Archives: Locations
James and Isabella Mellis arrived from Newfoundland in 1887, becoming one of the first farming families in the area. James began running a stage line between Terra Nova and Vancouver in the 1890s after the construction of roads and bridges made the trip possible. His stagecoach delivered produce to Vancouver and returned with supplies and […]
Can you see the wooden posts, or pilings, near the shoreline? They are the remains of a cannery dock. The Terra Nova and Alliance canneries were built here during a turn-of-the-century boom in the BC fishing industry which saw more than 20 canneries constructed in Richmond. The arrival of cannery workers transformed the quiet farming […]
Bike: 8 mins Walk: 35 mins Drive: 5 mins The Vancouver Civic Airport opened in 1931, when $600,000 was invested in a runway and a wood-framed building topped by a control tower—after aviator Charles Lindbergh refused to visit because there was “nothing fit to land on.” Today this site is known as Airport South or […]
The Sea Island Fire Hall you see today has been in operation since 2007. It replaced the 60-year-old Burkeville Fire Hall No. 4 located at 780 Lancaster Crescent. When that hall opened in 1947, all firefighters in Richmond were volunteers. By 1969, volunteer brigades were being phased out and replaced by paid professionals. The Sea […]
The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Aerospace Technology Campus has been training aircraft maintenance engineers, gas turbine and jet engine technicians, airport operation specialists, and commercial pilots since it opened in 2007. The jewel of the campus is its 40,000-square-foot see-through hangar. If you peer through the glass, you are likely to see BCIT […]
Burkeville has always been a tight-knit community. Over the years, residents have supported the creation of playgrounds, a church, a school and a community centre. This building, originally Ernest Cooney’s barn, was given new life as the Sea Island Community Centre. It was the heart of Burkeville and hosted many memorable events. A newspaper report […]
The first Sea Island School opened in 1890 at the corner of McDonald and Grauer Roads, on land donated by the McDonald family. At the time, children were expected to help out during harvests and other busy periods on the farms, so their attendance at the one-room school depended on the season. The original school […]
Burkeville was a planned neighbourhood based on wartime need and the best planning practices of the time. Houses were available in three designs, with three different exterior colours and four roof colours. All were small, between 700 and 900 square feet, and had either four or six rooms. They would have been especially cozy given […]
The 328 houses in this neighbourhood were built to address a World War II housing shortage. Gasoline and rubber were in short supply during the war, so it was important to house aviation workers and their families close to the airport, rather than have them waste valuable resources on long commutes. From Burkeville, workers could […]
The Brighouse Station once stood here, near the northeast intersection of Granville Avenue and No.3 Road. The station was a key stop on the Interurban tram line which connected Richmond to Vancouver, and beyond to Chilliwack. On race days, trams known as “Specials” ran from downtown Vancouver across the Fraser River and directly to the […]