Surveying the Land

On October 4 1929 Lachlan Hamilton wrote a letter to J. Alex Walker of the town planning commission. It had been over forty years since Hamilton had initially surveyed the outline city and the 77-year-old Hamilton wrote that he wasn't happy with the job that was done.

Not only did Hamilton have to deal with the problems of the dense forests, the inlets, False Creek and so on he also had a local landowner named Pratt who refused to go along with Hamilton's plan. Some of our city streets curve and bend.

Not only that. When I initially was walking to the area I am showing today I didn't consult a map. I thought that East 27th Avenue would be right after East 26th. And logically that would be 26 blocks away from East 1st. Not so. Streets here end then start again blocks later. So when I went out yesterday I made sure to consult a map.

I am grateful for Hamilton plotting our city but I wish it had been more logically organized! It might save my feet.

If you are walking along Main Street and turn east on East 38th Avenue, it won't take long for you to find this little home at 212 East 38th Avenue.

It was built in 1912 and is a simple one and one- half storey L-shaped home. Its atypical  farmhouse sitting and room layout shows the more rural nature of South Vancouver at the time. Many residential buildings constructed at the time were Edwardian boxes and Craftsman  bungalows.

The  simple gable roof form and shed roof additions, as well as the simple detailing, and its grounds are more reminiscent of rural domestic architecture and make this home aesthetically important.

212 East 38th Avenue has a few character defining elements. Such as the prominent chimney and the simple main gable-roofed house form with single-storey wing extension. There is also a front  porch at the inside corner of the main house and single storey extension.

Here are a few more tidbits about 1930.

That was the year that enrolment at the University of British Columbia, UBC, topped 3,000. I wonder what it is now. A heck of a lot more I bet.

Vancouver shipyards launched the Cora Marie, considered to be the finest wooden hulled vessel built in Coal Harbour. She was originally owned by bakery executive William C. Shelly. Unfortunately the hard times of the  Depression led to her being sold to American, Paul F. Johnson. (Remember that name, Cora Marie, because she may very well come up again in other entries.)

1930 was also the year that 200 skeletons were found in the ancient Marpole Midden. Marpole, originally called Eburne after a local shopkeeper,  is one of Vancouver's oldest neighbourhoods, settled in the 1860s. But its history goes back much further than that. It is thought that the first residents of that area date back to 3500 B.C.

This was the year that jay walking was banned in Vancouver.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Lachlan Hamilton, Marpole,1930,Marpole Midden,History,Eburne,Main

Dirty Thirty

I was shopping at Donald's Market on Hastings Street and the customer ahead of me had this gorgeous pepper. I kept trying to get a photo of it but kept getting the teller's hand so she held it up for me to take a photo. I don't like eating peppers but isn't this a beauty?

On January 2, 1930 General Jan Smuts, then Premier of South Africa, told members of the Canadian Club of Vancouver that there will never be another war.

On January 27 the Communist Party had a demonstration in Vancouver.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York had donated funds for a bookmobile and library administration service in the Fraser Valley. On March 1 the Fraser Valley Public Library Demonstration began. The funds had run out and despite it being the Depression the citizens chose to pay an extra tax to continue the service. Therefore the first regional library in North America was born.

March 15, 1930 was the day that a group of people gathered at Green Timbers Urban Forest in Surrey to plant 120 baby trees as BC's first forest plantation - the beginning of forest reforestation here. A Province reporter, Victor Harbord-Harbord, planted a Douglas fir for the paper. Sixty years later two of the reporter's great-grandchildren played under the tree during an anniversary ceremony.

On April 4 American band leader Paul Whiteman arrived in Vancouver. He didn't stay long though because Canadian Immigration Authorities refused to allow his orchestra to play at two dances though they were permitted to play at a scheduled concert. Whiteman said it was all or nothing and departed for Seattle.

April 4 was also the day that the Vancouver Sun reported that there was no time to be lost in building the new theatre on South Granville. This $225,000 playhouse would have a seating capacity of 1,250 and be ultra modern. It would be equipped with the latest for talking pictures and a pipe organ. The theatre? The Stanley Theatre which I have written on before.

Also in April a ship called the Losmar tore away the south span of the Second Narrows Bridge and put the bridge out of commission.

Premier Simon Fraser Tolmie opened the Capilano Bridge on May 3. In 1914 a concrete bridge had been built across the Capilano River but it had partially collapsed in 1919 and had been 'cobbled up'. Yet it had lasted until the 1930 replacement.

An amusing tidbit happened on May 3. Someone sent a letter to the Province suggesting that bells be put on automobiles. This was to be a safety feature and the bells would sound continuously as the vehicle went downhill.

For you art lovers out there. On May 24, 1930 Robert Bateman was born in North Toronto. He now lives on Salt Spring Island. (My mom went to an autograph signing with Bateman last year and has photos of herself sitting with him.)

In May of 1930 Dominion Bridge opened a plant in Burnaby to manufacture steel for construction. Their customers included Vancouver's Marine Building, repairs for the Second Narrows Bridge repairs and the Alberta Wheat Pool.

On June 11 airplane and boat builder William Boeing launched his 125-foot, twin-screw diesel luxury yacht, Taconite, in Vancouver. In 1929 Boeing had opened a Canadian arm here and had purchased the Hoffar-Beeching Shipyard at 1927 West Georgia. The Taconite was named for a Montana mine that Boeing had an interest in (Boeing died aboard the ship in 1956) Today the Taconite is still in Vancouver and has been refurbished and lovingly maintained and is charted out by W. Gordon Levett.

July 12 a city market opened at the corner of Main and Pender Streets.

July 29 was the day that the Hastings Mill store - one of the few buildings to escape the fire of 1886 - was safely beached on the shores of Point Grey near Alma Road. It is still there today and is run as a museum by the Native Daughters of British Columbia. I have to get out there someday.

On August 21 it was reported that the average annual per capita income for BC residents was $4,339.

That was also the day, August 21, 1930, that Princess Margaret was born.

The next day the new Empress of Japan arrived in Vancouver. Not the person but Canada Pacific's finest trans-Pacific liner which would sail regularly to the Orient via Honolulu. In 1939 she was requisitioned as a troop ship and renamed the Empress of Scotland.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Robert Bateman, tulips,Empress of Japan,1930 ,History,Second Narrows Bridge,Princess Margaret