Brewery Creek
c. 1919 The B.C. Electric car barns at the northwest corner of 14th and Main. This steel enforced structure stretched from Main to Quebec to accommodate 50 street cars on the roof. Inside, there were 9 tracks each with a pit the full length of the building to allow under-car service. This steel and concrete building has been transformed into the I.G.A. supermarket .
c. 1890 This snow-laden winter scene is of Westminster Road fnow Kingsway) looking northwest. The man on the sled has just crossed Brewery Creek and is about where Broadway & Kingsway currently meet. The large building on the right is the original Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church whereas the small conical-shaped roof to the left belongs to the Mount Pleasant bandstand .
C. 1922 This scene, at 10th & Main, has not changed much since the time of the photograph. The stone block building housing Hargreaves Realty, the Belvedere Apartments with its basement dance hall and the seven storey Lee Building were all erected between 1905 and 1912. Note the macadamized road with double street car tracks and the touring-car tin-lizzies.
Other breweries followed. In 1889 the San Francisco Brewery was built at the northwest corner of 11th and Main, on the banks of Brewery Creek. The Canadian Legion building is now located on this site. The Lion Brewery, at 1st and Scotia, got its water supply from a dam just above 2nd Avenue. The Stadler Brewery on 1st Avenue was in business before 1908. Near the site of St. Patrick's Parish building was the Vancouver Tannery, which also built a dam to secure a water supply.
Mount Pleasant is a very diverse and unique inner-city community. Its importance as an area within the inner-city core and its historical role of bridging the downtown to the rest of Vancouver cannot be disputed. Yet few people realize that Mt. Pleasant owes much of its origins to Brewery Creek, and, because of it, Mt. Pleasant developed much of its unique and rich character. The source of Brewery Creek was the 'Tea Swamp', a large boggy area that lay between 15th and 20th Avenues. The name Tea Swamp was derived from the wi Id Labrador Tea that grew there in profusion. Brewery Creek began at the corner of 15th and Sophia, the lowest level of the Tea Swamp. It flowed through the heart of Mt. Pleasant, crossing Wain Street twice and the intersection of Broadway and Kingsway on its way to False Creek (which then extended to Clark Drive) where Finning Tractor now stands at Brunswick. Several Indian trails crossed the area, and Brewery Creek provided for the Coast Salish Indians long before the arrival of the whiteman. The creek itself was a source of food, as it abounded with trout and salmon. Over the countless years Brewery Creek created a deep ravine, and a dam, supposedly built by beavers, slowed down its course at 14-th and Main.
Brewery Creek, so accurately named, in conjunction with the connecting routes of Main and Kingsway, became the centre of industry and commercialism for the district of Mt. Pleasant. By 1897 there had been a fairly large confIomeration of residences to house new workers, not by shortly after the turn of the century there was a teeming population growth centred on Broadway and Main. The industries of Brewery Creek and False Creek provided the draw for many working families that densely populated the area below Broadway. The one room False Creek School had been built in 1888 at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway. However, the growing population demanded a bigger school, and the new three-storey Mount Pleasant School was built in 1892 (where now stands Kingsgate Mall). To also serve the need, the first firehall south of False Creek Firehall No. 3 was built on Broadway one half block west of Main. The commercial section filled up with merchants and service industries. Streetcar service was improved, a streetcar terminal was built at 14th & Main in 1917 (the same structure is now used by the I.G.A), the main routes were paved with wooden blocks, the Broadway Theatre ran first-run films, and the first skyscraper, the Lee Building, was built in 1912. 'Uptown Vancouver' was well established as a prestigious suburb.
c. 1898 "Thomas Lobb's Carriage Works" was on the west side of Kingsway, between 7th Avenue and Broadway. The shop was built on the northwest bank of Brewery Creek where it crossed Kingsway. Shown here is the milk wagon of Samuel Garvin, as well as the first ambulance in Vancouver. The man in shirt sleeves is William R. Owen, Mayor Vancouver in 1921*.
Brewery Creek and False Creek were eventually filled in. The railway propelled the filling in of the False Creek Flats. Into the 1930s the Brewery Creek area changed drastically. The area below Broadway and west of Scotia began to develop into light manufacturing and dispensing warehouses. Of the many hundreds of homes there when it was residential, only a few dozen remain, as bulldozers razed the majority to make the area commercial and industrial.
