in Grandview. The following is a version of that presentation (1). This story began with a mystery. In the 1905 Vancouver City Directory, there are just a few listings for Park Drive, the original name of … Continue reading A Church, Lost and Found
The one-and-a-half storey house at 1761 Grant was built under a $2,250 building permit issued to W.H. Creitz at the beginning of January 1910. By May it was on the market, described as having seven rooms “with every up-to-date convenience built in.” It was “not an ordinary house; come and see it; if you see it, … Continue reading Drugs and Booze: The Rowdy History of 1761 Grant Street
Further to my previous post about the geographic distribution of population in Grandview in 1921, the following map illustrates the same using the 1911 Census returns (For a description of the block system used to map these results, please see here.): The 1911 Census showed a population count of 7,356 compared to the population in … Continue reading Population Growth in Grandview: 1911-1921
In the summer of 1913, the part of Commercial Drive south of First Avenue was being widened. This expansion took place after a number of major buildings had already been erected on that route since 1910, some of which were in the way of the new road. This inconvenient fact was not allowed to stand … Continue reading Moving A Building On Commercial Drive
In September 1910, Mayor Louis D. Taylor and Aldermen Stevens and Enright toured the city "to see just what the [public] work was going on." They began in Cedar Cove and then moved into Grandview. The following report, which gives a good description of some parts of Grandview at that time, is from the Vancouver … Continue reading Ruining The Streets in 1910
Lakewood Drive is a thoroughly lovely residential street today. But that is not how some residents wanted it to be. "A petition signed by a large number of property-owners on Lakewood Drive is being presented to the B.C.E.R. [the streetcar company] for a carline on that thoroughfare, to parallel the Park [Commercial] Drive line and … Continue reading What Lakewood Drive Might Have Been
Ninety-eight years ago today, the Grandview Chamber of Commerce, supported by the Grandview Ratepayers Association, held "an enthusiastic gathering of merchants and prominent men of the district, gathered to unite their efforts to drive out of the district of Grandview the Oriental … Speakers said they did not want Grandview to be overrun with Orientals, and … Continue reading Our Racist Past
Anyone who knows Commercial Drive knows Joe's Cafe on the corner of William Street. It is an unprepossessing single-storey flat-roofed structure, not unlike many other similar buildings along the Drive. This one has been that way since Harry Evans had it built in 1910: Building Permit issued 9th November 1910 Owner: Harry Evans Architect: Townshend … Continue reading What Might Have Been
We had another fine gathering this evening. There was a short agenda but we managed to fill the time with interesting discussions. Eric presented his latest Neighbouthood Update. Land assembly is going on around Broadway and Garden in preparation for the changes allowed under the new Community Plan Work is continuing on the Green House … Continue reading Meeting Notes: October
As mentioned in the report on this month's meeting, I gave a presentation on the growth of Grandview using the data collated in the growing Grandview Database. This post is a brief and attenuated version of that report. In the maps that follow, the following streets are highlighted to allow orientation: It has often been … Continue reading The Growth of Grandview 1901-1915
"The Grandview Ratepayers' Association was formally constituted last evening at a meeting held at the Grandview schoolhouse, the following officers being elected: President Maxwell Smith; vice-president J.J. Dougan; secretary-treasurer, J.R. Shannon. A constitution was adopted and immediate steps will be taken to secure recognition from the ratepayers' central executive. The the attention of the city … Continue reading GV Ratepayers’ Organized 105 Years Ago Today
Regular readers of this blog, and researchers of local history, will be aware of the 1912 Goad's Fire Atlas, which has been available in low-res images on the national archives website for the past few years. As part of the fantastic digitization efforts undertaken by City of Vancouver Archives, the atlas is now available in … Continue reading Goad’s 1912 atlas now a VanMap layer
On this day in 1911, the real estate company of Williams & Murdoff Ltd posted the following ad in the Vancouver Daily World.
On 27th February 1915, while the world settled in to a major European War, the following ads were run in "The Vancouver Daily World" (p.16): "$75 cash, $20 monthly, inclusive price only $1,550, buys a new well-built modern bungalow on First Avenue, close to Commercial Drive; has full basement, bath, toilet, open fireplace, best electric … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview
I was researching something this morning and came across the following story from "The Vancouver Daily World" of 10th January 1910 which illustrates what parts of Grandview and Vancouver were like at that time: ***** "A daring attempted holdup was made on a laundry driver Saturday night at 6 o'clock, when three men pointed three … Continue reading Daring Hold-Up In Grandview!
After a hiatus of a couple of years, I've begun to take my sketchbook out into the city looking for derelicts – looking for pending change. One place that's been on my mind is the house at 1885 Venables that was used as rehearsal and administration space next door to The Cultch. The house was … Continue reading The green house next to The Cultch
grandviewheritagegroup.ca 