1939 Goes On

Once again I would like to thank the History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the following information. (I thought I would get that mentioned first for a change)

We are still looking at events that happened in Vancouver in 1939.

On August 26, 1939 local militia were standing by guns at First Narrows in North Vancouver due to the fact that a world war was threatening.

September 1 Hitler invaded Poland, sparking the Second World War. Two days later Britain and France had declared war on Germany and Canada followed suit a week later. This required that German-speaking citizens declare their oath to Canada at a mass meeting in Moose Hall in Vancouver.

Canada had entered the war and Vancouver sprang into action. Our harbour was put under control of the Royal Canadian Navy and every ship entering or leaving our waters was checked. At this time Granville Island was the heart of Vancouver's industrial center and those factories were working around the clock producing such things as anti-torpedo nets, minesweeping equipment and rigging ropes for the merchant fleet. And for the first time an untapped work force was recognized - women.
September 1939 was a busy month for Vancouver.

But it wasn't all about the war. On October 11 UBC's president, Dr. Leonard Klinck, opened our city's first public aquarium and the star attraction was Oscar the Octopus. The aquarium closed in 1956 adn the manager, who was an American, moved to Seattle and opened a seafood restaurant. Wonder what happend to Oscar?

On October 18 the name of the Peace Arch Highway was changed to the King George VI Highway.

On November 21 a celebration was held to mark craft unionism in the lower mainland. It was the 50th anniversary and a banquet was held.


On December 2 Vancouver got its first dial telephones.

It was in mid-December that the first contingent of the Canadian Active Service Force left for Europe.

I want to thank all those who downloaded my free Kindle book yesterday. Remember that the book is free for today and tomorrow so get your copy and let others know! Let Us Play, A Rock 'n Roll Love Story free on Kindle. Just go to the link and download the book onto your Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle you can get a Kindle Cloud reader but it doesn't work on Internet Explorer. (I use Google Chrome for that)

I hope you find the beauty around you.


Karen Magill, Vancouver, 1939, Hitler, History of Metropolitan Vancouver, Let Us Play, A Rock 'n Roll Love Story, British Columbia