The first bridge across False Creek was built in 1872 at the foot of the Westminster AvenueHill (now Main Street). It joined with the False Creek Trail that had been cut to New Westminster in 1864. Named "Westminster Road" this connection was renamed Kingsway in 1913. In 1910 "Westminster Ave." had been renamed Main Street and "9th Avenue" became Broadway. The names Broadway and Main were in keeping with the high aspirations held for the area.
Gone are the virgin hills, valleys and dense forests our pioneer fathers knew, leaving man-made dwellings bisected with asphalt and concrete motorways built to accommodate the seething mass of transportation we seem to want. The 8rewery Creek watershed has changed drastically over the past few decades; however, it has a very rich history of great importance to Vancouver, and the 'fabric' that it was helped shape the Mount Pleasant region. Although it is now a zone of transition, the area has a very rich mixture of buildings, people, land uses, industries and businesses, contributing to its unique character. The people of Mount Pleasant, and all Vancouverites, should pride themselves in the history of the Creek, and its identity should be better defined as the original centre of Mount Pleasant.
The first industry to uilize Brewery Creek was the Hastings Mill on Burrard Inlet. Requiring unlimited fresh water for the boilers, the mill dammed the creek in 1867 at 8th and Scotia and built a flume to transport the water two miles to the mill.
The Mount Pleasant Brewery Creek Urban Committee is a group of concerned residents that are interested in developing an awareness of Mount Pleasant's history by recognizing the importance of Brewery Creek.
In 1887-1888 two slaughterhouses were built on opposite banks of Brewery Creek where it entered False Creek. They dammed the creek just above 2nd Avenue to get a uniform water supply when needed. These buildings were demolished in 1904 as the Vancouver, Westminster & Yukon (later Great Northern) Railway established the second railway to enter the City of Vancouver, along the shore of False Creek on trestles over the swampy foreshore. A passenger station was erected at 1st and Main.
The Brewery Creek Urban Study will serve as an invaluable resource not only to those who would develop comprehensive urban planning that looks back a hundred years, to a time before any permanent settlement and the creek, but also ahead a hundred years when Vancouver will celebrate its second century.
Although many creeks emptied into False Creek, Brewery Creek was the most important in that it provided fresh water as an incentive for the location of industry and, therefore, the spread of Vancouver across False Creek.
c. I896 The Rosehill Nursery of Swain Sherdahl occupied all the land where Florence Nightingale School now stands. Sherdahl cleared the land in I892 and built a beautiful home on the corner of 12th and Kingsway; the site of the present day Biltmore Hotel. The nursery itself was called Rosehill because of its magnificent hilltop view.
c. 1927 The Fairview Confectionery with its Old Chum display stood on the northeast corner of Broadway & Main where the Bank of Montreal now stands. Several of the old wood frame stores still exist. Not shown, but just to the rear of the store, Brewery Creek crossed Broadway on its way to False Creek.
The creek attracted many breweries from 1888 to 1912, hence the name Brewery Creek. The first brewery was built in 1888 at 6th and Scotia; the Alexandra Brewery owned by Charles Doering. In 1892 the name was changed to Doering and Marstrand and a four-storey brewery was built at the corner of 7th and Scotia. Dfoering and Marstrand dammed Brewery Creek on Scotia Street between 7th and 8th Avenues and piped their water to a 40 ft. waterwheel that powered their grinding mill situated between 6th and 7th Avenues right on Scotia Street.
wewerj, Creek c. 1916 The first federal building south of False Creek was opened as Postal Station " C " on June 1, 1916, at the corner of 15th Avenue and Main. This "grand old dame", now restored as Heritage Hall, was designed to dominate the area and stimulate further commercial growth, which never did occur. Its profuse ornamentation, glass tile roof and mechanical clock still emanat* the aura of its time.
c. 1899 Pioneer A.H. Hatch built his hardware and paint store on the southwest corner of Broadway and Main, destined to be the commercial centre of Mount Pleasant. Note the plank sidewalks, the burned-out trees and the weed infested grass area common in the lifestyle of these Mount Pleasant pioneers. The Commerce Bank now occupies this corner.
