page 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERVIEW/GORD ISFELD

Dec.'6, 1977 ~

 

~ Redevelopment—
turning the clock back

he city of New West-
minster is dying. The
once jewel of the Lo-
wer Mainland--that
commercial haven
—————centralized on Colum-
bia Street--has lost
the majority of it’s
business community.

But seeing this trend the
Greater Vancouver Regional
District (GVRD) in 1976
came to the rescue with the
Liveable Region Program.
The program called for a
planned growth of the Lower
Mainland, with one area
being New Westminster.

But even befor that time,
in 1972, many of the resi-
dents of the area -- mainly
the business oriented -- were

‘grouping forces to establish |

a workable plan to best
revitalize the downtown_
area.

scheme which included a
new $16 million Douglas
College campus, a new jus-
tice centre, provincial and
federal offices, a 2,500 seat
performing arts centre, a
monorail or arial tram and
development of the water-
front for construction of a
residential and hotel com-
plex. The project will be
contained within a 100 acre
area and is expected to
increase the city’s population
by 25,000 as well as provide
about 2,000 permanent jobs.

The first phase of the
project is expected to be
completed within five years.

One of the original mem-
bers of the community group
was Allan Woodland, chief
librarian of the New West-
minster Public Library.

Born and educated in Eng-

land, Woodland came to '°

Canada in 1957 to become

has compiled his thoughts
and rare collection of photo-
graphs into a book entitled,
New Westminster--The early
years 1858-1898. The book
traces the history of the city
from the time of Colonel
Moody to the day of the great

be getting a huge shopping
complex on what was the
Hollywood Hospital site.
B.C. Tel will be expanding
their existing facilities, as
well as the Royal Canadian
Legion, both situated on
Sixth St.

 

City will play
the same role
that it did.

 

fire and farther.

The BCDC plan will be
complemented by a face-lift
under way.in the upper part
of the downtown area. New
development will see the

 

 

 

New Westminster library director Allan Woodland

 

 

 

 

 

in historical repose.

 

 

Included in this group
were the local businessmen,
politicians and government.

From their discussions
with the city and the GVRD
came proposals that even-
tually pressured the city into
seeking provincial aide for
implementation of their
plans.

This action followed the
provincial government’s de-
cision to pull out of a
| proposed plan to build the

hava office for the Insurance
Corporation of B.C. in the
city. With that decision, the
city began to push harder on
Victoria for a firmer commit-
ment. The government an-
swered by turning the B.C.
Development Corporation
(BCDC) loose on the massive
project of getting New West-
minster ‘back on its feet’.

But those feet to fit into
expensive shoes.

In september, BCDC re-
vealed their $150 million
downtown redevelopment

librarian for the Attorney
General’s of B.C. He was
appointed reference librarian
at the New Westminster
Library in 1961 and became
chief in 1973.

Woodland sees the BCDC
revitalization plan as a move
to bring the feeling of history
back to the city.

He says the original city
“‘wasn’t an accident of geo-
graphy,’’ but rather a ‘‘de-
signed town’’ which met the
needs of the first settlers.
That design, he says, was
implemented in the same
way that the present BCDC
is to be implemented.

“I’m very excited,’’ he
says, ‘‘because it (the city)
can play the same role as it
did.’’ He sees a revitalized
city as once again the central
focus of the Fraser Valley
whereby goods and produce
could be brought to its
central location for sale.

Woodland, who is also a
New Westminster historian,

present library expanded to
the adjacent block with a
mini-park to be formed by
the streets closing.

The library expansion,

With the addition of these
projects and others in the
uptown section of the city,
Woodlands feels the present
council has been doing a

‘fantastic job’’ in attracting
greater residential and com-
mercial development into the
city. “It can’t do anything
but good,”’ he said.

Woodland believes the
time has come when the
community needs a ‘new
city’. A city, he adds, that
may be more worth con-
structing and preserving
than the present structures.

