Vanier Park

Vanier Park

The flags of Vancouver, Canada, and British Columbia flying in Vanier Park
Type Public Park
Location Vancouver, British Columbia
Created 1967
Operated by City of Vancouver

Vanier Park is a municipal park located in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Museum of Vancouver, the Vancouver Maritime Museum, the City of Vancouver Archives, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.

View of Burrard Bridge from Vanier Park.

History

The Squamish people and their kin, the Tsleil-Waututh. Musqueam and Squamish/Tsleil-Waututh established a brief political unity in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century by Chief August Jack, aka Qahtsahlano,[1] who inherited the chieftaincy of both peoples[2] and established his residence at Snauq at the mouth of False Creek, now Vanier Park just west of the Burrard Bridge, rather than choose between residence at the Capilano Reserve or at Musqueam, as either of those would have had political implications for the one not chosen.[1]

Once a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) station, Number 7 Supply Depot, the site was turned over to the Vancouver Park Board by the Federal Government on October 28, 1966. Named for former Governor General of Canada Georges Vanier, the park officially opened on May 30, 1967. The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and the Vancouver Museum complex opened in 1968, thanks to lumber baron MacMillan’s $1.5 million donation.[3]

Deputy Park Board Superintendent William Livingstone, famous for his landscape design for Queen Elizabeth Park and VanDusen Botanical Garden, increased the size of the original park site using tons of free fill from the excavation for the MacMillan Bloedel Building on Georgia Street. The fill added additional acres onto the park which was then landscaped by Livingstone and his crew.[4]

Attractions

Vanier Park plays host to several of Vancouver’s biggest summer festivals, including the International Children’s Festival and the Shakespearean Bard on the Beach. It is the biggest and most famous of the fifteen parks in Kitsilano.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Early Vancouver, Vol. I, Chapters 1-3, Maj. J.S. "Skit" Matthews
  2. ↑ Early Vancouver, Vol I, Maj. J.S. "Skitt" Mathews, Vancouver City Archivist, 1930
  3. 1 2 Dana Lynch (2008-10-22). "Vanier Park Overview". About.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-09.
  4. ↑ "Vanier Park History". Vancouver Park Board. 2008-10-22.

Coordinates: 49°16′40″N 123°08′36″W / 49.27778°N 123.14333°W / 49.27778; -123.14333 (Vanier Park)

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