BREWERY
CREEK
URBAN
COMMITTEE
Mt. Pleasant's
Brewery Creek Urban Study
COMPILED BY THE MT. PLEASANT PLANNING OFFICE & c. 1892 This photo shows the old Mount Pleasant School just completed on Broadway at Brunswick Street. This was the first section, as the school was doubled in size in about 1897, to accommodate the population growth. The tower in the distance is the tower of the old Firehall No. 3; just west of Main on Broadway. Kingsgate Mall now occupies the entire area of the school and its playgrounds.
c. 1913 This is the second railway station built in Vancouver; it shows the small white passenger station and freight buildings of the Great Northern Railway. The tracks on the right of the photo, looking northeast, still cross Main Street at its intersection with 1st Avenue to this day.
c. 1908 This ornate city market was built on the west side of Main Street, over False Creek, before the creek was filled in around 1920. At the rear was a large auction pier. A "McDonald's" is now on this site at the intersection of Main & Terminal.
c I889 This large horse barn was built by the Vancouver Railway Company to stable the many horses purchased to pull the street cars of their proposed horse-drawn system. It was just completed when the company changed to electricity and sold the barn to the Guerney Cab Company. The team of horses on the right are hitched to the glass enclosed hotel bus.
THE BREWERY CREEK COMMITTEE
OCTOBER,1985
c. 1912 Solid comfort in a steel bucket dump truck for easy unloading at the picnic site. Ledingham Construction, in business for 75 years in Mount Pleasant, displays the most modern work truck embodying hard rubber tires, rear wheel chain drive and right hand drive of the day.
c. 1905 A true pioneer, Mr. Berkman used massive tree stumps to fabricate a three room home (complete with doghouse). His process was to burn out both stumps leaving an 8" wall which he scraped down to the natural wood surface. The lower stump was his kitchen and the large stump was his living room, which, with the addition of a second storey, provided enough space for a bedroom.
MOUNT PLEASANT TODAY:
C. 1912 "Reserve a monumental marker for when in need" was the trademark of the Patterson £ Chandler display of granite and marble works at 16th and Main. Stone mason artisans produced works of polished art in figurines or cube form to suit every taste in commemoration to persevere into infinity.
FIREHALL NO. 5, Quebec at 12th Ave. used since as a firehall.
Built
in 1912 and
THE FR0NTENAC, 2649 Quebec, apartments built
F.W. W00LW0RTH CO. LTD. Built in 1912 to house a department store with apartments above. Occupied since 1929 by Woolworth's store.
ASHNOLA APARTMENTS, East 6th Ave. at Main. Edwardian Renaissance Revival style apartments built in 1912.
G0H BALLET ACADEMY, Main 4 8th Ave. Originally occupied by the Royal Bank, this building dates back to 1912.
BELVEDERE COURT, 2549 Main Street. ground floor shops built in 1905.
GORDON CAMPBELL BUILDING, East 2nd at Quebec. since 1915 as a clothing factory.
Apartments with
EVANGELISTIC TABERNACLE, Quebec and 10th Ave. Originally the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, this building dates back to 1909. It is a mix of Romanesque Revival and Late Gothic style architecture.
Occupied
HERITAGE HALL, Main at 15th Ave. A fine example of Beaux-Arts Architecture, this was the original Postal Station C built in 1916. Recently restored for use as a community hall, theatre and offices. I.G.A., Main at 14th. street car terminal.
Built
LEE BUILDING, Broadway and Main. Mount Pleasant's first skyscraper, this apartment building dates back to 1912.
in 1909.
ARCADIAN HALL, 2214 Main Street. One of Vancouver's last pioneer wood frame buildings. Built in 1905 as meeting hall for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Now used as a meeting and dance hall.
DOERING AND MARSTRAND BREWERY, East 6th at Scotia. Built as a brewery in the late 1800's, this building has since been used as the Fells Candy Factory, a meat packing plant, a glassworks factory, and now as a warehouse.
