History & Heritage
History
Prior to 1890, this area had a significant wildlife population, but only
a handful of residents.
Ducks, geese, cougars and black bears all made their homes near lakes
that no longer exist; Moody Lake, where the SkyTrain line is today, and
three smaller beaver-built lakes, where Grandview Highway now runs.
The earliest non-native settler was George Wales. In 1878, Wales bought
221 acres (89.4 hectares) of land bounded by Wales Street, Kingsway and
45th Avenue. Today, the street on which his house stood still bears the
family name.
In 1891, the inter-urban railway tram brought new people to the area.
The electric railway, the first of its kind in Canada, connected Downtown
Vancouver and New Westminster. Many of the early houses and stores were
built near the Collingwood East Tram Station, at Vanness Avenue and Joyce
Street.
By most accounts, the name Collingwood originated with some of the principals
from the Tramway company who had previously resided in Collingwood, Ontario.
Then, as now, the area was frequently coupled with its neighbour to the
north, Renfrew.
After the area was cleared, people settled along Westminster Road (Kingsway)
west of Boundary Road. Philip Oben opened the first store in the area
near Central Park, and Peter Dubois held the first Collingwood school
class in his vacant store in 1895.
In 1896, what is now the oldest school in Vancouver, was built. The two-room
Vancouver East School accommodated all 30 Collingwood students. The school
was the source of great community pride and many of the area's streets
were named after the families of the school's first students. Battison
Road is named after the Battison brothers, while Earles Road is named
after Florence Earle. Joyce Road is named after the first school board
secretary, A. Joyce, while Vivian Road is named in honour of the first
child born in the area, Jennie Vivian, born in 1892. In 1908 the name
of the school changed to Collingwood Heights. It changed once again in
1911 to Sir Guy Carleton.
By 1913, Collingwood was home to a grocery store, a branch of the Bank
of Vancouver, a butcher shop, a Methodist Church, and a doctor (F. J.
Buller). Westminster Road was paved and renamed Kingsway, and the streetcar
system between Victoria Drive and Earles Street was extended to Joyce
Street. This, along with a new bus system eventually led to a decline
in the ridership of the inter-urban tram, and encouraged businesses to
grow in the district around Kingsway and Joyce.
This development, and the amalgamation of the Municipality of South Vancouver
with Vancouver in 1929, eventually led the community to change from being
semi-agricultural to a residential suburb.
Although the interurban closed in 1954 after 63 years, its legacy lives
on. In 1986, construction of the SkyTrain route along the old interurban
route spurred the development of lowrise and highrise apartments near
station stops, just as the interurban had done so many years before.
Heritage
Carleton Elementary School
Few buildings remain in Renfrew-Collingwood from its early days.
One of the oldest is Carleton Elementary School, at the southwest corner
of Kingsway and Joyce. The school was part of the heart and soul of Collingwood
from 1896. The school site includes Vancouver's only example of a one-room
schoolhouse, the earliest existing example of a two-room schoolhouse,
a larger two-storey Edwardian style building, as well as the adjacent
and much larger, brick-faced Carleton School No. 4.
A building that has undergone successful adaptive reuse is Earles Court,
at 4590 Earles Street. Built in 1912, the building was originally an electric
substation on the interurban line. In 1990, the building was renovated
to provide 12 condominium units with the existing shell.
The 2400 Motel on Kingsway near Nanaimo was one of the first drive-in
motels in the area, and is now the last. The motel was built in 1946 and
features a tall blue and red neon sign and a cluster of tidy green and
white bungalows.
Detailed information on the city's heritage and a complete list of heritage
buildings is available at City
of Vancouver Heritage.
Additional information is available through the City
of Vancouver Archives.
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