Jump to content

New Westminster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 159.153.138.54 (talk) at 19:05, 16 April 2009 (→Notable residents). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see the Canadian city and New Westminster.
Corporation of the City of New Westminster
Uptown New Westminster
Uptown New Westminster
Flag of Corporation of the City of New Westminster
Flag
Location of New Westminster in Metro Vancouver
Location of New Westminster in Metro Vancouver
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
RegionLower Mainland
Regional districtMetro Vancouver
Government
 • Governing bodyNew Westminster City Council
 • MayorWayne Wright
 • CouncillorsJonathan Cote
Jaimie McEvoy
Bill Harper
Betty McIntosh
Bob Osterman
Lorrie Williams
 • MPPeter Julian (NDP)
Dawn Black (NDP)
 • MLAChuck Puchmayr (NDP)
Area
 • Total
15.4 km2 (5.9 sq mi)
Elevation
60 m (200 ft)
Population
 (2006)[1]
 • Total
58,549
 • Density3,548.5/km2 (9,191/sq mi)
 • Private Dwellings
26,035
Time zoneUTC-8 (PST)
WebsiteCity of New Westminster

New Westminster is a historically important city in the Metro Vancouver regional district of British Columbia, Canada. It was founded as the second capital of the Colony of British Columbia (1858-1866).

Geography

New Westminster is located on the Burrard Peninsula, on the north bank of the Fraser River. It is 19 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of the Vancouver city proper, adjacent to Burnaby and Coquitlam and across the Fraser River from Surrey. A small portion of New Westminster called Queensborough is located on the eastern tip of Lulu Island, adjacent to Richmond. The total land area is 15.3 square kilometres.

Demographics

The city has a total population of 54,656 (2001 Census).[1]

Some notable New Westminster natives include singer/actor Alexz Johnson, Musician/Producer Devin Townsend, actor Raymond Burr, race car driver Greg Moore, magician "Mandrake the Magician" Leon Mandrake, actress Crystal Dahl, professional baseball player Justin Morneau, and retired professional hockey player Bill Ranford.

History

A view of New Westminster from the Fraser River circa 1865.

In 1859, New Westminster was selected as the first capital of the new Colony of British Columbia by Queen Victoria, who named the city after part of London. From this naming by the Queen, the City gained its official nickname, "The Royal City". A year later it became the first City in British Columbia to have an elected municipal government. It became a major outfitting point for prospectors coming to the Fraser Gold Rush, as all travel to the goldfield ports of Yale and Port Douglas was by steamboat or canoe up the Fraser River.

In 1866, the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were united as "British Columbia". However, the capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island, Victoria, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, was made the capital of the newly amalgamated Colony of British Columbia.

Historical urban geography

New Westminster has been drastically changed by time and by the results of its incorporation into the wider urbanization of the Lower Mainland:

B.C. Penitentiary

The B.C. Penitentiary being constructed circa 1877.

In 1878, the Government of Canada opened the British Columbia Penitentiary, the first federal penitentiary west of Manitoba. "BC Pen" or simply "the Pen" as it was known (and also in old days as the "skookum house" in the English-Chinook Jargon patois common in early BC), was located between the Sapperton neighbourhood and what is now Queen's Park. It housed maximum security prisoners for the next 102 years, closing in 1980.[2] and has been the scene of many famous trials and executions, including those of the Wild McLean Boys and Simon Gunanoot. The original centre block (reputedly haunted) of the Pen still stands and has been revamped into condominiums and a fancy restaurant, while the rest of the Pen's grounds have been filled with newly-built townhouses and condominiums.

The Pen's armoury and dockside holding cell have been restored as a riverside park on the Fraser River, which will ultimately connect to the regional network of biking and walking trails and the city's waterfront promenade project.

A fire described as the "largest in the history of New Westminster" blazed what is left of the vacant Woodlands school building, adjacent to the penitentiary grounds July 9, 2008.

Chinatown

New Westminster's Chinatown was one of the earliest established in the mainland colony and also one of the largest. Originally located along Front Street, it was relocated to an area known as "The Swamp" at the southwest end of downtown, bounded roughly by Royal Avenue, Columbia Street, and 8th and 12th Streets (now a large shopping plaza area). Chinatown was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1898 and only partly rebuilt afterwards.

Columbia Street

Contrasting views of Columbia Street in 1932 and 2008.