MOUNT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH, Quebec and 10th. TudorRevival style architecture, built in 1901 and still in use today. QUEBEC MANOR, Quebec 4 7th Ave. Previously known as the Mount Stephen Block, this apartment was built in 1912. WENONAH APARTMENTS, Main at 11th. Built in 1915 and used since for apartments with ground floor retail. WESTERN FRONT LODGE, East 8th at Scotia. A sample of Boomtown architecture, this was the original home of the Knights of Pythias built in 1922. 100 BLOCK WEST 10TH AVENUE. Early 1900 heritage homes renovated by the Davis family.
in 1917 as the B.C. Electric 400 BLOCK EAST 10TH AVENUE. Four classic woodframe homes built between 1908 and 1912.
LEDINGHAM HOUSE, East 8th Ave. at Brunswick. Built in 1905, this house is an example of Queen Anne style architecture.
c 1890 Brewmasters and staff of the Alexandra brewery (renamed Doering 6 Marstrand Brewery in 1892) quaff their own wares in a forest setting on the banks of Brewery Creek. Beer steins, barrels, guns, hunting dogs and stuffed falcon typify their penchant for the Austrian-German sporting homelife.
c. 1907 The I.O.O.F. Hall was an impressive structure dominating Main Street between 6th & 7th Avenues. The Hall was a centre of activity for all ages with its spacious dance floor and other community-related spaces. The building is now known as the Arcadian Hall. Structural interior finishes and the wood fascia remain almost the same today, retaining great historical value.
c. I898 This photograph of E. Trimble & Sons Central Meat Market, on the southwest corner of Broadway and Kingsway, displays not only the products but also the atmosphere of conditions prevalent at that time. Note the dirt roads and plank sidewalks. The two wheeled sulky delivery wagon was the normal method of commercial transportation. Just to the rear of the store, Brewery Creek crossed Broadway.
HISTORICAL BUILDINGS STILL STANDING
ALGONQUIN APARTMENTS, East 5th Ave. at Ontario. Built in 1906 and still in use today as apartments.
c. 1895 George Washington Jamieson, principal of Mount Pleasant School for over 20 years, built this beautiful home at the southeast corner of Brunswick and 7th Avenue. A model of profuse decoration, embodying a gable sunburst design, corner dentils, turned balustrades, decorative eave brackets and newell posts, this home is an example of residential architecture at its best.
c. 191^ Broadway Theatre, on the southeast corner of Broadway and Main, was the first modern theatre south of False Creek. The rear of the theatre, directly behind the entrance, was built over the ravine of then still active Brewery Creek, as massive piling was required for stability. This space is now a parking lot.
c. 1918 Christmas time in the Sanitary Market at 2513 Main Street, close to Broadway. Gastronomical delights are guaranteed to satisfy the most demanding appetites of the festive season. Surrounding the sanitary whites of the attendants are whole suckling pigs, whole beef, turkeys, chickens and sundries such as pickles in covered barrels and polished apples in crates. Even back then, could you ask for more?
c. 1908 In 1890 the first street cars came to Mount Heasant; as far south as 1st and Main. The line extended up the Main Street hill as far south as Broadway in 1891. The cars carried a sign stating that 'passengers will be carried up the hill without extra charge'. The fare was 5 cents.
c 1889 The Main Street slope looking north from the intersection of 7th Avenue, Kingsway S Main. This panoramic view shows how narrow the downtown peninsula actually was. In 1886 a canoe could paddle down Columbia Street, through Chinatown, to Burrard Inlet. All of the land below 5th Avenue and between Quebec and Cambie was a bog caused by run-off water and seepage at high tide. This photo shows the new Main Street Bridge built in 1888.
c. 1923 The west side of Main Street between 7th & 8th Avenues housed popular merchants serving Mount Pleasant. Calladine's Grocery was the largest food store on the hill, guaranteeing a supply of all provisions on the market. To Calladine's left is the stately Royal Bank and to its right, the pool hall where many a young man mis'spent his youth.
c 1908 Looking south on Main Street from its intersection with Kingsway. This shows the flat-iron shaped drygoods store with its chanticleer weather vane at the top of its cupola. The tower of the No. 3 Firehall stands watch over the burgeoning commercial district of Mount Pleasant. Note the B.C. Electric street car, complete with cow-catchers, travelling on the left-hand side of the street.
c. 1892 Fire Station No. 3 was the first firehall built south of False Creek; it was designed to protect the citizens flocking to Mount Pleasant. The horse drawn boiler wagon was actually the first steam pumper bought by the City following the great fire of 1886. Firemen lived upstairs, six days on duty, 2^ hours a day with one day off per week.
c. 1890 This snow-laden winter scene is of Westminster Road fnow Kingsway) looking northwest. The man on the sled has just crossed Brewery Creek and is about where Broadway & Kingsway currently meet. The large building on the right is the original Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church whereas the small conical-shaped roof to the left belongs to the Mount Pleasant bandstand .
