Stuck in '41

Today I am going to finish telling more about events in Vancouver during the year 1941. At least those events according to the History of Metropolitan Vancouver website.

I did make an error on Friday's post. When I stated that fire chief, John Howe Carlisle, died on November 26, 1941 I was wrong. It should have read November 28, 1941.

On December 7, 1941, Canada declared war on Japan after Japan bombed the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The next day, the Province's Paul Malone wrote that 'British Columbia went to war with Japan on Sunday,'.

December 8, 1941 was also the day that electric flame at the war memorial at Stanley Park, which commemorated the Japanese-Canadian contributions in World War I, was extinguished. It wouldn't be relit until 1985 - forty years after the war ended.

Sixty-three-year-old John Hart was elected premier on December 9. He would hold this position until 1947.

Iwatichi Sugiyama, a British naturalized subject, is the only Japanese to vote in Vancouver's civic election on December 10.

On December 14, 1941, gas masks went on sale to the public. Schoolchildren learned how to study with them on and took part in drills.

December 18-20, Gracie Fields performed at the Exhibition Gardens.

In 1941, Highway 7 (the Lougheed) first appeared on a map.

Semiamhoo Park was established in White Rock. The land was leased from the Semiahmoo Indian band who later protested unfair claims in the agreement.

Due land confiscated for unpaid taxes during the Depression, Surrey found itself with too much land. So the city started giving it away so that it would generate income in the form of taxes.

Eibar Neilson founded a retreat for artists and intellectuals on Bowen Island called Lieban.

It was also noted that in 1941, four out of five homes in Metropolitan Vancouver do not have all of the following: a car, a telephone, a radio and a vacuum cleaner.

J.W. Cornett became our city's mayor in 1941, succeeding Lyle Telford. There is a city street named for him and Wenonah Street was named for his daughter.

That is basically the end of what happened in 1941. There are a few more details but maybe another time. Wednesday it will be on to something else!

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, flowers, history, 1941, British Columbia