December 2022 – vanalogue

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24 – Doll Hospital

December 24, 2022

It’s back! I has been 3 years since I published my last Local History Advent Calendar! So much has happened since that last time—including the publication of my first book, Mount Pleasant Stories—that I figured it was about time to dust off the Local History Advent Calendar once again. Similar to a regular advent calendar but instead of chocolate treats, each day you “open” a new historical treat. Think of them as holiday cocktail party fodder– 24 facts or stories about local history that can be used as conversation starters at your next social event.

Vancouver was home to Western Canada’s first Doll Hospital—during the time when we repaired broken items instead of just throwing them out and buying new.

George Coe was a partner in the pioneering chinaware and toy shop business, Millar & Coe founded in 1912. After selling out to his partner, Miller in 1925, Coe opened his “Dolls’ Hospital” at 195 East Hastings.

“Dr. Coe” with one of his patients. Province Newspaper, December 14, 1942

Coe’s foray into chief surgeon at his own Dolls’ Hospital started with a rather unconventional Christmas window idea for Millar & Coe described in this December 14, 1942 Province newspaper clipping:

Christmas time was an extremely brisk time. Dolls of in various states of “brokeness” would be “admitted” to Coe’s doll hospital.

The Province, Nov 12 1955 photo by Villy Svarre.

After Coe died in 1948, there was a void that needed to be filled. Enter, the Sirmuls and their Doll Hospital at 2241 Main Street. Mrs. Vera Sirmul, along with her husband, not only “cured” dolls but created new ones too. The Sirmuls once owned a doll factory in their native Latvia. When the Soviets took control of Latvia after WW2, their factory became “nationalized”. The Sirmuls escaped and came to Canada.

Like Coe, the Sirmul’s busiest time was during the Christmas season. The rush carried on into the spring “when the larger department stores [sent] in dozens of patients who became “sick” before their guarantee expired.”

The Doll Hospital made quite an impression on the children of Mount Pleasant in the 1950s. Several former residents recall the rather creepy sight of dismembered doll parts through the front window.

You can read more Mount Pleasant stories in my walking tour book, Mount Pleasant Stories. Copies are available for purchase in Mount Pleasant at Pulpfiction Books – 2422 Main Street and in Chinatown at Massy Books – 229 E Georgia St. It makes a great gift or stocking stuffer for your favourite local history buff!

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 23 – William H. H. Johnson

December 23, 2022

William H. H. Johnson (1839-1905?) was an early Black settler in Mount Pleasant; who is notable for writing the first slave narrative published by a British Columbian. Johnson wrote –‘The Horrors of Slavery‘ (1901) and ‘The Life of Wm. H.H. Johnson from 1839-1900, and the New Race‘ (1904) – while living in Mount Pleasant.

Born in Indiana, Johnson was the son of a fugitive slave mother and a free father. During his youth, his family were “station masters”of the Underground Railroad in Indiana, helping Blacks escape to freedom in Canada. Fearing for their own safety, Johnson’s family ultimately fled to Ontario. Johnson writes, “I was born a slave in a free state, but was never one in practice; while we were very young my father brought his wife and children to Canada to prevent that.”

Johnson arrived in Vancouver with his wife Fannie in September 1890:

“Shortly after my arrival in this city I secured a location, on which to build a house, on 14th Avenue, Mount Pleasant which was then comparatively a wilderness, though in every other way a charming location. My wife was well pleased with the change, especially as regards the climate, the winters here being much milder than in Ontario. We found the people in Vancouver very friendly, and in fact I cannot say that I have ever lived among a more sociable set than in this city… After clearing a couple of lots I erected a shop and started the manufacture of varnish.” – The Life of Wm. H.H. Johnson from 1839-1900, and the New Race (1904)

1896 Vancouver City Directory listing for William H H Johnson, varnish maker

Portion of Goads 1897 (revised to 1901) Fire Insurance Plan showing Johnson’s Varnish Works.

After Johnson’s wife Fannie died in 1897, he invited Henry Harvey, an expressman for the CPR, and his wife Pheby to live with him in his house on East 14th. Also living with Johnson, for a time, are Caribbean-born varnish maker Charles R. Greenway and his wife Florence.

Mysteriously, William H.H. Johnson disappears from all records by 1905; it is believed that he died that year.

You can read this and other Mount Pleasant stories in my walking tour book, Mount Pleasant Stories. Copies are available for purchase in Mount Pleasant at Pulpfiction Books – 2422 Main Street and in Chinatown at Massy Books – 229 E Georgia St. It makes a great gift or stocking stuffer for your favourite local history buff!

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 22 – Native Education College

December 22, 2022

The Native Education College’s impressive structure, based on traditional Coast Salish architecture, serves as a tangible reminder that Indigenous people are the first people of these lands.