C. 1922 This scene, at 10th & Main, has not changed much since the time of the photograph. The stone block building housing Hargreaves Realty, the Belvedere Apartments with its basement dance hall and the seven storey Lee Building were all erected between 1905 and 1912. Note the macadamized road with double street car tracks and the touring-car tin-lizzies.
Other breweries followed. In 1889 the San Francisco Brewery was built at the northwest corner of 11th and Main, on the banks of Brewery Creek. The Canadian Legion building is now located on this site. The Lion Brewery, at 1st and Scotia, got its water supply from a dam just above 2nd Avenue. The Stadler Brewery on 1st Avenue was in business before 1908. Near the site of St. Patrick's Parish building was the Vancouver Tannery, which also built a dam to secure a water supply.
Mount Pleasant is a very diverse and unique inner-city community. Its importance as an area within the inner-city core and its historical role of bridging the downtown to the rest of Vancouver cannot be disputed. Yet few people realize that Mt. Pleasant owes much of its origins to Brewery Creek, and, because of it, Mt. Pleasant developed much of its unique and rich character. The source of Brewery Creek was the 'Tea Swamp', a large boggy area that lay between 15th and 20th Avenues. The name Tea Swamp was derived from the wi Id Labrador Tea that grew there in profusion. Brewery Creek began at the corner of 15th and Sophia, the lowest level of the Tea Swamp. It flowed through the heart of Mt. Pleasant, crossing Wain Street twice and the intersection of Broadway and Kingsway on its way to False Creek (which then extended to Clark Drive) where Finning Tractor now stands at Brunswick. Several Indian trails crossed the area, and Brewery Creek provided for the Coast Salish Indians long before the arrival of the whiteman. The creek itself was a source of food, as it abounded with trout and salmon. Over the countless years Brewery Creek created a deep ravine, and a dam, supposedly built by beavers, slowed down its course at 14-th and Main.
Brewery Creek, so accurately named, in conjunction with the connecting routes of Main and Kingsway, became the centre of industry and commercialism for the district of Mt. Pleasant. By 1897 there had been a fairly large confIomeration of residences to house new workers, not by shortly after the turn of the century there was a teeming population growth centred on Broadway and Main. The industries of Brewery Creek and False Creek provided the draw for many working families that densely populated the area below Broadway. The one room False Creek School had been built in 1888 at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway. However, the growing population demanded a bigger school, and the new three-storey Mount Pleasant School was built in 1892 (where now stands Kingsgate Mall). To also serve the need, the first firehall south of False Creek Firehall No. 3 was built on Broadway one half block west of Main. The commercial section filled up with merchants and service industries. Streetcar service was improved, a streetcar terminal was built at 14th & Main in 1917 (the same structure is now used by the I.G.A), the main routes were paved with wooden blocks, the Broadway Theatre ran first-run films, and the first skyscraper, the Lee Building, was built in 1912. 'Uptown Vancouver' was well established as a prestigious suburb.
c. 1898 "Thomas Lobb's Carriage Works" was on the west side of Kingsway, between 7th Avenue and Broadway. The shop was built on the northwest bank of Brewery Creek where it crossed Kingsway. Shown here is the milk wagon of Samuel Garvin, as well as the first ambulance in Vancouver. The man in shirt sleeves is William R. Owen, Mayor Vancouver in 1921*.
Brewery Creek and False Creek were eventually filled in. The railway propelled the filling in of the False Creek Flats. Into the 1930s the Brewery Creek area changed drastically. The area below Broadway and west of Scotia began to develop into light manufacturing and dispensing warehouses. Of the many hundreds of homes there when it was residential, only a few dozen remain, as bulldozers razed the majority to make the area commercial and industrial.
