The Germans are Coming!

Last week, I told you about the American influence and immigration to Vancouver. Today, I want to remark about the German influence.

German settlers were among the first flood of immigrants to British Columbia in 1857. A variety of people came mainly from southwestern Germany. Shopkeepers, merchants, skilled artisians and craftspeople left their homes and ventured to this new land and brought with them much needed skills and trades.

These immigrants became prominent in Vancouver's social and political life. German clubs soon sprang up, the members preserving their heritage, language, music and cultural traditions.

There were a significant number of German immigrants during the early 20th century. Many became part of local society by marrying into the "old families". German investment bankers, noblemen, barons and counts - they all entertained lavishly. It was an era that came to an end due to the economic crisis prior to World War I.

World War I turned the Germans from much loved, revered people to vilified enemies overnight. German-Canadians were hesitant to speak their native tongue in public; German language church services were stopped and the federal government stopped all German newspapers. A census in 1921, after the war, showed a decline in British Columbia of nearly 40 percent of people declaring German origin and they spoke English in public.

But in World War II, attitudes towards Germans were less hostile. However, all Germans entering the country had to register as enemy aliens. Most of those interned at the outbreak of the war were released in 1941 as harmless. This time there were no bitter ethnic tensions and, as early as 1947, Germans were again admitted as immigrants, initially as "displaced persons" who fled their homes in Eastern Germany.

Around 300,000 German immigrants arrived in the province between 1947 and 1967. Once again, many were tradespeople with good educations and a reasonable command of the English language. They easily merged into our society and became British Columbia's second largest ethnic group next to the British. These immigrants were successful in business, professions and trades, they persevered and rarely suffered failure.

In the post-war era, many German-Canadians settled along Vancouver's Fraser Street and in the West End. There they opened small businesses and ethnic restaurants along Robson Street. In fact, Robson Street was sometimes referred to as "Robsonstrasse".

I am referring once again to the book The Greater Vancouver Book, An Urban Encylopaedia and this time the article is entitled Germans and was written by Sylvia Reinthal.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

1901 and 1903: Good Years

Hello one and all. Did you have a great weekend? Mine didn't start off the greatest but I am pleased with how it progressed.

Today I am going to post a bunch of pictures and then some information on the city. Thanks to the website The History of Metropolitan Vancouver for helping me with the information.

Some of the photos I am showing you today are of interesting things I happen to see on my walks.

In 1884 huge knot free beams (112 feet by 28 inches or 34 m by 70 cm) left Burrard Inlet Sawmills bound for Beijing's Imperial Palace.

F.L. Carter-Cotton owned the paper The Advertiser, which was about a year old and on March 31, 1887, The Advertiser merged with another year old paper, the News.

These were taken through the window at a doctor's office.

Squatter Sam Greer - where Greer's Beach got its name (Greers Beach is now Kitsilano Beach) - shot the sheriff when the law officer came to evict him on September 26, 1891. Greer's act of defiance didn't help eithier since while the official was recuperating Greer and his family were removed, the buildings levelled and Greer jailed.

The founder of Roger's Sugar Refinery and his wife - Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Tingley. Rogers - had a housewarming party at their mansion Gabriola on Davie Street. The information I read states that there is a restaurant there now but the one mentioned is not listed so I will check on that one day.

King George V and Queen Mary were Vancouver's first Royal Visit on September 30, 1901. At that time they were still the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and the young city really showed off for them. The future ruler of England and his wife even got to watch "a forest giant being cut up" when they visited the Hastings Sawmill.

The future city of North Vancouver was booming as well in 1901. A census recorded 365 people living there and it was described in the British Columbia Directory as a suburban townsite.

A five-day steamer service that travelled from Seattle to Skagway - with a stop in Vancouver - was inaugerated in 1901. The Vancouver Board of Trade put pressure on to make sure this service was undertaken.

On January 6, 1903 the Vancouver Business College opened with four students.

On March 10, 1903 the old Ross McLaren mill in Port Coquitlam saw new life. The Fraser River Sawmills Company was formed on that day and operated out of the old mill. The Fraser River Sawmills Company would grow to become the largest shipper of lumber in the British Empire. 

April 15, 1903 was the day that Union activist Frank Rogers was shot and killed on a Vancouver Street. Although someone was arrested for this crime, the suspect was acquitted in court later and the murder was never solved.

Summer of 1903 was when a cable suspension bridge was extended across the Capilano Canyon and replaced an earlier, rougher version. This was the start of the first commercial attraction in North Vancouver. (Just in case you aren't aware I am speaking of the Capilano Suspension Bridge which is a major tourist attraction today. Now I would visit there and write the history but I am terrified of suspension bridges. Maybe someday though.)

I was walking along Robson Street on Saturday and happened upon this vehicle.

I wonder how he or she drives this?

On August 26, 1903 the Art, Historical and Scientific Association created the Vancouver Museum.

On October 1 of the same year a Mr. W.S. Holland heard a disturbance around 3 am. He looked out to see what appeared to be a large dog chasing his chickens. So Holland shot the intruder and then went back to bed. The next morning Holland went out to find not only a few dead chickens but also a big, dead timber wolf. Holland lived at the corner of Burnaby and Cardero Streets. Even back then that was in the city.

On October 8, 1903 at the St. James Hall in Vancouver, a social center for sailors - the first Mission to Seamen - was established.

On November 3 a plan was established to get rid of the pesky crows in Vancouver. Although a by-law banned the discharging of firearms in Stanley Park officials said they would look the other way that day as the park was closed to the city and numerous hunters came out to bag one of the creatures and get paid a bounty. The crow had the last laugh though. Today, near the Willingdon exit on Highway 1 in Burnaby, from about 5,000 to 8,000 crows gather every day as dusk falls.

On a reinforcement wall along Commercial Drive there is a series of mosaics set in the wall. This is one that I really like.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, B.T. Rogers, Gabriola,Fraser River Sawmills CompanyKing Edward V,Vancouver Museum,history,