This two-part series explores Vernon’s earliest mayors, highlighting their contributions to the city’s growth as well as a few memorable personal touches. While more recent mayors have also played important roles in Vernon’s development, this series focuses on the earliest leaders, capturing a time when the city was still establishing its civic traditions.
Vernon was officially incorporated in 1892, with W. F. Cameron serving as its first mayor. Cameron, one of Vernon’s first shopkeepers, owned a general store on Barnard (now 30th) Avenue. In the early days of municipal government, Vernon was still learning the routines of Mayor and Council. At the first City Council meeting in February 1893, Mayor Cameron spent the initial thirty minutes waiting for the Aldermen to arrive, as they preferred a more leisurely start than the punctual Cameron anticipated.
Many of Vernon’s early mayors were shopkeepers, reflecting the practical needs of a growing community. J. M. Martin, mayor from 1894 to 1896, ran Martin Brothers Hardware with his siblings, serving customers not only in Vernon but across British Columbia and parts of the United States. Martin was also an avid curler. W. J. Armstrong, mayor in 1897, operated a hardware store in a building later home to the Kwong Hing Lung dry goods and grocery store, where the young Larry Kwong was raised. Armstrong, incidentally, was Vernon’s first tinsmith.
The contributions of these early mayors extended beyond commerce. Martin oversaw the early development of the Vernon Fire Department, while Armstrong collaborated with Clara Cameron, wife of the city’s first mayor, and the National Council of Women to establish Vernon’s first hospital.
Other early leaders included F. A. Meyer, who served in 1896 and ran a short-lived private college in Vernon, and W. T. Shatford, mayor from 1898 to 1899, who focused on the city’s fire, water, and street lighting infrastructure before resigning due to ill health. W. R. Megaw held the mayoral office in multiple terms between 1899 and 1902 and again from 1907 to 1908. During his first year, Megaw faced public concern when the city’s scavenger—a worker responsible for waste disposal—was found washing his wagon in one of Vernon’s creeks. Megaw was also a prominent merchant in the region and operated the first McLaughlin-Buick dealership in the area.
A. C. Carew, mayor from 1903 to 1904, brought a different perspective as a retired Navy captain. During his tenure, Vernon’s first City Hall was built, and the city police service was expanded. H. G. Muller, mayor from 1905 to 1906, owned the Coldstream Hotel and is remembered for a more colorful chapter in Vernon’s history, having clashed with the Vernon News over a council motion related to advertising, a conflict tied to his involvement with a competing publication now apparently lost to time.
These early mayors offer a glimpse of Vernon as a small but growing city, shaped by commerce, community, and leaders with both vision and character. The next installment will look at the following generation of mayors and how they continued to guide the city’s development in the early 20th century.
Archives Manager, Gwyneth Evans