Vancouver Voyager: 1943 Bits

This sign is from last summer, which means this home on Lakewood Drive was built in 1910.

In 1943, a group of citizens in Burnaby were interested in having a hospital built. They met and formed a fund raising committee - the group raised $6,000 from door to door canvassing. This accomplishment prompted the city to contribute more and soon a hospital was on its way. At that time, the population of Burnaby was 35,000. Now, according to a 2011 census, the population is 227,400.

H.R. Butler was club champion this year for the Shaugnessy Golf Club.

1943 was the year that the Advocate, a bimonthly publication by the Vancouver Bar Association, began.

A book by Agnes Rothery, The Ports of British Columbia, appeared.

Here is a quote from Jim Lyon in the Greater Vancouver Book:

“Vancouver's shipyards turned out hundreds of cargo vessels and warships and by the peak year of 1943 the work force had grown to more than 25,000. This number did not include several thousand more employed in support industries such as boilermaking and the manufacture of steering engines and winches. In just four years West Coast yards built more than three million tons of new shipping and repaired, converted and refitted a similar amount. In 1943 alone Burrard Drydock completed 33 cargo vessels, North Vancouver Ship Repairs completed 15, West Coast Ship Builders turned out 17 and the remaining yards in British Columbia launched four. The vessels, of 10,000 tons and 4,700 tons, were produced at remarkable speed, some completed in just 65 days.”

Architectural historian, Harold Kalman, wrote on the construction of Burkeville, west of Airport Road in Richmond:

“Burkeville was laid out and built by the federal government during the Second World War to provide 328 houses for workers employed at the Boeing Aircraft plant. It was named for Stanley Burke, president of Boeing. The streets are named after airplane manufacturers. The plain, no-frills dwellings came in several standard sizes. Most have been altered to fit the needs of two generations of residents. After the War, Boeing sold the houses to returning veterans. The tightly-knit community, already encircled by airport uses, is currently threatened by the intended further expansion of roads and runways.”

Funny enough, the idea and plan for 'no-frills dwellings' was given to us by McCarter and Nairn. Those gentlemen were responsible for the ornate and elaborate Marine Building. The name of the development was chosen from a competition among Boeing employees.