Welcome to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. Our history is as long as the City's itself. As a matter of fact, the first resolution of the first City Council in 1886 was to petition the Federal Government for the use as park, a 1,000 acre (404 hectares) peninsula which we now know as Stanley Park. Shortly after this fortuitous request, Council designed an appointed Park Committee to manage its new charge by building trails and gardens. The park had already been logged from the 1860-1880s with only the largest trees left (they were too big to cut down even then). By 1890, the Park Board had become an elected body and remains the only Canadian board of its kind.

Over the ensuing decades, the park and recreation system grew to include more than 200 parks (1,298 hectares) featuring community centres, swimming pools, skating rinks, fitness centres, racquet courts, golf courses, pitch & putt courses, food concessions, marinas, miniature railway, and street trees.

The history of Vancouver's first and most famous park, Stanley Park, can be found in Richard Steele's The Stanley Park Explorer. As well, an excellent history and beautiful colour, coffee-table-style book on the Board of Parks and Recreation can be found in The First 100 Years, also by Richard Steele. Both books can be found through the Vancouver Public Library and can be purchased at the Park Board administration office.

Related Information

• Annual Report
• Archival Documents
• Districts
• Historical Photos
• Meet the Park Board Commissioners
• More information at the City Archives
• Organization Chart 
• Publications
• Strategic Plan