Past & Present: the West End, 1888/2017

On The Dark Secrets of Stanley Park Tour, we explore how, why – and by whom – the West End was first settled. This pair of photos looks towards downtown Vancouver from Thurlow and Barclay Streets in the West End. The old photo was taken by William McFarlane Notman of the Montreal-based Notman & Son studio. Notman’s father, William, opened his studio in the 1850s and became Canada’s first internationally known photographer. The building in the distance is the first Hotel Vancouver, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway on the southwest corner of Granville and Georgia Streets. The vantage point, the intersection of Thurlow and Barclay Streets, was determined by Vancouver’s first city archivist, Major Matthews, in his notes to a painting of the same trees. The land in this area, District Lot 185, better known as the Brighouse Estate, was cleared by contractor John “Chinese” McDougall in the spring of 1887. McDougall’s nickname comes from his hiring of Chinese workers, which allowed him to significantly undercut his competitors because of the lower wages paid for Chinese labour at the time. It also inspired Vancouver’s first race riot. In February 1887, an angry mob of white workers attacked the Chinese loggers in their camp, burned all their belongings, and forced them onto a steamer headed for Victoria. They were upset that these jobs were going to cheaper and lower status workers. This was not the only time that an angry mob rioted against the Chinese. Find out about the devastating Chinatown riot of 1907 on The Forbidden Vancouver Tour. 1888 photo by William McFarlane Notman, McCord Museum #VIEW 1803. Information from Major Matthews, Early Vancouver Vol. 7 (City of Vancouver Archives, 1956), p. 349.