Until the 1964 completion of the Highway 1 Freeway, which bypassed New Westminster to its north, Columbia Street along the city's waterfront was the main commercial retail and service centre for the Fraser Valley and nearby areas of Burnaby and Coquitlam. Most major department store chains as well as long-established New Westminster retailers thrived in a time when road travel to Vancouver remained distant for Valley communities and also when daily interurban rail service to and from Chilliwack was still in place (the service ended in 1950). The quality of shops was such that even Vancouverities would make the trip by interurban or, later on, by Kingsway (originally called the Westminster Highway or Westminster Road) to shop on Columbia Street. As well as the retailers, Columbia Street was also home to major movie houses, the Columbia and the Paramount, rivalling in size and quality those on Vancouver's Theatre Row. The freeway is generally conceded to have "killed" Columbia Street, and it has remained in a slump despite ongoing civic efforts to revitalize it. As of October 2006, Columbia Street has undergone reconstruction to change to a one-lane street, both directions, with a bike lane and reverse angle parking. This was done in an effort to encourage more foot and bicycle traffic. Major highrise or renovation projects are either completed or nearing completion.

Front Street

Originally a dockside street and market, and also the location of the original Chinatown, Front Street was converted into a truck-route bypass and elevated parkade during the 1960s in an effort to provide increased parking for adjacent Columbia Street. In recent decades it has been the focus of the city's thriving antiques and second-hand trade. It has also been used as a location in feature films such as Rumble in the Bronx (substituting for the Bronx), I, Robot (as a futuristic Chicago), and Shooter (doubling for Philadelphia, with the Fraser River being the Delaware River).

Government House

The original colonial Government House was located approximately where Royal City Manor is now. It was originally occupied by Colonel Richard Clement Moody who commanded the Columbia Detachment of Royal Engineers who established the city.

New Westminster CPR Station

Adjacent to the New Westminster Skytrain Station, the city's former Canadian Pacific Railway station has been renovated and converted into a branch of The Keg restaurant chain.

Queensborough

Main article: Queensborough, British Columbia

Queensborough was the name originally chosen for the colonial capital by Royal Engineer commander Colonel Richard Clement Moody. When Queen Victoria designated New Westminster instead as her new capital's name, the name Queensborough became applied to New Westminster's portion of Lulu Island, across the north arm of the Fraser from the southern end of the city. Queensborough is today a low- to middle-income housing area with its own distinct identity, although some new condominium complexes have sprung up adjacent to the Westminster Quay development. In the Chinook Jargon, an adaptation of the name Queensborough - "Koonspa" - is the usual name for New Westminster as a whole.

A copy of a Queen Anne house opposite Queens Park

Sapperton

Sapperton was originally a "suburb" of New Westminster, named for the Columbia Detachment of Royal Engineers ("Sappers") whose camp was on the hill now occupied by the Fraserview neighbourhood. It is the location of the historic Fraser Cemetery, which rivals Victoria's Ross Bay Cemetery for the number of historically significant graves and monuments. Also located in Sapperton are Royal Columbian Hospital, Sapperton Station and Braid Station. The Sapperton area is represented by one of the strongest soccer teams in Metro Vancouver, the Sapperton Rovers.[citation needed]

Uptown "6th and 6th"

Development of an uptown commercial area around 6th St and 6th Avenue started in 1954 when Woodwards Department Store opened. Added momentum came with the relocation of the public library from downtown to uptown in 1958. In 1992 Woodwards Department Store was expanded and modernized into a shopping centre and took the name Woodwards Place. With the economic collapse of Woodwards in 1993 the name of the centre was changed to Royal City Centre Mall. Moody Park is an important recreational area in the uptown area.

The West End

Apposite to Sapperton's north-end, New Westminster's West End was once fairly separate from the city proper, and has a neighbourhood commercial node along 12th Street and 20th Street approximately between London Street and Eighth Ave. The area features antique, unique, one of a kind stores and is designated as the art deco section of the city. The annual Ragtime Fest on 12th Street is an event that residents and visitors alike are looking forward to.