There comes a time, he
says, when a ‘“‘functioning”’
city must replace a dying
one. But that should be done
by using parts from existing
structures, he said.

Woodland believes that
something had to be done
with the city before it ‘‘be-
came a ghost town’’ and it

might be necessary to ‘‘Vir-
tually wipe out’’ the present
buildings to make way for
better structures that could
probably last longer.

At present, he says, there
are only two original struc-
tures at Fourth Avenue and
Columbia, left from before
the fire.

He said many of the older
buildings that are now

 

The following is an essay
by former Sussex elementa
school student Gord Isfeld,
which attempts to give a
brief outline of New West-
minster’s long and colorful
history. The essay, originally
compiled for a grade 5 Social
Studies course, was finally
returned unmarked to its
author last week after 16
years in the hands of his
teacher [now an alderman in
Surrey--and we know how|_
busy they have been with the

ravel business out there.]|

ue to recent moves to re-
vitalize the city’s downtown
area, we felt it appropriate to
run Isfeld’s essay at this
time.

 

 

‘Penitentuary
fantastic legislature.’

 

which was given the go-
ahead by city council in
October, will cost $1,590,000
with construction already on
‘the way.

The expansion will include
the enlarging of all depart-
ments, more public reading
space, a new public audito-
rium and a community con-
ference room. 3,000 square
feet are to be set aside to
accomodate the future re-
birth of the New Westmin-

ster Art Gallery.
Along with the library’s
expansion, the uptown will

Standing are not original
structures, but were actually
built in the last 50 years.

Woodland sees the possi-
bility of New Westminster
returning to its once impor-

tant position in the Lower
Mainland. And that includes
its position as capital of B.C.

Victoria is an inappro-
pe location for the capital

e says, and it should be
returned to the ‘Royal City’.
“The (B.C.) Penitentuary
would make a fantastic legis-
lature.’’

 

hen the area that:

is now known as

New Westmin-

ster was no more

than a dense fo-

rest of cedar, fir
and hemlock at the top of the
hill, the Stalo, Kwantlen,
Coquitlam and Tsawwassen
Indians would fish along the
Fraser River’s banks. They
were joined during the sum-
mer fishing season by the
Nanaimo, Saanich and Cowi-
chan fisherman who tended
their nets near Ladner.

In 1838, when the Hud-
son’s Bay Company obtained
exclusive trading rights for
the entire region of what is
now called British Columbia,
many of the Indians moved
farther up the river, those
who remained began to trade
with the company at the
handful of posts scattered
from Langley on the Lower
Fraser to Fort Work on the
Peace River.

In 1857, gold was. dis-.).
covered in the Thompson
River and its tributaries. The
following year, the Hudson’s
Bay Company sent nuggets
of this gold to San Francisco
for minting, creating the
Great Fraser Gold Rush as
fortune hunters began arri-
ving in what became known
as New Caledonia (British
Columbia).

_To protect the domain of
the Hudson’s Bay Company,
and prevent clashes between
the Indians and _ miners,
James Douglas, Governor of
Vancouver Island and a se-
nior official for the company,
sent a message to England
requesting military aid.

On July 8, 1858, Sir
Edward Lytton, Secretary of
State for the colonies an-
swered the request by dis-
patching a party of Royal
Engineers.

Four months later, on Nov.
19, 1858, Douglas and a
small group of government
officials travelled by steam-
boat to Fort Langley where a
proclamation was issued
making New Caledonia a
British Colony. The name
was later changed to British
Columbia by Queen Victoria.

Douglas was sworn in as
Governor and immediately
read a proclamation revoking
the grant made to the Hud-
son’s Bay Company of li-
cense to exclusive trade with
the Indians and declaring
English law to be in force in
the new colony.

A 900 acre site at Derby
(about three miles up the
south side of the Fraser from
Fort Langley) had been cho-
sen by Douglas to be the
colony’s capital, but the Ro-
yal Engineers, under the
command of Colonel Cle-
ment Moody, had began
work to survey and subdivide
a new site --- Queensborough