The first bridge across False Creek was built in 1872 at the foot of the Westminster AvenueHill (now Main Street). It joined with the False Creek Trail that had been cut to New Westminster in 1864. Named "Westminster Road" this connection was renamed Kingsway in 1913. In 1910 "Westminster Ave." had been renamed Main Street and "9th Avenue" became Broadway. The names Broadway and Main were in keeping with the high aspirations held for the area.
Gone are the virgin hills, valleys and dense forests our pioneer fathers knew, leaving man-made dwellings bisected with asphalt and concrete motorways built to accommodate the seething mass of transportation we seem to want. The 8rewery Creek watershed has changed drastically over the past few decades; however, it has a very rich history of great importance to Vancouver, and the 'fabric' that it was helped shape the Mount Pleasant region. Although it is now a zone of transition, the area has a very rich mixture of buildings, people, land uses, industries and businesses, contributing to its unique character. The people of Mount Pleasant, and all Vancouverites, should pride themselves in the history of the Creek, and its identity should be better defined as the original centre of Mount Pleasant.
The first industry to uilize Brewery Creek was the Hastings Mill on Burrard Inlet. Requiring unlimited fresh water for the boilers, the mill dammed the creek in 1867 at 8th and Scotia and built a flume to transport the water two miles to the mill.
The Mount Pleasant Brewery Creek Urban Committee is a group of concerned residents that are interested in developing an awareness of Mount Pleasant's history by recognizing the importance of Brewery Creek.
In 1887-1888 two slaughterhouses were built on opposite banks of Brewery Creek where it entered False Creek. They dammed the creek just above 2nd Avenue to get a uniform water supply when needed. These buildings were demolished in 1904 as the Vancouver, Westminster & Yukon (later Great Northern) Railway established the second railway to enter the City of Vancouver, along the shore of False Creek on trestles over the swampy foreshore. A passenger station was erected at 1st and Main.
The Brewery Creek Urban Study will serve as an invaluable resource not only to those who would develop comprehensive urban planning that looks back a hundred years, to a time before any permanent settlement and the creek, but also ahead a hundred years when Vancouver will celebrate its second century.
Although many creeks emptied into False Creek, Brewery Creek was the most important in that it provided fresh water as an incentive for the location of industry and, therefore, the spread of Vancouver across False Creek.
c. I896 The Rosehill Nursery of Swain Sherdahl occupied all the land where Florence Nightingale School now stands. Sherdahl cleared the land in I892 and built a beautiful home on the corner of 12th and Kingsway; the site of the present day Biltmore Hotel. The nursery itself was called Rosehill because of its magnificent hilltop view.
c. 1927 The Fairview Confectionery with its Old Chum display stood on the northeast corner of Broadway & Main where the Bank of Montreal now stands. Several of the old wood frame stores still exist. Not shown, but just to the rear of the store, Brewery Creek crossed Broadway on its way to False Creek.
The creek attracted many breweries from 1888 to 1912, hence the name Brewery Creek. The first brewery was built in 1888 at 6th and Scotia; the Alexandra Brewery owned by Charles Doering. In 1892 the name was changed to Doering and Marstrand and a four-storey brewery was built at the corner of 7th and Scotia. Dfoering and Marstrand dammed Brewery Creek on Scotia Street between 7th and 8th Avenues and piped their water to a 40 ft. waterwheel that powered their grinding mill situated between 6th and 7th Avenues right on Scotia Street.
wewerj, Creek c. 1916 The first federal building south of False Creek was opened as Postal Station " C " on June 1, 1916, at the corner of 15th Avenue and Main. This "grand old dame", now restored as Heritage Hall, was designed to dominate the area and stimulate further commercial growth, which never did occur. Its profuse ornamentation, glass tile roof and mechanical clock still emanat* the aura of its time.
c. 1899 Pioneer A.H. Hatch built his hardware and paint store on the southwest corner of Broadway and Main, destined to be the commercial centre of Mount Pleasant. Note the plank sidewalks, the burned-out trees and the weed infested grass area common in the lifestyle of these Mount Pleasant pioneers. The Commerce Bank now occupies this corner.
