Monuments and Plaques

Every municipality and veterans’ organization has, of course, monuments to honor the war dead—the Victory Square Cenotaph at Hastings and Cambie Streets, for example. And throughout Vancouver many people have honored loved ones by donating park benches, water fountains and even lampposts and have attached markers to them.

Vancouver Centennial and Heritage Plaque Program For Vancouver’s 100th anniversary in 1986 the city introduced 100 oval plaques describing historic events, concentrated in the Chinatown, Gastown and downtown areas. Look up, as many have been placed well up the sides of buildings to prevent them from being taken.

Since the 1970s Vancouver has been designating its heritage buildings for future generations and starting in 1993 began installing distinctive plaques on the properties. The bronze markers incorporate the city crest with a text briefly outlining the building’s history and architecture. There are more than 100 plaques now (with more being added), and the heritage department at city hall will provide you with a locations list.

Queen Elizabeth Park In front of Seasons In The Park restaurant is a marker noting that Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton dined there during the 1993 Vancouver Summit. The park has several plaques of note, one for Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish lives in Hungary during WW II, another honoring the work of the late park board deputy superintendent and chief horticulturalist William “Bill” Livingstone.

Mount Pleasant On the south side of city hall is a bust of former mayor Gerry McGeer On the north is a statue of Capt. George Vancouver, sculpted by Charles Marega, with a plaque detailing his 1792 visit. Nearby, at 10th Ave. and Yukon, you’ll find the first of many Mount Pleasant Walkway plaques. About half are placed at ground level and the rest on what the neighbors laughingly call tombstones! As you head east on 10th, I11th, 13th, and 14th Aves. you’ll find markers describing topics like the origins of Dad’s Cookies, Vancouver archivist Maj. Matthews, Percy Williams (the Canadian sports star of the 1928 Olympic Games) and the history of some of the homes and their former prominent residents.

The 100 block of W. 10th Ave. has seven homes with heritage plaques. The John Davis family, which lives in one of the houses, began in 1973 to restore 166 W. 10th, the oldest (1891) wood frame home in Mount Pleasant. This was the first house to be restored to its original splendor and led to the rejuvenation of the neighborhood.

On the southeast corner of Main and Broadway is a distinctive cairn: complete with pictures and maps, it has information on local “tea swamps,” Kingsway, streetcars and Brewery Creek. Vancouver historian Bruce Macdonald penned the text for this and another at 6th and Scotia. A plaque commemorating Vancouver’s First Peoples is across the street from the Native Education Centre at 5th and Scotia.

British Columbia Parkway Following the SkyTrain route the B.C. Parkway has a vast number of monuments, statues and plaques in its parks, gardens and plazas. A big plaque is found on a pillar at Main and Terminal commemorating “ 100 Years Of Public Transit.” On the overpass at the north foot of Main St. is an attractive monument presented in June 1995 by the Shanghai Port Authority. It shows two vigilant lions and commemorates the relationship between Shanghai and Vancouver. At the corner of Clark St. and N. Grandview Hwy. is a statue of Christopher Columbus donated by the city of Genoa, Italy in memory of the Hen. Angelo Branca. Across from the 29th Ave. SkyTrain Station is the German-Canadian Heritage Plaza. Near Swangard Stadium in Central Park is a cairn describing the historic origins of Kingsway and Central Park, Beneath the Royal Oak SkyTrain Station is a plaque honoring those who lost their lives during the initial construction of the rapid transit system. Close by the 22nd St. Station in New Westminster is the Schara Tzedeck Cemetery with a twin obelisk monument commemorating Holocaust victims of World War II.

Along the riverfront near the New Westminster Quay is a potpourri of informational signs describing the history of and present activities on the Fraser River. There is a bust of explorer Simon Fraser and several historic plaques including one telling the Hyack Anvil Battery story. lust up the street at New Westminster city hall a plaque notes the town was the first capital of the province from 1866 to 1868. Historic Irving House Museum is nearby.

