Backwards and Forwards

So did you spell Adanac backwards and learn how the street got its name? No? Adanac is Canada spelt backwards so that is how the name came to be. However, that wasn't the original name of this street.

This stretch of road was originally named Union Street - this street first started on the other side of Main Street in Strathcona and ran to Boundary Road. The western side of Union was an exciting place to be - it was an area full of activities such as prostitution, gambling and drinking.

However, the eastern side of Union was one where families lived and didn't engage in such disreputable activities. In the 1920s, Mrs. Mary Ann Galbraith started a battle to get the name changed.

Mrs. Galbraith was active in community politics and wasn't about to let this project die. In 1930, her efforts paid off and the street's name from Vernon Street on was changed to Adanac.

Mary Ann was born in 1886, her husband, Harold, in 1884. The Galbraiths and their nine children lived on Adanac for over 60 years. When the book I am using for reference was written in 2001 - Namely Vancouver by Tom Snyders and Jennifer O'Rourke - four of those children were still living and near Adanac. (Mary Ann died in 1974 and her husband the following year.)

Now the name change may have distanced the two sections of the same street but Adanac wasn't entirely able to emerge unscathed. In the 1990s, there was a boozecan, which operated on Union was pretty close to Vernon and the respectable "Adanac.

Let's go over to White Rock where there are 76 hectares of undeveloped park land at Admiral Point. It was originally set aside for a military reserve and it is still subject to use by the Armed Forces if needed. You never know - our neighbours to the south could decide to invade! Honestly, it could happen.

If you go to West Vancouver, off West Vancouver's Fisherman's Cove and just beside Eagle Island  you will find a tiny islet known as Adobe Island. There is one home that manages to perch on the island and Eagle Islanders have been known to refer to the perch as The Egg. This is an expensive egg though - asking price in 1996 was $2.9 million.

You know that Vancouver got its name as a tribute to the sea captain who discovered it; Victoria was named after a Queen but what about British Columbia? However did that come about? Friday I will tell you.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Adanac, history, Vanier Park, Union Street British Columbia,Galbraith,The Egg