Westminster Quay

The Westminster Quay

Westminster Quay was an Expo-era (mid-1980s) development to revitalize New Westminster and accompanied the development of the SkyTrain line to Vancouver. In addition to a large public market and a 2.5 diamond rated hotel, The Inn at Westminster Quay, a large condominium tower and townhouse complex was built, accessed from the older Columbia Street area of downtown by an overpass. The impetus provided by this project has spilled over onto the inland side of the rail tracks, with new tower developments focusing on the area southwest of 8th Street (the area known formerly as "the Swamp" and Chinatown). As of July 2007, the Quay's commercial component had noticeably decreased, with many vacancies present compared to the much more active Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Responding to the decrease of business, the ownership group has now closed the Westminster Quay Market for renovations. The market will remain closed until 2010.[3]

Commerce and industry

With the completion of the trans-continental railway in 1886, trade began to shift to nearby Vancouver. Nonetheless, New Westminster weathered the loss, and remained an important industry and transportation centre. The local economy has always had a mix of industrial sectors, but it has evolved over the years, moving from a reliance on the primary resources of lumber and fishing in the 1800s, to heavy industry and manufacturing in the first half of the 1900s, to retail from the mid 1950s to the 1970s, to professional and business services in the '90s, and finally to high tech and fiber optic industry in the early 2000s.

Arts and culture

The city has several live performance venues ranging from the Massey Theatre adjacent to the New Westminster High School to the Burr Theatre, a converted cinema on Columbia Street, and two theatrical venues in Queens Park. The Royal City Musical Theatre, a long-established New Westminster tradition, uses the Massey, while comedy and mystery theatricals use the stages in Queens Park. Also in Queens Park is the Queens Park Arena, longtime home to the legendary New Westminster Salmonbellies professional lacrosse team, as well as an open-air stadium used for baseball and field sports. The Burr, restored by funding from the estate of Raymond Burr, has recently been home to an effort to produce professional-quality British mysteries and comedies but has been forced to close due to financial difficulties. Douglas College also offers post secondary training in theatre, stagecraft and music, as well as non-credit courses in music for all ages and levels of ability through the Douglas College Community Music School [4]Theatre productions and music concerts take place in the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre and the smaller, more intimate Studio Theatre from September to April at Douglas College .

Heritage

Irving House
Map
Established1865
LocationNew Westminster British Columbia Canada
Typehistorical house museum
Website[http:// ]

Heritage is very important to the citizens of New Westminster which is the oldest city in Western Canada. The star attraction at the New Westminster Museum and Archives (NWMA) is the 1865 Irving House which is the oldest intact house in the BC Lower Mainland. In the museum are treasures such as the 1876 coach used by Lord Dufferin, then the Governor General of Canada, to tour the new province of British Columbia including a marathon trip to Barkerville via the Cariboo Road. The city's archives hold corporate and personal treasures such as 1859 maps of the city which were drawn by the Royal Engineers and official city records. In addition the citizens take great pride in other heritage elements in the city such as the 1937 Samson V paddlewheeler, the 1890s armouries, 1850s historic cannons, two of the old BC Pen buildings, numerous cemeteries and dozens of heritage homes, many of which are from the 19th century. The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.

Hyack Festival and the Hyack Anvil Battery

May Day celebrations in 1913. Young girls dance around a maypole.

New Westminster's May Day celebration began in 1870 and continues as an important civic tradition to the present day, lending the city the distinction of having the longest running May Day celebration of its type in the British Commonwealth. (At least two other Lower Mainland communities still celebrate May Day: Ladner in Delta, and Bradner in Abbotsford.)

The May Queen circa 1887.

The May Day festival, held on the Victoria Day weekend and more formally known as the Hyack Festival, is distinguished by the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery Salute, a tradition created by The New Westminster Fire Department, during colonial times as a surrogate for a 21-gun salute. With no cannons available in the early colony, the Fire Department - known as the Hyacks, from the Chinook Jargon for "fast" or "quick", here derived from its use as a command for "hurry up!" - improvised by placing gunpowder between two anvils, the top one upturned, and igniting the charge from a safe distance, hurling the upper anvil into the air.

Mayor Wayne Wright sets off an anvil shot during the 2008 Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery Salute.

