I found this charming little postcard dated August 7, 1904 while trolling Vancouver Archive’s website. It’s written to a Miss L.M. Woodrow “With every good wish for your birthday, from Emily.”
Second CPR station
I loved the picture of the second CPR station that briefly sat at the foot of Granville Street, and I wanted to know a little about Emily and the postcard’s recipient, Miss L.M. Woodrow. So last night, I poured a glass of wine and started to search.
My first stop was the 1904 City Directories. I looked up the Woodrow’s address at 1188 Robson Street (Bute Street). It was owned by John Woodrow who ran Woodrow and Williams butchers at Westminster and 9th Avenue (Main and Broadway).
1188 Robson Street
Jumping ahead to 1910, the Woodrow’s are still living there, but now more of the family members are listed, including Lillian. I found Lillian Margaret Woodrow’s marriage certificate at Vital Statistics. She married a banker named Fred Middleton Jones in September 1911 when she was 28. Lillian was born in Brighton, England and moved to Vancouver when she was six.
From her death certificate I know that Lillian was born on August 8, 1883–four days after the date of the postcard. A search of the Mountain View Cemetery site shows that Emily is buried with her mother, father, and brother, while her four younger sisters have a separate stone.
Emily lived in the family home until her death in 1939. The street address disappears from the city directories in 1941.
The Second CPR station sadly had a much shorter life. Built in 1899, it was quickly deemed too small for burgeoning Vancouver, and the station was demolished in August 1914 when it was just 15 years old. The station was replaced by the current Waterfront Station, which against all odds, continues to exist.
1188 Robson Street is more of a mystery. It’s now the Happy Lemon tea shop, which according to BC Assessment was built in 1988. I would love to see the house where they Woodrows lived for decades, but so far nothing has turned up.
For more stories like this see Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
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10 comments on “A Charming 1904 Postcard”
Hi Eve,
I love research and writing about local history, so I loved this little piece, complete with the pictures that help to bring the story to life.
So glad you enjoyed the story Len!
I went to Second Beach be-ins. I was 18 and my parents did not approve because they thought it might be dangerous and people would be smoking that “Mari ji wanna”.
Very interesting, thanks. Could it be that 1188 Robson shows up on the 1907 streetcar video tour of Vancouver? There is a segment that is heading west on Robson.
Good idea – I’ll have a look when I get a chance
This post card is unusual in that it shows the north side of the CPR station, complete with freight cars, a plume of steam from a locomotive and the tops of passenger cars. There is a road in the foreground built on pilings. “City” as part of the address was all that was needed to deliver the card.
In 1970 I lived in the Fairmont Apartments at 10th and Spruce, 100 years old this year. Next door to me in Suite 21 were two older ladies, Miss Sutherland and Miss Sigurdson. They referred to each other as Siggie and Suthie. Miss Sutherland had arrived in Vancouver in 1905 on a CPR train as a teenager, and sent a post card to her relatives in England. It was the Cordova Street view of the CPR station, and her note to them. It found its way back to Canada and she showed it to me. She said that her first impression of Vancouver was the Ladies washroom at the station, which had Pear’s soap in it. She thought that was pretty classy. The family first lived at 627 Harris Street, now East Georgia Street. The house is still there. She recalled that the streetcars passed in front of their home, and in the afternoon rush hour people were hanging on the rear of the streetcar.
Love this story, thanks Angus! I’ve never seen any interior photos of the second CPR station. So if you find any, shoot them over
I found an interesting video showing many of the long-gone shops on Robson street in 1964. I remember Robson from the 1970s – the International News store was a fascinating place to visit after enjoying a meal at a nearby Moroccan place called Le Couscous. There was also a Mexican restaurant there, as well as the Mozart Konditorei, which later moved to a less charming location at Robson Square. The neighbourhood was already starting to change by then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EfLBbYFzJ8
Thanks for posting. My first look at Robson was in the mid 1980s, it looked more like the film than it does today
Minor quibble: BC vital statistics records available online are not *certificates*. Certificates are unique, state the information in an official manner, and are issued/sealed by a government office/agent. If it’s not a sealed original (by definition the online scans cannot be), it’s not a *certificate*.