BREWERY
CREEK
URBAN
COMMITTEE
Mt. Pleasant's
Brewery Creek Urban Study
COMPILED BY THE MT. PLEASANT PLANNING OFFICE & c. 1892 This photo shows the old Mount Pleasant School just completed on Broadway at Brunswick Street. This was the first section, as the school was doubled in size in about 1897, to accommodate the population growth. The tower in the distance is the tower of the old Firehall No. 3; just west of Main on Broadway. Kingsgate Mall now occupies the entire area of the school and its playgrounds.
c. 1913 This is the second railway station built in Vancouver; it shows the small white passenger station and freight buildings of the Great Northern Railway. The tracks on the right of the photo, looking northeast, still cross Main Street at its intersection with 1st Avenue to this day.
c. 1908 This ornate city market was built on the west side of Main Street, over False Creek, before the creek was filled in around 1920. At the rear was a large auction pier. A "McDonald's" is now on this site at the intersection of Main & Terminal.
c I889 This large horse barn was built by the Vancouver Railway Company to stable the many horses purchased to pull the street cars of their proposed horse-drawn system. It was just completed when the company changed to electricity and sold the barn to the Guerney Cab Company. The team of horses on the right are hitched to the glass enclosed hotel bus.
THE BREWERY CREEK COMMITTEE
OCTOBER,1985
c. 1912 Solid comfort in a steel bucket dump truck for easy unloading at the picnic site. Ledingham Construction, in business for 75 years in Mount Pleasant, displays the most modern work truck embodying hard rubber tires, rear wheel chain drive and right hand drive of the day.
c. 1905 A true pioneer, Mr. Berkman used massive tree stumps to fabricate a three room home (complete with doghouse). His process was to burn out both stumps leaving an 8" wall which he scraped down to the natural wood surface. The lower stump was his kitchen and the large stump was his living room, which, with the addition of a second storey, provided enough space for a bedroom.
MOUNT PLEASANT TODAY:
C. 1912 "Reserve a monumental marker for when in need" was the trademark of the Patterson £ Chandler display of granite and marble works at 16th and Main. Stone mason artisans produced works of polished art in figurines or cube form to suit every taste in commemoration to persevere into infinity.
FIREHALL NO. 5, Quebec at 12th Ave. used since as a firehall.
Built
in 1912 and
THE FR0NTENAC, 2649 Quebec, apartments built
F.W. W00LW0RTH CO. LTD. Built in 1912 to house a department store with apartments above. Occupied since 1929 by Woolworth's store.
ASHNOLA APARTMENTS, East 6th Ave. at Main. Edwardian Renaissance Revival style apartments built in 1912.
G0H BALLET ACADEMY, Main 4 8th Ave. Originally occupied by the Royal Bank, this building dates back to 1912.
BELVEDERE COURT, 2549 Main Street. ground floor shops built in 1905.
GORDON CAMPBELL BUILDING, East 2nd at Quebec. since 1915 as a clothing factory.
Apartments with
EVANGELISTIC TABERNACLE, Quebec and 10th Ave. Originally the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, this building dates back to 1909. It is a mix of Romanesque Revival and Late Gothic style architecture.
Occupied
HERITAGE HALL, Main at 15th Ave. A fine example of Beaux-Arts Architecture, this was the original Postal Station C built in 1916. Recently restored for use as a community hall, theatre and offices. I.G.A., Main at 14th. street car terminal.
Built
LEE BUILDING, Broadway and Main. Mount Pleasant's first skyscraper, this apartment building dates back to 1912.
in 1909.
ARCADIAN HALL, 2214 Main Street. One of Vancouver's last pioneer wood frame buildings. Built in 1905 as meeting hall for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Now used as a meeting and dance hall.
DOERING AND MARSTRAND BREWERY, East 6th at Scotia. Built as a brewery in the late 1800's, this building has since been used as the Fells Candy Factory, a meat packing plant, a glassworks factory, and now as a warehouse.
MOUNT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH, Quebec and 10th. TudorRevival style architecture, built in 1901 and still in use today. QUEBEC MANOR, Quebec 4 7th Ave. Previously known as the Mount Stephen Block, this apartment was built in 1912. WENONAH APARTMENTS, Main at 11th. Built in 1915 and used since for apartments with ground floor retail. WESTERN FRONT LODGE, East 8th at Scotia. A sample of Boomtown architecture, this was the original home of the Knights of Pythias built in 1922. 100 BLOCK WEST 10TH AVENUE. Early 1900 heritage homes renovated by the Davis family.
in 1917 as the B.C. Electric 400 BLOCK EAST 10TH AVENUE. Four classic woodframe homes built between 1908 and 1912.