Each year, in preparation for May Day, local schoolchildren are taught to dance around a maypole with colourful ribbons. Elections are held at elementary schools in the city, and, from them one girl is selected to become the year's May Queen, and two students from each school to become members of her "May Queen Suite" and "Royal Knights." On a Wednesday of the festival, elementary school students gather at Queen's Park Stadium to dance, and the May Queen is crowned.[5]

Educational institutions

Douglas College, a major community college has campuses in New Westminster and Coquitlam. The college has an enrollment of 12,000 students and offers degrees, associate degrees, two-year career and University Transfer programs to local, national and international students. The Justice Institute of British Columbia offers training to municipal police forces, fire departments, provincial corrections, court services and paramedics with the British Columbia Ambulance Service. The Institute operates a Centre for Conflict Resolution, a Centre for Leadership and Community Learning, Executive Programs, a Public Safety Seminar Series and the Aboriginal Leadership Diploma Program.

School District 40 New Westminster has one high school (New Westminster Secondary School), two middle schools, and nine elementary schools.

Transportation

File:NewWestminsterPattullo.jpg
The Pattullo Bridge (upper centre) connects New Westminster (left) with Surrey (right) across the Fraser River. Queensborough is in the lower left of the photo.
New Westminster Bridge

There are no freeways within New Westminster’s city limits, although the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) is accessible from nearby Burnaby and Coquitlam.

The Queensborough Bridge (part of Highway 91A) connects Queensborough to mainland New Westminster, while the Pattullo Bridge (part of Highways 1A and 99A) links New Westminster with Surrey. A lesser-used Derwent Way Bridge connects Queensborough with Annacis Island of Delta.

Public transportation is provided by TransLink. Along with a number of bus routes, the city is also served by the following stations on the Skytrain system:

The city is located within Zone 2 of TransLink’s fare structure.

Railways

The city is well served by no fewer than four railways. CNR (Canadian National Railway), CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway), BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) and shortline SRY (Southern Railway of British Columbia).

Streetcars and the Interurban

New Westminster was once linked to Vancouver and other municipalities by the BC interurban streetcar network. The following links have examples of that system:

Sports and recreation

The city's New Westminster Salmonbellies are one of the oldest professional lacrosse teams in Canada, and also have junior and midget teams. The 'Bellies, as they are also known, have won the Mann Cup twenty-four times. New Westminster is also the location of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

The New Westminster Royals were a professional minor-league team from 1911-1914, in the heyday of the Pacific Coast Hockey League. Their home rink was the Denman Arena in Vancouver, which they shared with rivals the Vancouver Millionaires.

Playing at Queen's Park Arena were two incarnations of a Western Hockey League junior team, the New Westminster Bruins (1971-1981, and 1983-1988).

The city's current hockey representative is the New Westminster Whalers, the defending champions of the WHA Junior West Hockey League.

Pocomo Rugby Footall Club and Douglas Rugby Club (both teams play in New Westminster) merged in 2005 to form the United Rugby Club. Pocomo moved to New Westminster in the late 1960s eventually calling Hume Park their home field. Douglas was formed by Pocomo players who were attending Douglas College in 1972. United Rugby currently uses Hume Park and Queen's Park for home venues.

Soccer in New Westminster is represented by the Sapperton Rovers. Soccer in the Sapperton Community goes back to the early 1900s. In fact Sapperton Park was donated to the city in 1907 for the purpose to be used solely as a soccer venue. In the past and present many organized teams carried the Sapperton name, showing great pride in the community they represented. The Hyack Swim Club [www.hyack.com], in operation since 1973, trains swimmers at Canada Games Pool, from a grassroots level up to International competition. Swimmers from across the Lower Mainland come to Canada Games Pool to train with this prestigious swim club. The swim club has trained many Olympians, Paralympians, and members of Canada's national team. Hyack Swim Club hosts four meets each year, two of which are held at Canada Games Pool. The premier meet each year is held during the Hyack Festival, and attracts swimmers from across the province, Alberta, Washington, and Oregon. Mark Bottrill has been Hyack's Director of Swimming since 1999. Hyack Swim Club's Drew Christensen was recently selected to represent Canada at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Notable residents

Sister Cities

Education

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Westminster.

References

  1. ^ a b Statistics Canada. "New Westminster demographics". Retrieved 2007-01-20.
  2. ^ New Westminster Public Library. New Westminster Architecture.
  3. ^ http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/newwestminsternewsleader/news/35624129.html
  4. ^ Douglas College Community Music School
  5. ^ New Westminster Hyack Festival Association (2004). "Hyack Festival Events". Retrieved 2006-01-03.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=New_Westminster&oldid=284261235"