Vancouver in 1926 – 100 Years Ago
Every year, we revisit the city’s past through images and archives. This year’s collection highlights Vancouver in 1926, 100 years ago.
It is important to note that these history tidbits have a colonial lens. I recommend the following books that expand that scope and share the stories of those who have lived and cared for this land since time immemorial:
The factoids and tidbits come from The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver, which references various local newspapers and sources spanning a century. It is available on the Internet Archive , at your local book-seller, and the library. The photos are all in the Public Domain, sourced from the City of Vancouver Archives.
- Grouse Mountain Highway opens to limited traffic, funded entirely by William C. Shelly, eliminating the need for a full-day hike. The original Grouse Mountain lodge also opened this year, built from local yellow cedar.
- Prospect Point and Brockton Point Lighthouses were destaffed, converted to automatic control.
- In November, baseball’s Babe Ruth visited Vancouver during a personal appearance tour of North America.
- The first seaplane flight from Montreal to Vancouver began on September 11th. It took eight days. The plane arrived in Vancouver on the 19th.
- The Vancouver Women’s Building at Thurlow and Alberni was dedicated in May.
- Hudson’s Bay Company extended its store at Granville and Georgia. The original 1893 store at that corner was demolished, and an addition created that echoed the style of (and was seamlessly attached to) the 1913 store adjacent to the east.
- A road to Whytecliff and Horseshoe Bay was opened. A park at Whytecliff Point opened, called Rockcliffe at first. A tea-room with a dance floor was built, about where the present lookout is.
- CFDC, which had gone on the air in Nanaimo in 1923, moved to Vancouver and changed its name to CKWX, the oldest existing call letters in local radio.
- David Spencer opened his nine-storey building at the corner of Hastings and Richards Streets in December of 1926. The store went five stories below street level, as well, providing customers with 320,000 square feet of shopping space. Spencer’s toyland offered a paradise for children.
- Howard and Alma Fletcher opened West Vancouver’s first theatre, the Hollyburn, on Marine Drive near 18th Street in May of 1926.
- John Hendry Park in the east end (site of Trout Lake) was donated to the city by Aldene Hamber, the daughter of Hastings Sawmill owner John Hendry, and her husband Eric Hamber, a future lieutenant-governor of B.C.
- Langara Golf Course was established southeast of 49th and Cambie.
- The Joe Fortes Memorial Drinking Fountain was placed in Alexandra Park, much of the cost being raised from pennies donated by local school children—hundreds of whom had been taught to swim by Joe. The bronze-granite fountain was designed by Charles Marega.
- The tallest Douglas fir ever recorded in Stanley Park, 99 metres tall, toppled.
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