Chinatown At the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Cultural Centre is the China Gate which once stood by the Chinese Pavilion at Expo 86. As you walk to a bust of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen behind the centre you pass by large plaques in memory of Chinese-Canadian veterans of World War II.

Gastown On the site of the old Hastings Mill at the north foot of Dunlevy St. stands the old mill office and an abstract hard-to-read granite sculpture describing the mill’s past. There is, thankfully, a long informational sign nearby on this historic location. On the northwest corner of Dunlevy and Railway Sts. is a city centennial plaque with more information on the mill which opened in 1867. Vern Simpson’s Gassy Jack statue in Gastown is in Maple Tree Square and sports a plaque recalling a famous maple tree destroyed in the Great Fire of 1886. As you pass the ice cream store on Water St. behind Gassy Jack note a large metal sign with information on the Byrnes Block and Jack’s second saloon. The Gastown Steam Clock has plaques at its base detailing the history of Gastown and explaining how the clock works.

Pacific National Exhibition and New Brighten Park This was the 1910 site of Vancouver’s first fair. The Miracle Mile statue of Roger Bannister and John Landy stands at Renfrew and Hastings Sts. Nearby is a federal government marker reminding us of when Japanese-Canadians were first interned on these grounds, then, in 1942, relocated. The giant Challenger relief map of the province in the B.C. Building has a plaque honoring creator George Challenger. His ashes are interred beneath the plaque. At the south end of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge are tablets commemorating those who died in 1958 when the bridge collapsed during construction. Just west of the bridge, off Wall St., is New Brighton Park. Look for the “End of the Road” marker plus one on the old Hastings townsite and on a visit by the Royal Engineers in 1863.

Downtown Vancouver At Hamilton and Hastings Sts. an old plaque describes how the first Canadian Pacific Railway land commissioner, Lauchlan Hamilton, laid out most of the downtown street system from this point in 1885. The old CPR building on Cordova St., now known as Waterfront Station, has historic markers both inside and out, and a plaque commemorating the arrival of the first passenger train on May 23, 1887 is located at the southwest corner of Howe and Cordova Sts. Just to the west of Waterfront Station is Granville Square. The plaza has large plaques describing the history of nearby Canada Place, the harbor and the CPR link from Montreal to Vancouver. Historic Sinclair Centre, very attractively redeveloped from four old buildings, has markers on the Vancouver Pioneers Association, architectural awards and city heritage plaques, one telling the story of the Sinclair Centre clock.

Speaking of clocks, the Birks clock is back at Granville and Hastings—almost where it began. The plaque on the Birks building tells on which corner the famous clock originally stood and where it went before returning here in 1994. To the west note the markers and art deco work both inside and out of the famous Marine Building at 355 Burrard. Teck Lookout Park at Thurlow and Hastings has a plaque describing the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. A bust of builder Charles Bentall sits behind the Fountain of the Pioneers at the Bentall Centre towers in the 500- block Burrard. At the Burrard SkyTrain Station is a marker in memory of four workers who died accidentally while constructing a nearby office tower in 1981. Up the street venerable Christ Church Cathedral has a plaque beside each main entry door and at least 20 inside the church (besides superb stained glass windows). Nearby on Hornby St. a marker commemorates the late Vancouver Sun columnist Jack Wasserman.

What may be the largest monument in the province is at Robson and Beatty by B.C. Place Stadium in memory of local hero Terry Fox. It shows a picture of Terry and a map of his partial run across Canada. At the south end of Cambie Bridge is a huge red ring gear from the old Connaught (Cambie Street) Bridge while at the north end is a replica of a 1936 “rocket” which stood for years as a symbol of aviation at the first Vancouver Air Terminal.

Canada Place Nearly 50 informational signs are placed on the promenade around the pier here. Topics include the building itself, Piers B and C, Stanley Park, the Lions mountains, the Lions Gate Bridge, steam ships, cruise ships, maritime history, railroad history Gastown, Simon Fraser University, marine life, local industries and historic buildings.

