Street Names of Vancouver Elizabeth Walker

Book Reviews IOJ Street Names of Vancouver Elizabeth Walker Vancouver: Vancouver Historical Society, 1999.147 pp. Illus., maps. $24.95 paper, (VHS, PO BOX 3071, Vancouver V6B 3X6) BY G.P.V. AKRIGG Emeritus, University of British Columbia or years Elizabeth Walker be applied in alphabetical order. The worked in the Special Col result has been that generations of F lections Division of the newcomers to Vancouver have had to Vancouver Public Library. Her duties torture themselves trying to remember there included responding to en which streets come after which, that quiries, many of which concerned the Spruce Street comes before Oak, origin of various Vancouver street which comes before Laurel, Willow, names. Gradually she built up a fund Heather, and Ash. of relevant information. Then came For years Walker was a familiar sight retirement, and research into street- as she travelled around Vancouver with name history became her full-time a bag filled with index cards and other occupation. A curtain-raiser to pub scholarly impedimenta, possibly en lication of her findings was a brief route to the Land Registry Office in article on Kitsilano street names, co- New Westminster or the City Sur authored with Peggy Imredy. Now veyor's Office in Vancouver, the comes the final achievement, Elizabeth Vancouver City Archives, or those of Walker's own Street Names ofVancouver, the University of British Columbia. a monumental work covering the en City directories and lists of deaths tire City of Vancouver, with its 773 became her common fare. Ever more current street names (to which Walker deeply she became versed in "dedi has added another 400 no longer in use). cated" roads (those on city property) The person who played the greatest and the more romantic names that role in naming Vancouver's streets was real-estate developers used to entice Lachlan Alexander Hamilton (1852- purchasers to their new subdivisons. 1944), the Canadian Pacific Railway (The developers of Ashleigh Heights, (CPR) surveyor who, in two short years, wanting names "with a soft elegant made detailed plans for much of the sound - associated with history in a CPR'S new terminus. Water Street, sophisticated manner," named streets Cordova Street, and Hastings Street after Brahms, Handel, Strauss, and he laid out to lead in to Granville Street, Vivaldi, while Imperial Ventures which ended at the new CPR station. Limited chose Spyglass Place and For the West End he took names off Wheelhouse Square for their False an Admiralty chart. For Fairview he Creek development.) took the names of trees, supplying his Delving deep into council minutes draftsman with such names as Alder, or files of municipal or personal Birch, and Cedar but apparently for correspondence, Ms. Walker sought getting to tell him that they were to information about street names long I04 BC STUDIES since superseded, rescinded, or applied Walker, as she clearly indicates, has to other thoroughfares. In so doing she not been without helpers in her enor has created a major research instrument mous project. Noel Petes, Vancouver's for those interested in the minutiae of city surveyor, and his staff have helped Vancouver history. Thus if one had a her to locate needed documents, while letter written in 1909 by one's grand Bruce Macdonald has, among other father from an address on "Clifford things, prepared the useful maps in Street," which simply does not exist cluded in this book. on today's maps of Vancouver, all one In a book covering a field as ex needs to do is to turn to Walker (24): tensive as this one, a few slips are more or less inevitable. Walker's book is CLIFFORD STREET (DL generally clear of errors. However, in 301). Now East 14th Avenue the next edition the editor should give between Main and Prince the correct title of the noble lord who Edward Streets. Shown on Plan is remembered for Granville Street. 187 (1885), the owner, H.V. He was Earl Granville, not "the Earl Edmonds, named it after his of Granville." The present reviewer daughter, Mary Gifford occasionally had to read closely to Edmonds, who married CM. determine whether a particular name Marpole. It was entered in the is current or not. It would help if, in Land Registry Office as Clifford the next edition, names that are only rather than Gifford. When DL of historical interest were printed in a 301 was absorbed by Vancouver distinctive font, such as Gothic or Old in 1911, it became part of East English. 14th Avenue. It remains only to congratulate It will readily be seen, with entries as Elizabeth Walker on having carried precise and detailed as this, that Street through her project to such a suc Names of Vancouver will prove in cessful conclusion. Street Names of valuable to local historians. Vancouver is not only an authoritative Of course, even Walker's sleuthing reference work to be ordered by public skills and industry have not been able and school libraries, but one that to determine the origins of all anybody who is interested Vancouver Vancouver's street names. The field history will want for his/her shelf of remains open for those who want to Vancouver books. tackle Adera Street or Avery Avenue. .

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