Streetcars of Fraser Street
Front view of interurban streetcar
The City of Vancouver was once a small logging village a block long along the edge of Burrard Inlet. Born out of two sawmills and logging camps, the city of Granville exploded in growth as it announced in 1885 that it was to be the western terminal of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Granville became the City of Vancouver in 1886 was nicknamed “Terminal City”. This booming town now housed over 10,000 people. The working class moved to settle and live in the more affordable small housing lots of suburban South Vancouver, so a more efficient means of travel became necessary to help workers commute to shopping and their jobs downtown. By the 1890’s, the city expanded its means of transportation from horse, wagon, bicycle, and foot to include these new streetcars and rail system.
North Arm Road (renamed Fraser Street in 1910) had its first streetcar running north-south in 1909 to connect with the New Westminster Interurban Line (that ran along present day Vanness Avenue, near Kingsway). Named the Victory Line, it served to bring commuters downtown past Victory Square. As well, Bodwell Road (now 33rd Avenue) was one of the first streetcar lines and connected Granville Street to North Arm Road. Named the Mountain View Line, its streetcar played the important role of accessing the roadway past the Mountain View Cemetery.
(source: Tom Snyders; with Jennifer O’Rourke (2001). Namely Vancouver, A Hidden History of Vancouver Place Names. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press)
(source: MacDonald, B (1992). Vancouver, A Visual History. Vancouver, BC: Talon Books.)
2 comments
January 27, 2017 at 11:37 am
I understood from reading the history of Mount Pleasant that Fraser Street was named Scott Street after Sir Walter Scott the novelist prior to becoming Fraser. Was that sometime between its North Arm Trail name and Fraser Street? My grandfather had his cabinet making shop at 2424 Scott Rd just below Broadway in the early 1920s and rode the streetcar to the hospital when he cut his thumb off in a saw to have it reattached – the thumb wrapped in a handkerchief. He was a tough old Scotsman.
August 9, 2024 at 11:53 am
It was indeed called Scott St at one time. The name is still stenciled in the cement side walks in at least 3 locations between 15th and 12th avenues.