Rounding Off 45

Samuel Patrick Cromie, aged 27, returned from RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) service  and went back to work on November 1, 1945. Cromie was the third son of Vancouver Sun newspaper founder, Robert Cromie. The younger Cromie was employed at the Sun as a mechanical superintendent. Before the war, he had worked as a pressman in the circulation department. It didn't take long for Samuel to rise to the position of vice president.

With the end of the war, the Boeing aircraft factory on Coal Harbour was primarily inactive. On November 5, 1945, it was sold to B.C. Packers. The intent was likely to use the building as housing for their fishing fleet. “The big building, the main Boeing plant before the war added the Sea Island hangar and shops [in Richmond], would be used for the present as a net and gear storage loft . . . The building has a 132-foot frontage on West Georgia, extending back to the water's edge.”

November 6, 1945, the city council for Vancouver cancelled an order that established separate swimming days at Crystal Pool for non-white people. The pool was now open to everyone, regardless of the colour of their skin or race of their ancestors.

December 8, 1945 was the day that Vancouver lost one of the men who made this city great - Jonathan Rogers. Last month, I wrote a whole series on Rogers and here is one of the entries.

Also in December of 1945, the Burrard Dry Dock let go of the last of its female workers. There were 13,000 workers at the Dock and out of those 1,000 were women. At the war's height, 34 "Victory" ships were built in 26 months. The end of these positions wasn't a shock though. In fact, when the war ended, many women at the factory cried because they knew it meant the end of their jobs since the men would be coming home and returning to their positions.

Also in 1945, Seattle brewer, Emil Sick, bought the Capilano Stadium. It was run down and in poor shape and didn't open until June 15, 1951.

The United Fisherman and Allied Workers union was organized in 1945.

Lansdowne racetrack was sold to the B.C. Turf and Country Club.

The first Cloverdale Rodeo was staged in 1945.

D. MacKay ended his six-year term as chief of the Vancouver Police Department and was succeeded by A.G. McNeill.

Walter Moberly Elementary School - built in 1911 - burned down in 1945. It as rebuilt in 1946 at 1000 East 59th Avenue.

W.H. Malkin stepped down as chair of the Board of Directors of the British Columbia Cancer Society. He was replaced by Dr. A. Maxwell Evans. Evans served in that position for the next 33 years.

The first mall in Canada opened in 1945. The anchor store was Woodwards and it was heralded as innovative, state of the art shopping. The mall? West Vancouver's own, Park Royal.

The B.C. Power Commission was formed in 1945. This was good news to many British Columbians because the commission began extending electricity into rural areas.

This was the year that the city agreed to provide $1 million to build a new main library to replace the Carnegie building, which was built in 1901. The new library, however, wouldn't open until 1954.

Foon Sien Wong, a spokesman for Chinese rights, began the fight to get the vote for Chinese Canadians.

Mary Pack was dismayed by the lack of services for physically handicapped children in Vancouver. She started the B.C. Spastic Society, which would later become the B.C. Division of the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society in 1948.

1945 was an interesting year, a year full of changes. I want to thank the History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

1945 Continues

On May 16, 1945 Prime Minister Mackenzie King opened the federal election with a speech from Vancouver. This speech was broadcast over Radio CBR. (now CBU)

May 22 was the day that the first veteran moved into the first of new veteran homes.

May 25, 1945 was the day that writer W.P. Kinsella was born in Edmonton. Kinsella has since lived in White Rock and Vancouver and currently lives in the Fraser Valley. Kinsella is a prolific writer and may be best known for his book Shoeless Joe. A quote from a lengthy article on the website Bookworld states:

"After a young American editor in Boston named Larry Kessenich saw a brief synopsis of W.P. Kinsella's short story called Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa in Publisher's Weekly, he contacted Kinsella and asked for a novel. Shoeless Joe became the basis for the 1989 Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams ..."

On June 11, 1945, former city mayor, Gerry McGeer, was named to the senate.

There is a photograph of 23-year-old 2nd Lieutenant Molly Bobak painting in London, England. Molly Bobak (Lamb) was born in Vancouver and studied art at the Vancouver School of Art from 1938 to 1941.

In 1942, Bobak enlisted as a draughtsman in the Canadian Women Army Corps (CWAC), the only woman to be hired as an official war artist. She worked on the design of the décor and the costumes for the Army Show in Toronto. At the National Gallery of Canada in 1944, Bobak took 3rd prize in the Canadian Army Art Exhibition. After V-E Day, Molly was posted to Holland where she painted the tasks and experiences of female soldiers overseas.

In 1950, Molly Bobak obtained a grant from the government of France, which allowed her to paint in France. Air France invited the Canadian artist back in 1960 to lead a tour in Paris and a Canada Council grant allowed her to spend much of that year painting in Europe.

On July 14, the Province newspaper published an interesting story concerning Ivan Knopski. Knopski ran a concession at St. Paul's hospital and was building his own home at the corner of Main Street and East 29th Avenue. You may not think that was newsworthy, but Knopski was blind.“His neighbors, as they watched him building, didn’t believe that. They were sure he was boasting, that he had some sight left. But when they heard his hammer going on into the night till 11 and 12 and no lanterns around, then they knew he must be telling the truth."

I want to thank The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

1945

Here's something I haven't done in a while. Today, I am taking a look at events in 1945 that helped shape this beautiful city.

In January of 1945, Charles Cotterell - a CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) assistant general manager since 1934 - became president of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Sadly, he died February 15, 1946.

Good news for families. On February 20, 1945, the first family allowance cheques were mailed by the federal government.

Emily Carr, artist and writer, died in Victoria on March 2, 1945 at the age of 73. I am not going to go over her long career in this entry because I wrote on her in December of 2011. Here's Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

On March 6, 1945, the freighter Greenhill Park exploded in Vancouver harbour. Eight men were killed and hundreds of windows in downtown buildings were broken. Can you imagine being at work in an office and that happening? I was going to write on this event for a later post but then realized I already have an entry on that.

On April 6, the Dutch city where Captain George Vancouver was born, Coevorden, was liberated from Nazi forces by Canadian forces. April 6 also happens to be the City of Vancouver's birthday.

On April 18, writer and publisher Howard White was born in Abbotsford. White went on to make his name with a regional journal entitled Raincoast Chronicles. BC Bookworld describes Howard as “one of the key figures in the evolution of British Columbia culture.”  And Barry Broadfoot - Canadian interviewer and history writer  said, “Howard White and his Harbour Publishing have done more for regional writers, the history of the West Coast, its people, its character, its fast-fading uniqueness, than any other publisher in North America—hell, in the world.”

April 18 was also the day that a pre-school for deaf children began at Lord Tennyson School.

April 25. The United Nations began operations in New York City.

April 30 was the day that fire destroyed the Capilano Stadium. Vancouver firefighters battled the blaze, which raged past midnight into May 1. The stadium was quickly rebuilt and renamed Nat Bailey Stadium in 1978.

On May 7, Vancouverites were woken at 7:04 am by air raid sirens blaring. The sirens were announcing VE Day (Victory in Europe). Now attention was given to conquering Japan.

Thanks goes to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.