Killarney and Champlain Heights

Stretching south from Kingsway along Boundary Road to the Fraser River, the districts of Killarney and Champlain Heights formed the last corner of Vancouver to be urbanized. From the arrival of the first settler in 1868,... 

Landscape Architecture

In the Lower Mainland every gas station boasts a strip of Astroturf punctuated by flowers, every office building a tub or two of greenery. Come spring, our thoroughfares burst into blossom with ornamental plum and cherry... 

Germans

German settlers were part of the first large influx of immigrants to British Columbia in 1857. Most came from southwestern Germany and included shopkeepers, merchants, skilled artisans and craftspeople. They became part of... 

Gassy Jack

Vancouver’s earliest name came thanks to a saloon keeper. John “Gassy Jack” Deighton, born in Hull, Yorkshire, on the North Sea near the mouth of the Humber, started out as a steamship operator in the late 1850s, but... 

Fountains of Greater Vancouver

For a region set in a rain forest, the tower Mainland, particularly Vancouver, boasts an astonishing number of fountains, ponds and reflecting pools. Their suitability in a damp climate has been questioned, notably in 1966... 

Langley Township

The beginning of Langley is integrally linked to the beginning of British Columbia. The area was “discovered” by a party of Hudson Bay Company explorers, led by James McMillan, who struck out from Fort Astoria on... 

False Creek

In less than a century, False Creek has been transformed from the sleepy fishing grounds of the Squamish nation into a showcase of sophisticated urban living. Its metamorphosis is a drama that embraces some of the biggest... 

Lions Bay

From its beginnings in 1956 as little more than a developer’s pipe-dream, Lions Bay has survived bankruptcy, hurricanes and devastating debris torrents to celebrate, in 1996, 25 Years as the GVRD’s smallest and most... 

Environmental Conditions in Greater Vancouver

There are encouraging trends in Greater Vancouver’s air, water and soil qualities, which already compare well with any urban area in the world. Some “problems” might be better classified as issues or controversies.... 

Eastern Religions

The vast Pacific Ocean has proved to be a small obstacle for Asian migrants attracted to the promise of a new life in Vancouver. With this ongoing migration comes a rich variety of religious faiths practised in an array of... 

Maple Ridge

Maple Ridge is large, an umbrella for a series of smaller, distinct neighborhoods seven in all each with its own history. The name comes from the farm of one of the community’s first settlers, John McIvor, who called his... 

Mayors of Vancouver

Though the man who was to be first mayor of Vancouver had only recently moved from Winnipeg and had to be persuaded to run, he grew into his role and established the office of mayor with a combination of pioneer spirit and... 

Early Coastal Explorers

Long before 1791, when the first major exploration and charting of waters around Vancouver took place, native people traveled the region by canoe. When Captain James Cook arrived in 1778 at Nootka Sound on Vancouver... 

Monuments and Plaques

Rather than try to list all of Greater Vancouver’s commemorative monuments and plaques, we have chosen to highlight the more interesting or prominent ones.

Dunbar / Southlands

Archaeological data indicate native people occupied this area for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The first homesteaders, in 1863, were Fitzgerald and Sam McCleery. The McCleery farm, now McCleery golf... 

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