Author Description

It is a city that has so much to give to so many different kinds of people. Parks...theatres...shopping...malls...wading people...music...mountains...international business...the herbs of Chinatown...festivals...memories of Gastown...the scent of cedars...the polar swim...and lots, lots more. In 1986, Vancouver celebrated its 100th birthday. As one of Canada's youngest cities, its centennial fell a long way behind the centennials of some eastern cities. When Vancouver was born in 1886, Halifax, on Canada's east coast, had already had one centennial and was celebrating its 137th birthday! In 1886, Toronto was boasting about its opera house, its college, and its brand new provincial Parliament Building. But what was happening in the eastern part of the country in 1886 might just as well have been happening in another world as far as Vancouver was concerned. Vancouver existed in a wild, lonely part of the country, cut off from the east by formidable mountain ranges and thousands of miles of prairie. In almost every way, young Vancouver was very much alone. It had to survive and grow on the abilities of the people who came here and the local resources they could find. The birth and growth of a city are like the birth and growth of a child. First, there are the nursery years - the early years when the city is formed with its own laws and boundaries and the first residents find work and build homes, stores, churches, and schools. Then come the learning years when the city's activities develop. Its activities are its commerce and industries. The people of the city discover what products they can make and sell to other towns, cites, and countries. They learn the most skilful way to market them. The learning years are the growing years. A city grows not only by having more and more people coming to live in it but also by developing a variety of industries and businesses. This attracts more and more people with different kinds of skills.