Thanks For Dropping By Our 6th Heritage Lounge

Once again it was great to chat with so many heritage enthusiasts at the recent Main Street Car Free Festival. We had a steady stream of people from both Mount Pleasant and beyond dropping by and expressing their love of our historic neighbourhood. They also expressed concern about its future. Word is going around that a couple of developers have bought up many key buildings in the Heritage Heart, which is home to our distinctive neighbourhood high street, triangle block and many of our much loved small and independent businesses. This vibrant shopping and gathering spot is clearly cherished not only by the local community but by the city at large and folks want it protected.

Our colouring station was non-stop busy and local artist and MPHG member Jennifer Chernecki created a new page of Heritage Hall.

 

And speaking of Heritage Hall it was great to be tucked in between Vancouver Heritage Foundation and the MPBIA in front of one of Mount Pleasant’s grand old heritage buildings.

We want to again express our appreciation for all of the encouragement we received to continue our work of celebrating and advocating on behalf of Mount Pleasant’s rich and cherished heritage. Mount Pleasant Heritage Lives!

Many thanks to Bruce Macdonald for the maps from his popular book Vancouver A Visual History, to Neil Wyles of the MPBIA for spot organization and to the Quebec Manor Co-op for the loan of furniture. Eric Phillips of Grandview Heritage Group not only lent us equipment and helped with set up and take down but he delivered everything in his 1947 vintage chevy truck.

The Heritage Lounge crew this year was Alyssa, Christine, Danielle, Flora and Jennifer.

 

 

 

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Thanks For Dropping By Our 5th Heritage Lounge!

It was great to again meet so many heritage enthusiasts at the recent Mural Festival/MPBIA Street Party and to have such keen interest in our displays and take away materials about Mount Pleasant’s history.

Our colouring station with pages created by local artists of key treasured buildings was non-stop busy and we also had one by Priscilla Yu of her mural done this year.

 

 

We very much appreciate all of the encouragement we received to continue our work of celebrating and advocating on behalf of Mount Pleasant’s rich and cherished heritage. Mount Pleasant’s heritage lives!

 

Many thanks to Bruce Macdonald for the loan of his maps and for being our in-house historian, Stan of Rath Art Supplies for the loan of an easel and his ongoing support, Charmaine Carpenter and Neil Wyles of the MPBIA for booth support and the loan of Neil’s tent, Pitt Meadows Museum for the loan of their tent and the Quebec Manor Co-op for the loan of furniture.

The Heritage Lounge crew this year was Christine, Colin, Danielle, Flora and Jennifer with lead-in support from Alyssa and take down help from Erin and Laura of the Quebec Manor.

Join Us For Our 5th Heritage Lounge Saturday, August 12th from 12 – 6

The Heritage Lounge will again be located in front of Rath Art Supplies at 2412 Main Street, just up from the intersection of Main, Kingsway and 7th Avenue and a part of the Vancouver Mural Festival’s street party. The street party is sponsored by the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area (MPBIA) and Create Vancouver Society.

Along with displays and maps about Mount Pleasant’s history, including its long and rich tradition of being home to a vibrant arts community, we will have colouring pages celebrating the neighbourhood’s built, cultural, natural and industrial heritage created by local artists.

Jennifer Chernecki created the page of the 1889 James Black Residence at 144 E 6th representing the time when it housed the Gropp’s Gallery Collective (from 2008 until 2014). James Lloyd’s illustration of the 1889 Depencier House at 151 E 8th depicts the Victorian building when it was home to the legendary Bain’s Candies and Fine Chocolates.

This year we will have several new colouring pages as well as a colouring station sponsored by Rath Art Supplies. The pages are free for the taking and if you don’t have time to sit down and do a little colouring we encourage you to take one home.

We will also have some neighbourhood walking tour pamphlets and our Heritage Heart Look and Find to take away.

We look forward to you dropping by and sharing your stories of the neighbourhood. Mount Pleasant’s Heritage Lives!

Thanks for dropping by the Heritage Lounge!

It was great to meet so many people interested in Mount Pleasant’s history and passionate about retaining our heritage.

Many thanks to Bruce Macdonald for the loan of his maps and photos, to Stan of Rath Art Supplies for the loan of easels and to the Quebec Manor Co-op for the loan of the Lounge furniture.

The Heritage Lounge crew this year was Alyssa, Anna, Danielle, Sandra, Taran and Val.

The Mount Pleasant Heritage Group extends its appreciation to the Vancouver Foundation for supporting our Heritage Lounge and Treasured Buildings Sign project with a Neighbourhood Small Grant.

The Naming of Mount Pleasant and Its Map of Canada Streets

Here are a couple of highlights from our discussion of Mount Pleasant’s early days.  This discussion took place at our April monthly meeting and we used our Mount Pleasantries as a guide.  A previous post, Brewery Creek Ravine As A Playground At The Turn Of 1900, is another.

Mount Pleasant was named in 1888 after a small Irish village outside Dublin – the birthplace of the wife of Henry Valentine Edmonds. In 1869 Edmonds, the clerk of the municipal council in New Westminster, had acquired District Lot 200A, the wilderness south of False Creek in the future Mount Pleasant. “He was speculating that Vancouver’s unusually fine natural harbour would someday become home to the terminal of a transcontinental railway, since he had witnessed first hand the pandemonium that ensued when San Francisco had been declared a transcontinental railway terminal.”

Map by Bruce Macdonald based on the Dakin fire insurance map, 1889 (City of Vancouver Archives: AM54-S23-2– /Major Matthews Collection)

By 1888, a year after the arrival of the railway, Dr. Israel Powell, one of the people who had negotiated British Columbia’s confederation with Canada in 1871, was a co-owner of the lot. “The first street in Mount Pleasant had originally been an ancient First Nations and animal trail, now known as Kingsway…the super-Canadian and Ontario-born Powell named all his streets in Mount Pleasant after Canada’s provinces to create a representation of the map of Canada…The centre street of Vancouver’s grid system is Powell’s Ontario Street, in the 000 hundred block going east-west, probably since Ontario is known as central Canada…The western Canadian Streets are west of Ontario Street, and the eastern Canadian streets are east of it.”

Information, quotes and map from the  ‘Mount Pleasant Historic Context Statement‘ (pages 2 – 5) written by Bruce Macdonald in 2008 for Donald Luxton and Associates and the City of Vancouver.

 

 

MOUNT PLEASANTRIES Revised

In 1886 pioneers Jacob and Mary Grauer became the parents of George Grauer, the first baby birth recorded in Mount Pleasant.

Twenty years later, in 1906, their sixth son, Albert Edward “Dal” Grauer, was born on Sea Island, now the site of the Vancouver International Airport.  Dal Grauer, who became the well-known President of the BC Electric Company, was also elected Chancellor of UBC in 1957 and presided over Queen Elizabeth’s 1959 visit to the University.

Photo for #8 City of Vancouver Archives: SGN 1026
Photo for #9 City of Vancouver Archives: Str P270.05
Photo for #10 City of Vancouver Archives: Dist P 18
All Major Matthews Collection

We have changed #12 to reflect that, despite being born 20 years later, George Grauer was Dal Grauer’s older brother, not his father.