Granville St. StarwaIk The Starwalk honors our local entertainment industry. More than 70 plaques have been set into the pavement on Granville between Nelson and Robson Sts. Entertainer Roma Hearn, Ivan Ackery (the late Orpheum Theatre manager), bandleaders Dal Richards and Mart Kenney and singer Bryan Adams are just some of the people honored. The markers are funded and installed by the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame Society.

West End The area bounded by Haro, Barclay, Broughton and Nicola Sts. is designated as Barclay Heritage Square and has many plaques. At the foot of Denman and Davie is a sundial commemorating “the three greenhorns” who in 1862 bought up much of today’s West End. Nearby is a plaque honoring Vancouver’s first aquarium, located here from 1939 to 1956. Step over to the bath- house and read the plaques describing the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim and Capt. George Richards’s exploration of the area. Across from the bathhouse is a small water fountain and plaque erected in 1927 to honor Joe Fortes, the lifeguard who taught hundreds of children to swim at English Bay. The wonderful old bandstand nearby has markers regarding its history and restoration.

Stanley Park Historic Malkin Bowl has markers and on the lawn beside it is a large monument to Warren Harding, U.S. President, who visited in 1923. The dining pavilion nearby, a heritage building, is also marked and so is the nearby Air Force Garden of Remembrance. Towards the beluga pool is a large monument in memory of Japanese-Canadians who fought for Canada in World War I.

Across from the Vancouver Rowing Club, also a heritage building, are statues of poet Robert Burns and Gov. Gen. Lord Stanley as well as a monument to Queen Victoria. Hallelujah Point and the statue of sprinter Harry Jerome have plaques as does a concrete slab set in 1863 by the Royal Engineers, The Nine O’Clock Gun carries a descriptive plaque with a second on the Bay downtown store. (The Bay restored the gun barrel and the shelter in 1986). Along the seawall a little farther are the look-out tablets of the Port of Vancouver describing major harbor activities: cruise ship traffic, resource exports, etc. The Brockton Point lighthouse has information markers and nearby is the Chehalis monument for the ship sunk in the harbor in 1906. Near the totem- poles is a marker describing the 1865 arrival of pioneer mill owner Edward Stamp. Elek Imredy’s 1972 Girl In Wetsuit statue is on a large offshore rock near a replica figurehead from the Empress of Japan. Across from the children’s water park is Lumbermen’s Arch, an enormous log placed to honor the province’s forestry workers.

The location—on the right side of the park drive at the north foot of Pipeline Rd.—where Stanley Park was declared open by Mayor David Oppenheimer in September 1888 is marked by a 1988 plaque (Lord Stanley made a visit in 1889 to dedicate the park named for him). Three tablets at the south end of the Lions Gate Bridge describe its completion in November 1938, the crossing by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May of 1939 and the 1986 lighting of the span. The steamship Beaver was wrecked on the rocks below Prospect Point. an event marked with a cairn above. At Ferguson Point is a stone monument into which is carved a likeness of poet Pauline Johnson. This area was the site of a coast defence fort during World War II and is marked with a plaque. Nearby is a tribute to the Commonwealth forces who served in Burma from 1941 to 1945. On the seawall near Third Beach are plaques describing the Siwash Rock legend. Also nearby is a stone plaque to honor the master stonemason lames Cunningham who worked on the seawall for more than 30 years. As you exit the park at Beach Ave. take note of a bust by Charles Marega of David Oppenheimer, Vancouver’s second mayor.

Kitsilano to UBC The flame of Peace monument at the south end of the Burrard Bridge was a city centennial gift donated by several sponsors. One of the city’s most photographed objects is George Norris’s stainless steel sculpture of The Crab in front of the Centennial Museum and H.R. MacMillan Planetarium in Vanier Park. The plaque explains the significance of the crab and conceals a time capsule. As you walk around the perimeter of the park and to the nearby Maritime Museum look for several monuments and plaques (Elsje Point, the Gate to the North-West Passage, a George Vancouver sculpture, a bust by sculptor Elek Imredy in the City of Vancouver Archives of archivist Maj. J.S. Matthews, the 30-metre tall centennial totem-pole in front of the Maritime Museum, and more).

