Goodbye Terminal City

Today's entry is one I wrote previously in January of 2013. The iron works has been sold and buildings torn down. However, I want to remind you of the history of the place before I say goodbye. (If you want to see what it used to look like, click the link for the 2013 entry.)

This April 1944 photo of Terminal City Ironworks was taken by Leonard Frank Studio.

The sixties was a good decade for some - it was the year I was born and 1966 was the year that Terminal City Iron Works continued to mushroom. Money Mushrooms used to be on Pandora Street but their building was bought out by Terminal City Iron Works.

By 1968, 1505 square metres (16,200 square feet) of foundry space had been added as well as the installation of a channel type induction electric melting furnace, which replaced an earlier coke-fired iron melting cupola.

Once the foundry had been upgraded, it was time to turn attention to the machine shop, which also got an overhaul. Additional pattern storage space was always being sought due to the development of new waterworks products. This company's pattern storage space grew to 743 square metres or 8,000 sq feet. Is it any wonder that the Terminal City Iron Works complex now took up an entire city block?

As of 1997, Terminal City products included waterworks fittings of gray cast iron and ductile iron in sixes from 2" through to and including 30" diameter. Terminal City was the only Canadian waterworks casting manufacturer that produced this range of fittings.

By the end of the twentieth century, Terminal City Iron Works had moved from this grand location to Langley. However, that wasn't the end of this block's usefulness.

Since 2002, this city block has been used for the film industry. That may be why some of these photos look familiar.

Psych has filmed here, as has Eureka. So has Arrow, Fringe, the short lived Alcatraz, Caprica, Dark Angel, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, John Doe and many more shows I am sure.

The entire complex is now up for sale. When I saw this, it prompted me to contact Terminal City Iron Works and I was referred to Mr. Stanley Mason - if you read Monday's entry, you will see that his family founded the company. (here's the entry mentioned.)

Mr. Mason is writing a book on the history of Terminal City Iron Works and he was kind enough to give me some information on the history of the company and the building.

This is part of Vancouver's history - a true success story. Anyone who buys this land is going to have to rejuvenate the soil due to all the chemicals that have been used there in the foundry business. With the way things are going in this city, I suspect it will be bought and eventually turned into condos.

I wish to thank Don Blanchard at Terminal City Iron Works in Langley for putting me into contact with Mr. Mason, Mr. Mason for his help and knowledge, the The Canadian Fire Hydrant and Waterworks Museum online and MovieMaps for the information.

With that, I say goodbye to the Terminal City Iron Works block. May future generations remember the hard work that went into the success this business became.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

Now What?

Riverview Psychiatric Hospital closed in 2012. But what is to be done with the 244 acres and 80 buildings overlooking Fraser River? What are we are going to do with the site of  Western Canada’s first botanical garden—an arboretum featuring over 1,800 mature trees from around the world—and incorporated natural meadows and watercourses? And the heritage buildings, five are massive brick wards - what's to become of them?

Although the entire Riverview site has Municipal and Provincial heritage registry, it has no protection. There was an effort in 2009 to recognize Riverview as a National Historic Site but the provincial government blocked that.

Two years before that, the BC Government had come  out with a plan to redevelop Riverview to accommodate 7,000 units or more of high-rise market housing, as well as social housing and residences for the mentally ill. Negative reaction was swift. The City of Coquitlam reaffirmed its position that the land should remain publicly owned and market housing taken off the table, and a petition calling for protection of Riverview quickly garnered over 13,000 signatures. The provincial government later withdrew its proposal.

The future of Riverview is up in the air. There are many groups concerned including a few First Nations groups who are laying claim to the land. As we have seen, the provincial government was interested in developing the site for more housing and citizens in the area are concerned about keeping the heritage aspects of Riverview intact.

The provincial government prepared its own Heritage Conservation Plan for Riverview which was to guide the future use of the property. This was to be completed in October of 2012 and after BC Housing would begin the long-term planning process for the site.

Citizens were wary of this though. Riverview supporters were concerned about the Province's swift decision-making timelines.  A series of open houses to gain heritage feedback were held in May on very short notice leaving people worried that everything was being rushed.

It isn't just a few people, a few crackpots if you will, who want to see Riverview preserved and protected. There is the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society and the Riverview Hospital Historical Society who support the Coquitlam Council and they are actively advocating on its behalf. Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody, the BC Union of Municipalities and the BC Chambers of Commerce have all passed resolutions calling for preservation of the site.

Fast forward to June of 2014. The City of Coqutilam announced its intention to reopen the hospital as a rehabilitation centre for the treatment of mental health and addictions. This is a move that has received strong public support. The preliminary plan for the Coquitlam Health Campus includes the re-establishment of a psychiatric hospital on the site, as well as a new acute care hospital and a dedicated public park.

The ownership of Riverview lands was transferred to BC Housing in February of 2015. In a January 2015 article in the Georgia Straight, BC Housing CEO, Shayne Ramsey, said he was optimistic they would be breaking ground in two years.

The plan is to continue to help those with mental illness, including the severely mentally ill. Other ideas include a mixed use area - residential and mental health care. The article is really good and I don't quote too much of it here. Just click the link and read it for yourself.

I want to thank National Trust Canada and the Georgia Straight for the above information. This concludes my series on Essondale/Riverview. There are other stories, numerous ones, concerning the asylum and I may tell you them another time.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

I took these last three photos to show something. No matter how hard we try to destroy it, nature reclaims her territory. I wonder is this is kudzu?

Riverview's Dead

At the north end of Riverview Hospital, behind the hedge, which separates the hospital grounds from Lougheed highway, there is a manicured 3.6-acre lawn. This grassy area is bordered by a fence with homes on two sides and, to the south, a row of old oak trees.

What is so remarkable about this patch of grass you may ask? Why even mention it? There's nothing there, right? Take a closer look.

If you were walking through this area and looked down, you would see simple grave markers. These peaceful, green acres are where the dead of Riverview lie.

The headstones are simple, usually bearing only the patient's name and date of death. Sometimes there will be a remembrance like 'At peace, at last' but for the most part there isn't much information about the 1,085 bodies buried. Not on the gravestones and not in Riverview records. According to the hospital, the first deceased person was laid to rest in the Riverview cemetery in January of 1958. The last was the cremated remains of Jane Doe. Her skeleton was used for teaching purposes and it is believed that internment was held April 4, 2012.

Not all deceased mental patients were buried at Riverview though. 200 were laid to rest at the Coquitlam cemetery on Robinson Street and countless others were buried in New Westminster at a graveyard shared by the Provincial Hospital for the Insane.

Not all of them were mental patients either. Some were staff and others were family of the patients who wished to be buried near their loved ones.

In November of 2013, a retired reverend and Port Moody resident who served as a community support for the Riverview chaplaincy program held a multi-faith service to remember the people buried there.

Thanks to BCLocalNews.com for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill