I have been looking forward to tonight’s meeting of the New Westminster Historical Society. It is not so much that former New Westminster curator Archie Miller and the historical society’s organizer would be presenting commentary and images on the Hollywood Sanitarium and the New Westminster Mall (the mall replaced the hospital that was between 5th and 6th streets, uptown New West) and his usual photo groups of places and people throughout this cities 150 year history. I just missed being there.
I became a member of the group a little over …

Local blog Regarding Place has an interesting feature called “A Year in Five Minutes” in which they write a quick overview of the highlights of a given year in history here in the GVRD. The latest was 1898, which was marked by (among other things), New Westminster’s Great Fire :

Another Great Fire

The year was bad for New Westminster. The entire downtown section of the city was burned in a great fire September 10/11, including almost all the commercial section. Hundreds were left homeless. Almost 60 city blocks were leveled. Vancouver Fire …

Those seeking ideas for sustainable decorations this Christmas, should cast their eye to the keepers of the past. New Westminster’s Irving House museum is profiled on Gardenwise for their unusual twist on a traditional garland that uses real apples for a beautiful and memorable look.
At Irving House in New Westminster the halls really are decked with boughs of holly — and lots of other traditional accents that transform the home into a celebration of a Victorian Christmas.
There are probably not many better places to evoke the spirit of the season …

B.C. celebrates its 150th birthday this year, and as part of the Vancouver Sun’s coverage , it put together a list of the top 10 photos in our province’s history.
Somewhat surprisingly to me, only one is taken in New Westminster (but I suppose they had to spread it around a bit). It is the iconic image of a little boy running after his father , who is marching off to war. The photo was taken on Columbia Street by photographer Claude Detloff for The Province newspaper, and the man in the photo is Pte. Jack …

I just came back from my weekly lunchtime yoga at work, and as I sat down for a dose of 102tF, it got me thinking about the role that the spiritual life, and churches in particular, have played in our Royal City. Without any real historical training or knowledge (Will and Peter Julian will have to help you with that), I figure that when New West was settled and in the decades after, churches likely played an important role in developing a sense of community in our city.
The first …

New Westminster packs 60,000 people into just 15 square kilometres. Despite the skyscrapers and traffic jams, this city of ours still behaves like a small town. The annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the armory is a hugely popular civic event. We have just one high school.  Our mayor is a jolly guy who drives an old Ford truck. And our MP, Peter Julian, is a friendly Salmonbellies fan who, like many of us, still carries a bit of a chip on his shoulder from 1868 when Victoria stole the title …

Now that the dust has settled and the result is no different than last election (Is it just me or does anyone else have deja vu from October?), perhaps there’s no wonder that a proportion of New Westminster’s citizens voted (in a completely non-binding way) to increase the electoral cycle from 3 years to 4 – perhaps this proportion of the population believes that since nothing will change, why go to the expense to have elections so frequently?
I’m sure that in the coming weeks, editors, electors and candidates will toss …

New Westminster is one of B.C.’s oldest cities. Despite the ravages of fire and flood, many of New West’s historical buildings still stand. Our history is one of the things that differentiates us from the newer municipalities that have since eclipsed New West in size and renown. 

Most of our residents know we were once British Columbia’s capital city (until dastardly Victoria, Jacob to our Esau, stole this birthright), but you may not know what it was like in the ‘olden days’ here. Our resident historian Archie Miller does his part, …

Heritage home aficionados can now sign up for applied courses on home restoration through the Vancouver Heritage Foundation:
… the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, established in 1992 and best known for raising money and awareness through workshops and its wildly popular annual heritage home tours, to offer a unique educational series.
It’s called Old School: Courses for Building Conservation, and it’s designed to meld heritage theory with hands-on practice.
The $400 certificate program comprises a mandatory core course called Heritage 101, as well as seven elective courses.
Graduation – and it’s expected it will …