NEC building in background. Granite History marker SE corner 5th and Scotia. Photo: C.Hagemoen

Established in 1967, the Native Education Centre (NEC), now the Native Education College, began as a project to meet the educational needs of Vancouver’s growing urban Indigenous population and to provide “Indigenous learners with the academic and life skills to secure employment and improve their quality of life”. The College was established under the leadership and direction of Ray Collins from the Department of Indian Affairs and local Indigenous leaders like Gertrude Guerin. In 1979, the NEC became a private post-secondary college operated and controlled by BC First Nations.

The college’s purpose-built campus opened in 1985 at East 5th and Scotia. Prior to the construction of the campus 285 East 5th, the NEC was operating out of a small space at 224 West Broadway. The NEC’s post-and-beam longhouse was designed by Vancouver architect Larry McFarland, assisted by building designer Malcom McSporran. The building’s largest beams are made from first growth Douglas Fir.

Raising the pole, 1985, courtesy Native Education College.

The 42-foot totem pole on the east side of the building was carved by renowned Nisga’a master carver Norman Tait (1941-2016). Named Wil Sayt Bakwhlgat, which means “the place where the people gather”, Tait designed the pole to illustrate a Nisga’a myth about the origin of forest, water, and sky animals. The totem pole’s traditional doorway carved into the base serves as the longhouse’s ceremonial entrance.

The NEC celebrated its 55th anniversary this year.

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 21 – Brewery Creek Building

December 21, 2022

Brewery Creek Cairn with Brewery Creek Building in background. Photo: C. Hagemoen

A rare existing example of an industrial building from Mount Pleasant’s past, this circa 1904 stone and brick structure was originally built as part of an expansion of Vancouver Breweries Ltd. operations.

A building permit was issued to the brewery in October 1903 for an $8,000 brick and stone building to be erected on the corner of Scotia Street & East 6th Avenue. Daily Province newspaper articles from 1903 reveal that the new two-storey building featured a bottle-washing room equipped with automatic electric machinery and was constructed for use as a storage cellar for ageing ale.

Detail of 1956 Fire Insurance Plan Vol. 3, sheet 341

After the building ceased its brewery function it became the home to a variety of businesses over the next several decades including: confectioner Benjamin F. Fell’s Candy Factory (you can still see the hand painted Fell’s Candy Factory sign on the East 6th Avenue facade), Purity Dairy, Vancouver Creamery, Canada Grease Works, and a stucco manufacturing plant to make bottle-dash stucco. The building was converted into artist live-work spaces in 1993.

The building in 1978 before renovations. Photo: CoV Archives, CVA 791-0113.

In 1998, a TV “docu-soap” called Brewery Creek , which followed the lives of residents of the Brewery Creek condos for two months, including one time resident, singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan aired on CBC.

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 20 – Mason Block

December 20, 2022

The Mason Block under construction in 1907. Photo: COV Archives, Dist P142

The Mason Block (2603 Main Street), named for owner W.H. Mason, was built from 1906 to 1907 and is an early example of mixed-use architecture. A building permit for the property was issued in 1906 for “cement stores and dwellings” at a cost of $10,000. Like the Hanna Block (Day 1, LHAC) it is constructed of reinforced concrete and cast concrete blocks, one of the first in the city. The Mason Block was built over the Brewery Creek ravine just like the Wenonah Building at 11th and Main was. In addition to the ground floor commercial space with apartments above, the building includes three 2-storey townhouses along 10th Avenue, all with private front and rear entrances – probably the city’s first set of concrete condominiums.

Mason Block in 1992. Mount Pleasant Credit Union is located on corner. Photo: CoV Archives CVA 332-27

During the construction of the Mason Block there was a terrible accident that resulted in the death of one of the construction workers. In November 1906, carpenter Edward W. Walsh was nailing a board beneath some scaffolding holding two men when it suddenly gave way, crushing Walsh beneath it. When he was extracted from the debris it was discovered he had broken his back, Walsh died later that day in hospital. Ed and Elizabeth Walsh, along with their children, had only recently moved to Mount Pleasant, residing at 2724 Westminster Avenue (Main Street). One of the men on the scaffolding was building owner W H. Mason. He suffered only minor injuries.

Mason Block housing along E 10th. Photo: C. Hagemoen

You can find more Mount Pleasant stories in my walking tour book, Mount Pleasant Stories. Copies are available for purchase in Mount Pleasant at Pulpfiction Books – 2422 Main Street and in Chinatown at Massy Books – 229 E Georgia St. It makes a great gift or stocking stuffer for your favourite local history buff!

