1886 The rapidly growing jumble of wooden cabins, stores and hotels in Granville incor-
porates as a city named for Captain George Vancouver, who spent exactly one day in
Burrard Inlet in 1792. Three months after his name is adopted, a high wind acceler-
ates a controlled slash burn into a firestorm that kills men and horses and reduces the
settlement to a smouldering ruin. Two buildings remain. The local Squamish Nation,
forcibly moved to North Vancouver by the colonial government, rescues survivors
from the water. Four days later, the rebuilding begins — in brick, not wood. In a move
foreshadowing the city’s destiny as one of the country’s most expensive pieces of dirt,
a real-estate dealer named Malcolm Alexander MacLean is elected the first mayor of
Vancouver. A new hospital, police station and rowing club lend an air of permanence.
1887 CPR Engine 374 pulls a passenger train along the final 18 kilometres (11 miles) of track
on the rail-line that starts in Montreal, to the new terminus on the shore that parallels
Water Street. Warehouses and docks serve the port traffic. Chinese railway workers
settle the east end of the city, bordering Gastown. Immigrants can now buy a package
deal from Canadian Pacific: passage on a CP ship, travel on a CPR train, and a piece of
land sold by the CP Railway starting at $2.50 an acre in the new “neighbourhoods” of
the West End, Southlands and Yaletown.
1907
1920s
The violent Asiatic Exclusion League forms “to keep Oriental immigrants out” and mar-
ginalize residents of Japanese, Chinese and Korean origin. Concern that Chinatown and
Gastown opium dens are corrupting white women partly fuels the racism.
Centre of the city’s wholesale-produce distribution, Gastown is also saloon cen-
tral: over 300 licensed drinking establishments thrive in 12 city blocks. During the
Depression, Gastown is frequented by loggers, sailors and ladies of the night.
1938
1971
The Bloody Sunday riot pits unemployed Communist workers against police brutality.
Gastown Riots blow up from a peaceful “Smoke-In” when mounted police beat pro-
testers. After businessmen and property owners spearhead a campaign to rescue
Gastown from its planned fate as a freeway, the province accords it heritage status.
Sculptor Vern Simpson and friends smuggle his statue of Gassy Jack into Maple Tree
Square. Despite incurring the wrath of City Hall, they are allowed to leave it in place.
1977
52
Gastown’s best known landmark is the steam-powered clock installed on the corner of
Cambie and Water streets. Ray Saunders designs it to cover a steam grate, as a way to
harness the steam that produces the clock’s famous whistle and Westminster Chimes.
2009 Gastown is declared a National Historic Site. Meanwhile, protests against the “gentrifi-
cation” of the neighourhood continue. So does the arrival of hi-tech corporate tenants,
upscale boutiques, galleries and restaurants. Water Street is a lively tourist haunt.
2017 Vancouver celebrates Canada’s sesquicentennial. Amid the hoopla, Gastown also
turns 150, its streets still home to bars and pubs: so raise a glass to Gassy Jack — and
those who came before.
E ss E n t i a l Va n co u V er 20 1 7/ 1 8
PhotoS: (Background) denkuvaiev / iStockPhoto.com. (old euroPe hotel) deymoS / dreamStime.com. (gaSSy Jack) mileSaround / dreamStime.com. (Steam clock) SSuni / iStockPhoto.com. (haStingS St) lilly3 / iStockPhoto.com
Left to right: A fine example of Edwardian “flatiron” architecture, the Old Europe Hotel (1909) borders Maple Tree Square. The statue of Gassy Jack Deighton
sculpted by Vern Simpson stands on the opposite side of the intersection. The Gastown Steam Clock on Water Street was designed and built by Ray Saun-
ders to cover a steam vent. Vintage buildings on Hastings Street date from the prosperous years of the late 19th-early 20th centuries