Program Schedule
for 2011 [subject to change]
All programs are
held on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:30 pm to 8:45 pm in
the auditorium of the New Westminster Public Library, 716 – 6th Avenue,
New Westminster. The programs are free, everyone is welcome, and there
is no need to register in advance.
For more information
about this group or a program call 604-526-6113. Individual media announcements
are released for each program.
Interested in the
Historical Society’s Newsletter? The newsletter is published monthly
for members and contains regular programming announcements plus notices
of other upcoming events, as well as background material on presentations,
other stories of local history and heritage, quotes from New Westminster’s
history, and more. The newsletter is available by mail, or by email
as a pdf attachment.
Each year there
are also four special issues, in which an extra two-page article presents
a topic of relevance to our history and community and sometimes related
to local programming or tours. This year’s special issues will be in
May (A Selection of Interesting Sapperton Views), July (New Westminster
Fire and Rescue Service [Fire Department] 150 Years of Service), October
(Expo’86, 25 Years Ago It Closed Its Doors), and December (Christmas
in Early New Westminster: the Food, Drink, Decorations and Gifts For
the Day).
The Presentations
The themes of the presentations at the Historical Society evenings are
frequently determined by relevant historical events, anniversaries,
and other important community topics. They are also frequently in response
to suggestions, questions, and comments, from members of the group and
others. This year at least nine of the presentations follow such suggestions.
Information
Want more information? Call the number above. Want to sign up right
away? Send your name, address, telephone number, and email address (please
note whether you wish the newsletter sent via mail or email) along with
a cheque for $10.00 payable to the New Westminster Historical Society
to:
New
Westminster Historical Society
c/o #309 – 2559 Parkview Lane
Port Coquitlam, BC V3C 6M1
Thanks
The New Westminster Historical Society wishes to thank the New Westminster
Public Library for the use of their meeting space. The group, for most
of the 35 years of its existence, has met in the Public Library. Thank
you very much.
The 2011
List of Presentations
January
19, 2011
To Start Off The New Year: An Eclectic Set Of Local Images And Stories
A
program that has been an annual offering for a number of years. A look
at a collection of photos of the Royal City; photos that don't
often find their way into other presentations but are used for research
and reference.
February
16, 2011
Heritage Week 2011: The Heritage of Parks and Protected Areas
In
honour of the centennial of BC’s Provincial Parks, Heritage Week
in 2011 will recognize the importance of all parks in the province.
The local Historical Society, for its part, will look at the story of
the parks of New Westminster. This presentation about the history of
our local parks will include images of the city’s parks and offer
anecdotes of their activities and events throughout the years. Archie
Miller will be joined by Gavin Hainsworth for the program.
March 16,
2011
Uptown New Westminster: An Historical Overview
Uptown
New Westminster is a prominent part of the city, whether one thinks
of people and housing, or business and local commerce. Its history is
intriguing as it began as a few stores mixed with houses, large tracts
of land, and some important early roads and trails. This presentation
will contain many images of the area over the years, show the importance
of the arrival of Woodward’s Department Store in the early 50s,
and include some wonderful descriptive accounts from the area’s
development from past to present.
April 20,
2011
A Look At Sir John A Macdonald: First Prime Minister of Canada
Local
author, Terry Julian, has written a wonderful book on the story of Sir
John A Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada – a figure powerfully
linked to the formation and early development of this country. The book,
An Ordinary Miracle: John A Macdonald, chronicles his life including
a visit to the Royal City. This biography, published in 2010, notes
“much that is generally unknown in John A Macdonald’s heroic
life is revealed and shows an energetic and visionary person in whom
every Canadian should be knowledgeable.”
May 18,
2011
Questions
And Answers – Images And Stories – Your Topics
This
program will build on the success of the presentations of miscellaneous
images that have become very popular in January Historical Society evenings.
Those presentations are centred on suggestions and questions from members
of the community who come to programs at the Library or who may come
to see a short segment on a topic that they want to know more about.
This program in May will continue this type of theme but with a slight
change – fewer topics, more time for questions and answers. The
items suggested so far for this presentation will likely include the
following:
- The creation
of Sapperton Landing Park (it was formally opened 10 years ago) and
the site’s historical importance to the area.
- Some post 1898
photos showing the destruction but with a bit more description of
what is seen in the photos.
- Some Ancient
and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery photos with a brief explanation
of what happens with the anvils.
June 15,
2011
Sapperton I: Part of an Ongoing Series of Presentations on this Neighbourhood
Sapperton,
the northern part of New Westminster, will be the focus of a number
of presentations over the next couple of years. This first program will
centre on a series of photographs are a little bit different and that
allow some detailed description of what is recorded in the old photo.
