ITEM #: SGN 113
Photographer: Bailey Bros.
I thought of continuing my weekly Then and Now photo series until I realized that most “then” images would not accurately depict the city’s fall hues in black and white.
However, as I glanced at one of my favourite local history resources this morning, I found the following and decided to continue the Vancouver History Tidbits series instead.
October 22, 1949 – 60 years ago today—the first “official†tree was planted at Queen Elizabeth Park. It was called Little Mountain Park back then, carved out of a rock quarry and chosen as the site of Canada’s first civic arboretum.
Courtesy of VancouverHistory.ca, here are a few more items of note in our city’s history that happened during this season and in particular, on this day.
October 22, 1938 – Mart Kenney and his Western Gentlemen instructed dancers at the Hotel Vancouver in a new dance craze, the Lambeth Walk.
October 22, 1965 – Alvo von Alvensleben, one of BC’s first millionaires and an important Vancouver realtor, died in Seattle, aged 86. It’s estimated he pumped $7 million into the provincial economy in the years before WWI.
October 22, 1968 – Scuba divers found the drive shaft of the SS Beaver, sunk off Stanley Park more than 70 years earlier.
October 22, 1986 – The Province’s Page One headline: SHA-ZALM! That announced the election of “millionaire gardener†Bill Vander Zalm as premier.
October 22, 2009 – The Olympic Torch Relay for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games begins in Greece.
And just for kicks, tomorrow in local history…
October 23, 1930 – Contact! The Vancouver branch of the Aviation League of Canada, an organization promoting the growth of the air industry, began formal proceedings today.
October 23, 1953 – The Burnaby Lake interurban tram line—the route of which roughly correlates with the Trans-Canada Highway today—closed after 42 years, replaced by a bus service.
October 23, 1983 – The Kuan Yin Buddhist Temple at 9160 Steveston Highway in Richmond was dedicated.
All this and more information will be in Chuck Davis’ book about Metropolitan Vancouver History. Companies can sponsor years and if I had enough, I’d buy 1980 for Miss604.com although it already looks like Polygon Homes beat me to it.