LEDINGHAM HOUSE, East 8th Ave. at Brunswick. Built in 1905, this house is an example of Queen Anne style architecture.
c 1890 Brewmasters and staff of the Alexandra brewery (renamed Doering 6 Marstrand Brewery in 1892) quaff their own wares in a forest setting on the banks of Brewery Creek. Beer steins, barrels, guns, hunting dogs and stuffed falcon typify their penchant for the Austrian-German sporting homelife.
c. 1907 The I.O.O.F. Hall was an impressive structure dominating Main Street between 6th & 7th Avenues. The Hall was a centre of activity for all ages with its spacious dance floor and other community-related spaces. The building is now known as the Arcadian Hall. Structural interior finishes and the wood fascia remain almost the same today, retaining great historical value.
c. I898 This photograph of E. Trimble & Sons Central Meat Market, on the southwest corner of Broadway and Kingsway, displays not only the products but also the atmosphere of conditions prevalent at that time. Note the dirt roads and plank sidewalks. The two wheeled sulky delivery wagon was the normal method of commercial transportation. Just to the rear of the store, Brewery Creek crossed Broadway.
HISTORICAL BUILDINGS STILL STANDING
ALGONQUIN APARTMENTS, East 5th Ave. at Ontario. Built in 1906 and still in use today as apartments.
c. 1895 George Washington Jamieson, principal of Mount Pleasant School for over 20 years, built this beautiful home at the southeast corner of Brunswick and 7th Avenue. A model of profuse decoration, embodying a gable sunburst design, corner dentils, turned balustrades, decorative eave brackets and newell posts, this home is an example of residential architecture at its best.
c. 191^ Broadway Theatre, on the southeast corner of Broadway and Main, was the first modern theatre south of False Creek. The rear of the theatre, directly behind the entrance, was built over the ravine of then still active Brewery Creek, as massive piling was required for stability. This space is now a parking lot.
c. 1918 Christmas time in the Sanitary Market at 2513 Main Street, close to Broadway. Gastronomical delights are guaranteed to satisfy the most demanding appetites of the festive season. Surrounding the sanitary whites of the attendants are whole suckling pigs, whole beef, turkeys, chickens and sundries such as pickles in covered barrels and polished apples in crates. Even back then, could you ask for more?
c. 1908 In 1890 the first street cars came to Mount Heasant; as far south as 1st and Main. The line extended up the Main Street hill as far south as Broadway in 1891. The cars carried a sign stating that 'passengers will be carried up the hill without extra charge'. The fare was 5 cents.
c 1889 The Main Street slope looking north from the intersection of 7th Avenue, Kingsway S Main. This panoramic view shows how narrow the downtown peninsula actually was. In 1886 a canoe could paddle down Columbia Street, through Chinatown, to Burrard Inlet. All of the land below 5th Avenue and between Quebec and Cambie was a bog caused by run-off water and seepage at high tide. This photo shows the new Main Street Bridge built in 1888.
c. 1923 The west side of Main Street between 7th & 8th Avenues housed popular merchants serving Mount Pleasant. Calladine's Grocery was the largest food store on the hill, guaranteeing a supply of all provisions on the market. To Calladine's left is the stately Royal Bank and to its right, the pool hall where many a young man mis'spent his youth.
c 1908 Looking south on Main Street from its intersection with Kingsway. This shows the flat-iron shaped drygoods store with its chanticleer weather vane at the top of its cupola. The tower of the No. 3 Firehall stands watch over the burgeoning commercial district of Mount Pleasant. Note the B.C. Electric street car, complete with cow-catchers, travelling on the left-hand side of the street.
c. 1892 Fire Station No. 3 was the first firehall built south of False Creek; it was designed to protect the citizens flocking to Mount Pleasant. The horse drawn boiler wagon was actually the first steam pumper bought by the City following the great fire of 1886. Firemen lived upstairs, six days on duty, 2^ hours a day with one day off per week.
