Richard Whiting Greenhouses - which todav would be called nurseries - were big business in Coquitlam from the turn of the century until quire recently, when the Kenny nurseries closed. The Whiting greenhouses on Rochester and on Cottonwood, the Pollard greenhouses on Rochester and Como Lake, and later Kennv's, were the giants, with a number of smaller opcranons throughout the district. The greenhouse operators raised flowers, vegetables and bedding plants, and sold them mostly in Vancouver and New Westminster. CuctLmbers and tomatoes were the favored vegetable products. Flowers such as chrysanthemums were also shipped to the western provinces as tar cast as Saskatchewan. Richard Whiting, whose family moved to Coquitlam in 1907, was born in the family home in 1911. His father, Wallace Whiting, built and operated green houses on Rochester Road in Burquitlam, next ro the Pollard nurseries . .Mr. Whiting, a gardener from England, also served as a Coquitlam councillor ( 1914-19, 1923-24 ). Richard Whiting's mother was a member of the large Love family, Burnaby pioneers who made history by arriving in Port l\loody aboard ~o. 374 on May 23, 1887, CPR's first transcontinentaJ train to reach the new western terminus of V.mcouver. Her grandfather, George Leonard, was a Gastown cobbler, and when the great fire of June 13, 1886, razed the frontier ,;llage, he reportedly buried his precious shoemaking tools and covered himself\\ith a wet blanker. There were 11 children in the Love familv. Waliace Whiting tollowed his two brothers from Engla:-~d to Burnaby when he was 16; they established greenhouses heated with little stoves. Wallace Whiting lived in a little shack with coaJ oil lamp ncar the greenhouses, and to get his future wife's attention - she was working in tl1c main house for the new owner of the greenhouses - he purposely broke the lamp glass and went to the house for a new one. Richard Whiting met Edna, his wite since 1935, on a blind date. She collaborated with her husband on the following recollections. The Whitings, who raised se,·en children, have 14 grandchildren JJld 14 greatgrandchildren. The couple currently li,·es in Port Coquitlam.
Amtic rmd Wallace Whiti1-tg in fi"ont of their Rocheste1· A PC1-l1tL" l;ome iu 193-1:. had five acres. And the Polbrds had 10 acres. Pollards's went fi·om Rochester right through to Austin. In 1925 or '26, my dad bought a brand new Star touring car. They started going to California for tour or five months during the winter. The\' went tor the first time in 1925, ju~t tor something to do. They drO\·e about 125 miles a da\'. I went ro the Little Red S~hoolhouse, Blue Mountain School, over on ~orth Road, about where the Burquitlam Morruan· is now. Two rooms in the school. ~lv next school ,~·as at the corner of Marmont and Austiri. They just tore it down. About 1925, I went to (Trapp ) Tech in New Westminster. That used to be the old jailhouse. When Dad was on the council in Coquitlam- about 1915, or something - he was on the board of works, and they paved the road from North Road up to tl1e Vancouver Golf Club so all the peopk could pby golf. The Burnaby Lake interurban line used to come from Vancouver to Sapperton, and he'd go up Hume Street, and there used to be a wagon to take the guys to the golf course. · There was a Burquirlam post office right at tl1e foot
y parents, who were married in 1902 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church on 1Oth Street in New Westminster, came to Coquitlam in 1907. They had lived in Burnaby first. When my dad came back here from England, they built a house on Rochester Road. 1 was born there in l9ll . They moved ro Rochester in 1907, and the house is still there. Not much else, though. My dad built greenhouses, did gardening Jll his lite. Mind you, in the wintertime, there was nothing to do, so he did some gardening just for himself. Between him and the next fellow, Mr. Shaw, they
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