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 19 – Tea Swamp

December 19, 2022

“Thousands of salmon trout, following an unerring instinct, which impels them at this season of the year to ascend the small streams in order to spawn, are now choking the waters of Brewery Creek, a small stream in Mount Pleasant. The fish, after entering False Creek from English Bay, make a beeline for Brewery Creek, which winds its way from the height of land in the woods in South Vancouver.”

The Province, November 23, 1905

Contour plan of District Lot 200A (part of Mount Pleasant) showing Brewery Creek. Source: CoV Archives Map 690

Mount Pleasant is the only neighbourhood in Vancouver that developed around a creek. Brewery Creek flowed from its source under Mountain View cemetery to the eastern end of False Creek. Early settlers established industries–tanneries, slaughterhouses, and several breweries–along its ravine.

For over 10,000 years the waters and lands of Mount Pleasant were places of natural abundance for Indigenous people. The area was primarily a dense rainforest of first growth fir, cedar, and hemlock, traversed by an ancient Indigenous and animal trail that would evolve to become Kingsway. Salal and other berry bushes grew in the sunny edges of the coniferous forest. The creeks that flowed through the area held trout and spawning salmon and were an important source of freshwater. Beaver built dams along the creeks, creating marshes that allowed plants like Labrador tea to thrive.

Block 396 is the location of today’s Tea Swamp Park 1905, MAP 625, Plate 131, CoV Archives.

Early settlers called the wetlands from today’s 22nd to 15th Avenues east of Main Street to Fraser Street the “Tea Swamp”, after the Labrador tea plant that grew here in abundance. Also known as “swamp tea”, the plant’s leaves were used medicinally by Indigenous people and by early settlers to make tea. It is believed that this tea helps with respiratory problems. Today, you can try Swamp Tea (and other indigenous plant medicines) through Raven & Hummingbird tea Co., a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) owned, indigenous herbal tea company, run by the mother daughter duo Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss.

Evidence of this former wetlands is still seen today in the area’s heaved streets and buckled sidewalks of the area.

Tea Swamp Park was established in 1985.

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 18 – Mortimers in Mount Pleasant

December 18, 2022

1912 Fire Insurance Plan showing the Mortimer house on the SE corner of 3rd (Lorne) and Ontario.

Around 1909, widow Lucretia Mortimer and her 7 children moved from their home in Strathcona to Mount Pleasant. They lived in a house located at 6 East 3rd (then called Lorne Street) until around 1914. Lucretia (nee) Alexander was the daughter of Charles and Nancy Alexander, original Black pioneers who came to British Columbia in 1858 following a call for colonists from Sir James Douglas.

The Alexanders settled in Victoria and played an influential role in shaping community life in Victoria and Saanich in the mid-to late-1800s. Their daughter Lucretia (born 1861 in Victoria) married William E. Mortimer in 1887 in New Westminster. Originally from the Bahamas, Mortimer was a “restaurant keeper” or cook in New Westminster.

1911 Canada Census enumerating Lucretia Mortimer as head of household along with her family and lodgers – 15 people living in the home.

Their eldest son, Ebenezer (Ab) Alexander Mortimer (1889-1969) was a local baseball player, coach & umpire. Born in New Westminster he worked as a longshoreman and played with the I.L.A. [International Longshoreman’s Association] team (w/ teammate Eddie Nahanee) against the Asahi’s, C.P.R., & Sprott-Shaw in the Van City League. He was the top hitter avg .400. The I.L.A. Baseball Team were City League Champions in 1920.

The I.L.A. Baseball Team were City League Champions in 1920. Photo: Stuart Thomson, CVA 99 – 3234

Mortimer was also a veteran of WW1 & WW2 and is a member of the Vancouver Baseball Hall of Fame. .https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/mortimer/

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 17 – Heritage Hall

December 17, 2022

_{1917 view of Postal Station C, aka Heritage Hall. Photo: Stuart Thomson, COV Archives, CVA 99-356}

Heritage Hall is a grand landmark building, standing nobly on the rise from Broadway. The federal government purchased the land as the location for the future Postal Station ‘C’ in 1912. At that time local boosters believed that Mount Pleasant would become a bustling commercial centre. But it never happened.

Postal Station ‘C’, designed by A. Campbell Hope, with David Ewart as chief architect, was completed in 1916. The ornate Edwardian style building was built using local stone from Haddington and Denman Islands. The impressive bell in the clock tower was built by the J. B. Joyce & Company Ltd of Whitchurch, England (makers of London’s Big Ben).

_{Heritage Hall in 2022 after extensive renovations. Photo: C. Hagemoen}

For seven decades the building contained various federal government offices. It served as a postal station from 1916 to 1922. From 1922 to 1962, it was known as the Dominion Agriculture Building. After that, the building housed the RCMP Forensic Lab and Criminal Records Section from 1965 to 1976.