A cairn donated by lifeguards and dedicated to George Burrows, who supervised Vancouver’s beaches and pools from 1931 to 1971, is near the bathhouse at Kitsilano Beach. At the north foot of Trafalgar and Dunbar Sts. are informational signs on “Birds to See on The Point Grey Foreshore.” Vancouver’s oldest building, the Hastings Mill store, is at Alma and Point Grey Rd. Built in 1865 near Gastown it has been converted to a museum. The Vancouver Youth Hostel near Jericho Beach has a marker describing this former military base and golf course. On a stone by the footpath just west of the Locarno Beach concession stand is a marker to Charles Borden, the “father of B.C. archaeology.” His famous excavation on this beach discovered evidence of human occupation dating back more than 3,000 years. At the west end of Spanish Banks is an anchor with text describing the 1791 visit of Spanish pilot Narvaez and the meeting the following year of Valdes, Galiano and Vancouver.

The campus of the University of B.C. occupies more than 400 hectares. Several markers and a monument to Inazo Nitobe of Japan are found at the gardens named in his honor. Just above the rose gardens at the north end of Main Mall is a large bronze map depicting the mountains in the distance. On the Main Mall are the Ladner Carilion and Clock Tower honoring pioneers William and Thomas Ladner and a cairn commemorating the UBC student “Great Trek” of 1922. Along the East Mall many trees have been planted by various graduation classes. The Professor Frank Buck Cairn commemorates the student bodies that financed a number of UBC buildings.

West Vancouver At the foot of 13th St. in Ambleside Beach is a cairn honoring the first white explorer to visit the Burrard Inlet area (1791), Jose Narvaez. One block west is the old ferry ticket office at Ferry Square where a plaque details how from 1913 to 1947 North Shore residents could catch a ferry across the inlet. On the northeast corner of 17th and Marine Dr. is a large monument carved from an 11-tonnne piece of jade extracted from the Cry Lake jade mine near Kutcho Creek, B.C. Just up the street at 680-17th is a plaque honoring Gertrude Lawson; her attractive old home is now the West Vancouver Museum and Archives.

Squamish / Whistler B.C. Rail’s history is indicated by a marker on Hwy 99 north of Lions Bay. There are several informational signs explaining the history, the subtidal life and the wrecks and reefs found at Porteau Cove Provincial Park. lust north of Britannia Beach are markers on the Britannia Mines and Foulger Creek areas and a plaque honoring Giuseppe Garibaldi after whom Mount Garibaldi is named. At the top of Whistler Mountain are plaques and informational signs on the surrounding area and its wildlife.

North Vancouver At the foot of Lonsdale Ave. are plaques describing the history of the thriving business district which developed there at the turn of the century and of the ferry traffic across Burrard Inlet from 1893 to 1958. In the northwest corner of the park is “Chiba Garden” with an informational sign describing North Vancouver’s association with its sister city of Chiba, Japan. At the western end of Waterfront Park lies Sailor Point where a monument and plaques recognize local maritime history including a tribute to those who gave their lives at sea. Next door to St. Paul’s Indian Church, the oldest (1884) surviving mission church in the Vancouver area, is a plaque dedicated by the Squamish Nation honoring all native servicemen who served in the two world wars, Cyprus and Vietnam. On Keith Rd. at Mountain Hwy. is a cairn marking the Lillooet Trail to the Cariboo via Howe Sound in 1877.

Burnaby A plaque at city halt honors Robert Burnaby and more can be found at Heritage Village next door including one dedicated to the beautifully restored Parker Carousel. Simon Fraser University was opened in 1965 and has various informative plaques and a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in the science complex courtyard. Just below SFU is Burnaby Mountain Park containing the Japanese Komui Mintoro Playground of the Gods wooden sculptures with descriptive tablets.

Port Moody Col. Richard C. Moody of the Royal Engineers is honored in the area named for him and by a park in New Westminster. St. John St. has a cairn commemorating the CPR’s last spike and the first (1886) regular passenger train into Port Moody.