Included will be some views of early Hume Park with trails, wooden huts,
and ponds; a number of aerial photos that allow the observer to pick
out features long gone but still remembered; a number of images showing
North Road near the Brunette River bridge; some photos of what was known
as the “Sapper’s Barracks” along with its demolition;
a selection of early pictures of the area around Braid and Columbia,
and very likely some more. There will also be a story about the “peanut
butter factory”. This ongoing project is the work of Archie Miller,
Wayne Wou, and Carol McMeekin.
July 20,
2011
The New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service: 150 Years of the Fire Department
This
year, 2011, the local Fire Department, now Fire and Rescue Service,
is recognizing its 150th anniversary. This presentation will be a showing
of many photos of fires in the Royal City along with early fire fighting
equipment. New Westminster has a history filled, unfortunately, with
fires, some of which were so large and dramatic that they actually determined
how the city continued in some areas. Included will also be a description
of the Service’s start in 1861 and its first fire hall.
August 17,
2011
The People of the Dufferin Street Cemetery
This cemetery was officially used for only a very short time
in the early 1860s. It ceased to be used when the new burial ground
far up the hill at 8th Street at 10th Avenue (the Douglas Street or
Road Cemetery) was opened up. After sitting dormant, but not necessarily
unused, for a number of decades, the Dufferin Street location was cleared
by the Church of England who owned the site, any remains and markers
moved to the new Church of England Cemetery in Sapperton, now part of
Fraser Cemetery, and the land used for housing.
This presentation
will look at those people buried in the cemetery, who they were, how
they died, and so on, and also look at other pieces of information about
the graveyard from its inception in the early 1860s to 1908 when it
was cleared out. Much of this cemetery information comes from city research,
Royal Engineer surveys and maps, walking tour research, Colonial Correspondence
(BCARS), Church of England archives, and more and has been worked on
since about 1969 when some of the Royal Engineers’ maps of the
site were first obtained.
September
21, 2011
Expo’86: A Look Back 25 Years To The Fair
The
summer of 1986 was a very special time in this Province as a world’s
fair, Expo’86. was held in Vancouver. This presentation will look
back 25 years to the fair with images of the event as well as noting
the Expo reminders that are still to be seen in New Westminster. These
include a number of items at Westminster Quay and along the Esplanade
by the river. A short portion of this presentation will outline the
history of world fairs from the 1850s to today. It is also hoped to
have a selection of Expo’86 memorabilia on display, and perhaps
some ‘sound heritage’.
October
19, 2011
An Historical Appraisal of the Columbian College
For
a number of decades, from the late 1800s to the mid 1930s, Columbian
College was a well-regarded institute of higher learning and part of
the educational scene in British Columbia. The college aspired to be
the main provincial university but political forces strived to deny
it that opportunity. It was most prominently known in its location on
First Street across the road from Queen’s Park near 3rd Avenue.
The College featured many school buildings, large attractive grounds,
a prominent main structure, and of course, a full calendar of subjects.
This presentation by two educational researchers who also hold doctorate
degrees in education, Gerry Thomson and Eric Damer, will look at many
pieces of this school’s history that go together to weave a very
interesting story of an early BC college. Gerry Thomson is a member
of the Historical Society.
November
16, 2011
Sapperton Part II: Another Part of an Ongoing Series of Presentations
on this Neighbourhood
This
look at the ongoing Sapperton neighbourhood research will feature some
photographs of the area and link them to a number of maps. The research
has been connecting fire insurance maps and the structures that they
depict to some photos of parts of Sapperton, starting with part of East
Columbia Street. Lots of information is coming from this study and it
is hoped that more photographs may be located to fill in areas where
none are currently available. This ongoing project is the work of Archie
Miller, Wayne Wou, and Carol McMeekin.
December
21, 2011
Early New Westminster Christmas And New Years: Food, Drink, Gifts And
Decorations
As
we look at some of the early celebrations in this city we are often
surprised at what was available to the local community and its shoppers.
This presentation will look at what was available to the early community
in terms of the things needed for year-end, Christmas and New Years
celebrations. The information, taken from a number of sources including
newspapers and catalogues, will often surprise and frequently amaze,
as you realize that we can still obtain the brands that they had in
the shops of an early frontier Columbia Street in an early downtown
New Westminster. This will all be linked with some seasonal photos regarding
Christmas and the upcoming New Year. While some of the material in this
presentation may have appeared in previous programming, much of it is
new and offered here by popular request for the Holiday Season.
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