A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1901

By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives

Main Event: Carnegie says OK to a Library; Our First Royal Visit

Carnegie Library

Vancouver owes its first purpose-built public library to an American steelmaker and philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie of U.S. Steel financed the building of libraries around the world, primarily in the United States and Canada.

On Jan. 7, 1901, Vancouver lawyer Alfred Allayne Jones got city council’s blessing to ask the Burrard MP, the Rev. George Maxwell, to write to Carnegie and ask his assistance (the philanthropist had just given Seattle $200,000).

Carnegie responded promptly with an offer of a grant of $50,000 on condition that the city provide the land and commit $5,000 a year to the library’s maintenance and expansion. Done.

Arguments, naturally, arose about the location, but the corner of Westminster Avenue (Main Street) and Hastings was eventually chosen. Architect G.W. Grant designed the building, which opened in November 1903. The structure, to cost $40,000, would have a further $10,000 spent on its interior requirements. “Altogether,” the World said, “it will be a splendid addition to the architectural features of the city, and a building of which the citizens will be proud.” (Our fervent thanks to Andrew Martin of Special Collections, Vancouver Public Library, for his help in researching this story.)

The Carnegie building is an intensely-used community centre these days . . . and houses a small library, too.

Royal Visit

On September 30, 1901 Vancouver’s first royal visit began with the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (who would later become George V and Queen Mary). “The city,” wrote Eric Nicol in his history of Vancouver, “was gaily bedecked with flags and bunting, the display being the most spectacular the young city had ever seen. During the day the Duke and Duchess paid a visit to Stanley Park and to Hastings Mill, at which latter place they saw a forest giant being cut up.”

The Duchess wore a black armband in tribute to her mother, Queen Victoria, who had died January 22. Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII. (On October 13 a memorial “Queen Victoria window” was unveiled at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in the West End. That church is not the present one, which would replace the old building and open in 1905.)

Sara Ann McLagan

John McLagan, founder and editor of the Vancouver Daily World, died April 10, 1901 and his widow Sara Ann took over the newspaper’s reins. She became the first woman publisher of a daily newspaper in Canada. She was also managing editor, editorial writer, proof reader and occasional reporter. But she had shown her mettle in earlier days: she was the first woman telegrapher in BC, probably in Canada. She’d come here from Ireland in 1858, age 3. Her father taught her telegraphy. When she was 12 a major forest fire threatened their Matsqui home, but Sara tapped a message through to New Westminster and that brought help. At age 14 she took over the New Westminster telegraph station! She had married John McLagan in 1884.

Gabriola

Newspapers noted a large and elaborate home newly built for the B.T. Rogers family. (Benjamin Tingley Rogers owned the B.C. Sugar Refinery.) Called Gabriola, the house stood at the northwest corner of Davie and Nicola Streets. The Rogers’ held a housewarming July 23 at their new mansion. One of the notable features of the new house was an expensive new-fangled device called an “in-house telephone.” The buttons on that telephone allowed people in the home to call up “Mr. Rogers,” “Mrs. Rogers,” the “kitchen,” the “den,” the “billiard room” and so on. The mansion was home for several years to an attractive restaurant called Romano’s Macaroni Grill, which is now closed.

St. Paul’s Hospital

The Province reported on May 31 that St. Paul’s Hospital had had a busy year. It told us that the hospital had admitted 561 patients for the year, had discharged 506 of them, and still had 35 in beds. Some 25 patients had died, 11 of them within three days of entry. Catholics numbered 153, Protestants 383 and other religions 25. Males? 393. Females? 165. (The last two figures add up to 558, three short of the total. Hmm.) Fifty patients had been admitted with typhoid fever, and seven of them had died. The statistics go on for two long and detailed columns.

Mayor Townley

Mayors’ terms were still just one year long, and Thomas Owen Townley (born August 18, 1862 Newmarket, Ontario) got the nod this year. He was a lawyer, says John Mackie in a November 30, 1002 Sun story, who “campaigned on building up Vancouver’s shipbuilding and manufacturing industries, as well as building a new railroad to the Kootenays.” Mackie says a big issue at the time was whether the city’s numerous saloons should have earlier closing hours. Townley was supported by the saloon owners, who didn’t want the earlier hours, and even though the voters approved of the new rules in a plebiscite, they elected Townley anyway!

Up, Up and Away

Vancouver had been having an unbroken boom for more than a dozen years, with the railway bringing in new arrivals every day. The city’s population leaped from 13,709 in 1891 to 29,000 in 1901, more than double . . . and then it would really begin to explode.

Fragments

In January the CPR bought out the Canadian Pacific Navigation Co. That company had been organized in 1883 by Capt. John Irving of New Westminster. The company conducted passenger and freight steamship service on the Lower Fraser River (New Westminster to Yale) and between New Westminster, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island points.

On June 23, 1901 there was SNOW in South Vancouver! Repeat: June 23.

The Province reported August 9 that the city’s old jail building was falling apart and dangerous. Council recommended that pedestrians be advised to walk on the other side of the street. The building, however, would not be abandoned until 1904.

Ah, they don’t write ’em like they used to. On August 12 a Vancouver shop called Fit-Reform Wardrobe at 334 Hastings Street (no indication of West or East) ran a big newspaper ad titled Overcome With the Heat. It read: A stout gentleman walked into Fit-Reform Wardrobe and asked for a drink of water. Before the clerk had time to get it the gentleman almost fell over in a faint. When he revived he told the clerk that it was entirely his own fault. “Look here,” he said, “do you see that heavy tweed suit I am wearing? Any wonder my body became overheated? I will buy that nice striped flannel suit at $12.00. This false economy must quit right now. I intend to be cool, especially when the cost is so small.”

The 1901 census recorded 365 people living in North Vancouver, and the British Columbia Directory described the area as a “suburban townsite.”

This was a peak year for salmon. Forty-nine canneries were operating on the Lower Fraser, and nearly a million cases were packed this year.

The Moodyville Mill closed after being the largest single source of export income for B.C. for 20 years. It was cheaper to move the mill to the source of the logs than the other way around.

A five-day steamer service from Seattle to Skagway, with a stop at Vancouver, was inaugurated this year as a result of pressure from The Vancouver Board of Trade.

The antecedent of the Brock, Wolfe and Livingstone Schools, the Vancouver West School, was organized in 1901.

In 1901 the City Hospital became incorporated under the name of the Vancouver General Hospital.

CPR president Thomas Shaughnessy was knighted this year. He would become the first Baron Shaughnessy in 1916. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The W.H. Malkin Co. was founded this year, with its premises at 115 Water Street. “In those days, the water came right to the warehouse door.” Later they would move to #57.

A report showed that 16 per cent of Vancouver’s population was British this year. By 1911 it would be 34 per cent.

The Bank of British Columbia (not the present one) was absorbed by the Canadian Bank of Commerce.

Elsewhere

On September 6, 1901 anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot US President William McKinley. McKinley would die September 14.

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Chuck Davis is a Vancouver writer who has written, co-written, or edited 15 books. Most of them are on local history, and he describes his next book, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, as the capstone of his career.