December 9, 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the current Cambie Bridge, built just before Expo ’86. This photo was taken in 1984 by our photographer Denis Bouvier. It depicts the old Cambie Bridge still functioning on the left and the construction of the new bridge happening on the right.
The 1985 completion of the current bridge marks the 3rd bridge on the site. The first was a simple wooden trestle bridge built in 1891. It was replaced with the bridge we see on the left in 1911, originally called the Connaught Bridge after Canada’s Governor General of the day. However, the name Cambie Street Bridge remained as that’s how people continued to refer to it. It was a 4-lane bridge with a swing span in the centre which opened for marine traffic. (See The Source website.) It also enabled electric streetcars as today’s bridge does.
Of note is Henry John Cambie after whom the Cambie Bridge is named. He was the chief surveyor for Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CPR’s) expansion into BC. In 1887, he speaks of buying 2 lots “in the country” at the present location of Thurlow St. and Georgia St. He complains of the difficulty in getting sidewalks and telephone services as it was thought there would not be much development in the area west of Granville St. All this soon changed with the building of more houses and before 1920, there was a car dealership on the site that is now the location of the Shangri-La Hotel.
Vancouver, since its inception has had sustained periods of rapid growth. One was the completion of the CPR into Vancouver in 1887. This especially aided the development of the lumber industry by providing rapid transport of lumber products directly from False Creek. Looking down from the 1911 Cambie bridge, we could see False Creek’s booming industries of shingle mills, cooperages, cement works and saw mills. Sweeney Barrels, a cooperage for 75 years, was still located in False Creek next to the Cambie Bridge in the early 80’s. (See The Source website.) Another period of growth was the Klondike gold rush of 1897–98 when Vancouver supplied many prospectors. And the turn of the century brought a huge influx of workers to support not only the lumber industry but Vancouver’s status as a major port. It shipped goods including lumber and fishing was important as well. As a result, construction was on the rise and Mount Pleasant on the south side of False Creek became one of Vancouver’s first neighbourhoods outside the downtown core. The new 1911 bridge enabled better access to Mount Pleasant. It served pedestrians, the new automobile and had streetcars.
Vancouver was no stranger to speculation in those days anymore than today. As early as 1869, Henry Edmonds, a clerk of the municipal council in New Westminster, bought up land in what was to become Mount Pleasant. He wisely anticipated the railway coming to Vancouver and together with the city’s natural harbor could foresee great growth. His partner was Dr. Israel Powell, a key negotiator in making BC a part of Canada as well as negotiating the railway coming here. Powell and Edmonds expected to make a fortune in real estate and indeed they did.
The building of the current Cambie Bridge with 6 lanes was needed to fulfill Vancouver’s expanding needs as well as to replace a bridge that was no longer safely functional. The new bridge combined with the success of Expo’86 helped usher in another era of development, opening the eyes of the world to the charms of Vancouver, which included the prospect of speculating in Vancouver’s real estate. We have the example of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, who bought the former Expo lands for 328 million in 1988 and developed it under Concord Pacific.
On the southwest side of the Cambie Bridge, in the late 70’s, False Creek as a residential area had already begun along with the development of Granville Island. We can see part of these residences in the picture on the right south side of the bridge.
Today Vancouver continues to experience major growth and the accompanying real estate speculation. We see building construction in False Creek still expanding as well as major development throughout the city and its environs. How this is impacting the city will be the subject of a future photo/article in The Source Newspaper.
