150 YEARS • CELEBRATING •
A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT BY THE RECORD TO COMMEMORATE NEW WESTMINSTER’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY
Take a walk back through time ou can almost hear the rattle of the streetcar as it runs down the middle of an unpaved Columbia Street on a cool fall day.
Y
like a very early model car.
A buggy pulled by two horses is backed up to Adams grocery store, perhaps to pick up a pound of sugar, or a roll of twine for fishing. The store would have stocked everything from flour to fish hooks.
Less than a decade earlier the Great Fire of 1898 had razed this section of Columbia Street, and it would be another year or two before the Dominion Trust Block was built, placing this photo around 1906. The photographer, W.T. Cooksley, arrived in the city in 1905 and was known for his photo postcards. After 1911, Columbia is paved and cars start outnumbering horses.
A couple of children can be spotted at the far left, perhaps waiting for their parents, or to catch the streetcar home. A stray dog is farther up the street, and beyond – what looks
A moment in time is captured for eternity. A glimpse into a life that was, perhaps, simpler, but not necessarily easier.
It would be several more decades before this block would become part of the “Golden Mile” – a shopping and entertainment hub in the Lower Mainland. To say New Westminster has a rich and colourful history is an understatement. The city’s beginnings offer politics, romance, skulduggery and great compassion. In this special section commemorating New Westminster’s 150th year, we take a look at just some of the stories that have helped make the city what it is today. – Pat Tracy