The building stood vacant for 7 years and was allowed to fall into disuse before an alliance of community groups stepped in to save the structure. In March 1982, a non-profit organization named the Main Source Management Society was formed to restore the building and re-open it as a community and cultural centre. Today, under City ownership, the designated heritage structure continues to serve as a gathering place, office space for community organizations (like the Mount Pleasant BIA & Vancouver Heritage Foundation), and historic landmark for the community.

Extensive exterior renovation of Heritage Hall was funded by the City of Vancouver in 2020/21, the clock-tower was seismically upgraded, the clock refurbished and an automatic winder was installed (from 9am to 9pm you can hear the clock bell chime on the hour). In addition, a new tile roof with grey slate from Quebec was installed and the decorative copper was entirely replaced with stunning new copper forged in Chicago.

_{The COV Heritage Plaque on the exterior. Photo: C.Hagemoen}

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 16 – DePencier House

December 16, 2022

DePencier house in 1940. Photo: CoV Archives, CVA 136-524

This Victorian house originally sat facing Main Street (then Westminster Avenue) and is one of the oldest remaining houses in Mount Pleasant.

It was built in 1889 for early Mount Pleasant settlers, Henry (d. 1909) and Mary (d. 1896) DePencier, who lived here with their children and a domestic servant named Sarah Lowe. Henry DePencier was a grocery retailer whose store was located next door to his home. Giving up the retail trade, DePencier later worked as manager for North Pacific Lumber Co. and briefly, in 1891, a City of Vancouver councillor.

This structure was shifted to its present location (151 East 8th Ave) to make room for the construction of the Royal Bank in 1912. In addition to being a residential property (upstairs), a variety of businesses have occupied the ground floor–including the production facility for Mount Pleasant’s iconic Bain’s Chocolates’. Every day Campbell Munro would get up at 5 AM to make chocolates here for his Triangle Building store. He could be seen crossing Main Street at 8th balancing trays of chocolates in his arms. Munro died in 2004 at the age of 94 after over 66 years as proprietor of Bain’s Chocolates.

DePencier House from inside the old Nice Cafe ca. 2018. Photo: C. Hagemoen

In the 1930s-50s, Broadway Printers and the Mount Pleasant News were operating out of the converted house. More recently several restaurants have taken up the main tenancy, including Wink Vegetarian Café, Eight 1/2 (operated by another Vancouver councillor, Mike Wiebe), and since 2020, Side Hustle Sandwiches. Sadly, it was just announced that Side Hustle will be closing in January 2023.

The tiny storefront (155 East 8th) attached to DePencier house is the home of Dandy Barber since 2017.

Side Hustle’s original take out window May 2020. Photo: C. Hagemoen

You can find this and other Mount Pleasant stories in my walking tour book, Mount Pleasant Stories. Copies are available for purchase in Mount Pleasant at Pulpfiction Books – 2422 Main Street and in Chinatown at Massy Books – 229 E Georgia St. It makes a great gift or stocking stuffer for your favourite local history buff!

Local History Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 15 – Sing Kee & Wo Lung Quong Laundries

December 15, 2022

1912 Fire Insurance Plan, the two laundry buildings are circled. Notice how close they were to Vancouver Breweries and Brewery Creek. CoV Archives.

Around 1911 two Chinese Canadian laundry businesses were established on the 200 block of East 6th Avenue. Historical building permits show that Chin Mah had a “Chinese Laundry” designed by architect Edward E. Blackmore built at 263 East 6th for $2000 while Toy Loy Wong made additions and alterations to an existing wood frame building at 251 East 6th for a laundry. They were among the twelve Chinese-run laundries operating in Mount Pleasant circa 1912. Sing Kee (Sing Gee) Laundry was located at 263 East 6th and Yee Lee Laundry (later Wo Lung Quong Laundry) was at 251 East 6th.

Early Chinese immigrants, faced with systematic discrimination in Canada, often had little choice but to create their own economic niche. Many of Canada’s predominantly male Chinese immigrants chose laundry work.

The 1921 Canada Census shows that 45-year-old “Gee Sing” was renting the building at 263 East 6th for his laundry business. Also living and working on the premises were his two teenage sons, a cousin, and three roomers–all males. Racist laws such as the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 & 1923 first limited and later prevented immigration from China, meaning families were torn apart. Many men were forced to live as bachelors.

200 Block E6th north side, Fire Insurance Plan, Vol. 3, 1930, sheet 341, CoV Archives

Quong Wo Lung Laundry was in operation until around 1930, while Sing Kee Laundry operated until about 1972, making it one of Vancouver’s last and longest operating independent Chinese-Canadian laundry businesses.

vanalogue

celebrating the analogue in this digital world

Month: December 2022