Vancouver will celebrate its 125th anniversary April 6th, 2011 with “Birthday Live” at Jack Poole Plaza downtown. From 2:00pm until 9:30pm the Olympic cauldron will be lit, birthday cake will be sliced, and acts will perform free concerts for the public. Photo credit: Tom Holbrook on Flickr Guests include First Nations representatives, City officials, the […]

Today is International Women’s Day and in Vancouver, women have played a strong role in developing its history and making sure it moves into the future. The Vancouver Police Museum reminded us on Twitter this morning that Vancouver was the first city in the world to hire women as cops and I wanted to showcase […]

Industrial buildings around False Creek have either met their doom in recent years or have received face-lifts (like the Salt Building). However, the twin-roofed 1918 Opsal Steel Building on the corner of West 2nd and Quebec has met a bit of a mixed fate. Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr The Opsal Steel building was used […]

It was March 3rd 1892 when Charles Woodward opened his first store on the corner of Harris Street (now Georgia) and Westminster Avenue (now Main) in Vancouver. He had just arrived in town from Ontario and the small setup sold dried foods. It wasn’t until 1895 that he added a drug department, incorporated (Woodward Stores […]

The injustice that was the Komagata Maru incident was one of the first things my teacher talked about in grade 11 social studies and the name has always stuck with me. In 1914 a Japanese steamship carried 376 passengers (all British subjects) from Punjab, India over to Vancouver by way of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and […]

As we make our way through Vancouver’s 125th anniversary year, many have been looking back to see how our city has grown. Thanks to the efforts of Vancouver’s first Archivist, Major Matthews, and photographers who took to documenting the ‘early years’ we can view glimpses of what Vancouver was like in its formative years. One […]

Over the last ten years the Heritage Vancouver Society has released its list of the Top Ten Endangered Sites in Vancouver and the 2011 list is now out. Schools: Carleton (1896, 1908 to 1912) Carleton School 1912. Archives Item# LGN496 Schools: Kitchener (1914 & 1924) Schools: Sexsmith (1912 & 1913) Shannon Estate (1915 to 1925) […]

Keeping up with work and blogging while in Africa has proven to be a challenge (as can be expected) however all of the travel has inspired this week’s photo collection from the Vancouver Archives which has an airport theme. Year: 1946 Subject: Airline stewardess passing the “Vancouver, City of Destiny” film to a man at […]

In just a few days Vancouver will celebrate the largest patriotic party the city has ever seen. At any given time, during those two to four weeks in February of 2010, you could catch a round of “O Canada” being belted out in arenas, at SkyTrain stations, and walking down the street. While the tune […]

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation is celebrating Vancouver’s 125th birthday by seeking public assistance in nominating ‘Places that Matter‘. 1937 – The new City Hall superimposed with the first City Council in front of a tent. Archives Item# City P39 Over the next few weeks, the public are asked to submit an address, photo, and description […]