Coquitlam Maquabeak Park at the north end of the Port Mann Bridge has a plaque in memory of Dorothy Maquabeak Francis who founded the first Native Friendship Centres in Canada. Many markers are found on the grounds of Riverview Hospital where gardens and a large collection of trees indigenous to British Columbia are described in plaques. One of the steepest grades Rick Hansen had to endure on the final day of his epic 1987 wheelchair journey is marked by a sign on Thermal Dr. Blue Mountain Park is now the home of the old CPR station building originally located at Fraser Mills and is marked by an informational sign.

Port Coquitlam The Terry Fox Library at Wilson Ave. and Mary Hill Rd. has a statue of Terry. His parents, Betty and Roiland Fox, officially opened the library on October 29, 1983. A commemorative plaque was unveiled.

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows Memorial Park honors the Lions International Club for landscape improvements and walkways made possible by them.

Richmond The road leading to Vancouver International Airport is named in honor of Grant McConachie, Canadian aviation pioneer. Other pilots are remembered on a large marker found on the airport’s departures level. A Wall of Coins from Richmond’s centennial is in the lobby of city hall and Harry (Silver) Minns is honored with a plaque inside the nearby ice rink for 50 years of amateur sports work. Several thoughtful inscriptions are placed throughout the Chinese gardens of the Buddhist temple at 9160 Steveston Hwy.

Travel west from the south end of No. 3 Rd. along the dyke and stop at London Farm and the Britannia Heritage Shipyard. A time capsule to be opened in 2039 and a marker have been placed in the Steveston Community Centre to give citizens a window on the community of 1989. A targe national historic marker on the West Coast fisheries sits by the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and a commemorative plaque honoring the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant is in nearby Garry Point Park.

Delta Ladner’s Landing, the original government wharf and first stop for ships entering the Fraser River, is marked with a plaque at Elliott and Chisholm Sts. The children of pioneer William Henry Ladner erected a plaque in 1932 on the clock tower beside the museum. He and his brother Thomas Ellis Ladner were the first settlers in the area named for them. Delta pioneers are remembered by a large sculpture beside the hospital in the 4500 block of Harvest Dr.

White Rock / South Surrey At the junction of Elgin and Crescent Rd. a cairn marks the Semiahmoo Trail, the ancient native travelway linking tribal villages in the White Rock area to the salmon grounds of the Fraser. Nearby in the 13700 block of Crescent Rd. is a plaque on historic Stewart Farmhouse built in 1894. At 148th St. and 20th Ave. is a plaque marking the original 1873 stage coach route, the Semiahmoo Wagon Rd., from New Westminster to the U.S. border. Pope John Paul II had the Semiahmoo Footbridge dedicated to him at Marine Dr. and Stayte Rd.

Surrey / Fort Langley / Chilliwack Along Zero Ave. from the Peace Arch at the Canada/U.S, border are markers every mile along the 49th parallel. An overpass at the southern 176th St. entrance to Cloverdale is dedicated to a Surrey RCMP officer killed in 1974 while on duty near this site. A block east at Hwy. 10 is a granite tablet marking the 1923 completion of the Pacific Highway. In downtown Cloverdale are various heritage and commemorative sites of note, especially at the entrance to the fairgrounds where a plaque honors the Clover Valley School built in 1882. On the fairgrounds is the Surrey Museum with a marker describing the original municipal hall. Within the city hall/courthouse/police station complex is a cairn honoring other Surrey RCMP officers.

Bear Creek Park has a marker commemorating the Semiahmoo Trail of 1861 and nearby is a sign describing the history of the park. A number of roads in Surrey have heritage markers noting the original street names associated with pioneer settlements or geographical locations. Some locals still use the old names.

A number of plaques are found both in and around Fort Langley, built by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1827 and rebuilt in 1840. At the entrance is a monument and plaque to the SS Beaver, Beside the fort is the Langley Centennial Museum. Nearby at the north foot of Clover Rd. is the old CNR station which once sat about 45 metres farther west.