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Tag: Vernon

The Vernon Hotel

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

A black and white image of two buildings on the side a dirt road. The structure in the foreground, the Vernon Hotel, is shorter while the Hotel Vernon next to it is three-stories tall.
The original Vernon Hotel next to its Hotel Vernon addition in 1910 (featuring an ad for Fairy Soap on a nearby hitching post).

Vernon’s First Hotel

Don’t worry, you’re not seeing double. There was a point in Vernon’s history when the Vernon Hotel and the Hotel Vernon stood side-by-side on 30th Avenue. The taller Hotel Vernon was an extension of the original Vernon Hotel, which was built way back in 1885.

A black and white image of a large bar room. A dark bar is set against the far wall, and three men in white uniforms are standing behind it. A number of men are standing in front of the bar.
The Vernon Hotel bar room circa 1895. The hotel was known as a “working man’s hotel.”

GVMA #184.

The Vernon Hotel was the first hotel in the city, but even as early as 1889, it had earned somewhat of an infamous reputation; in his book “The Valley of Youth,” Charles Holliday describes it as “a pretty tough sort of place” after witnessing a crowd of men fighting in the hotel’s front yard. It was said, however, to boast the finest watermelon vines in town, so that is something!

A black and white image of the Hotel Vernon, from which large clouds of smoke are billowing out of.
Views of the Hotel Vernon fire in 1950. GVMA #9492 and #5134. 

The Hotel is expanded

In 1908, a large addition to the Vernon Hotel was completed just next door, and the name Hotel Vernon was attached to it. The hotel’s owner at the time was Doctor Hugh Cox. The expansion consisted of a three-story building, and added an additional 44 bedrooms, as well as sitting rooms, a barber shop, a pool room with pool and billiard tables, a bar, and three separate cellars. The old building, meanwhile, included 14 bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. But even with this growth, the hotel was often at capacity, and sometimes in the summer months, staff would have to put out cots on the verandah for surplus guests.

The Vernon Hotel Company and The fire of 1950

In 1913, the Vernon Hotel Company was formed with the object of purchasing the Hotel Vernon. They had plans to remove the old structure, build another addition and increase the hotel’s rate from $1.00 to $2.00 per day. While the old Vernon Hotel structure was demolished in 1927 so that the lumber could be reused, the Vernon Hotel Company did not actually come in to possession of the Hotel Vernon (are you confused yet?) until 1943, when it was sold by the wife of the hotel’s late owner, George H. Dobie.

Unfortunately, the company’s time with the hotel was short-lived, as it was destroyed in a fire in January of 1950 that forced the hotel’s manager, William Petruk, to evacuate his wife and two small children from the second-story balcony. While all the hotel’s guests were able to escape safely with only a few minor injuries, all that remained of the building after the flames were extinguished was a single wall.

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Head of Archives

 

 

 

 

Vernon’s Barnard Avenue in 1894

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

A black-and-white image of a muddy streetscape, with buildings lining the side. Along the top of the image is printed the text "2309 Main Street, Vernon, B.C."
Vernon’s Barnard Avenue, now known as 30th, looking east, taking around the time the following observations were recorded in the Vernon News of December 1894.

Take a stroll back in time

If you were to take a walk down Vernon’s 30th Avenue today in 2023, which shops would you see? You might notice the grandiose columns of the Nixon Wenger building, the bright red sign of the Curry Pot, or the many shiny windows of the CIBC Banking Centre. You might even observe some remnants of bygone eras, such as pale orange letters above the Bean Scene Coffee House that read “Land and Agricultural Company of Canada.”

Nearly 130 years ago, one local editor did just this (although, during his time, 30th Avenue was known as Barnard Avenue), and relayed his observations in the Vernon News of December 20, 1894. His account is as follows:

Cameron and Hudson’s Bay Co. Stores

“Starting at the west end of Barnard Avenue, the first store is that of W. F. Cameron, one of the pioneer merchants of the Okanagan … The handsome wooden building is … packed from cellar to roof with one of the largest and most varied stocks of general merchandise to be found in the interior.”

“The next business establishment is the Hudson Bay store, a handsome brick structure, with an entrance on two streets. Hats, caps, and fur goods fill one of the large show windows, while the other contains a tempting display of dried fruits and groceries.”

Megaw and Armstrong shops

“Situated in a splendid business position at the corner of Mission [now 34th] Street and Barnard Avenue is the large brick block of W. R. Megaw, whose stock of general goods embraces almost everything … a show case near the front entrance, filled with a rich selection of silk handkerchiefs and ladies’ ties, is sure to attract attention, and on the opposite side an almost endless variety of shirts and underwear invite the male visitor to loosen up the strings of his pocket-book.”

“One block above, on the corner of Coldstream Avenue and Vance [now 33rd] Street, Mr. W. J. Armstrong hangs out his sign as ‘The Hardware, Tin, and Stove Man’ … Scattered through the building may be found cook-stoves, ranges, and parlor stoves in all designs, shapes, and sizes; granite-ware, chocolate-ware, shelf and heavy hardware, and tin goods, cover the counters, fill the shelves to overflowing, or hang suspended from the ceiling.”

Epicurean delights and more

“On the north side of Barnard Avenue at the corner of Vance Street, Mr. A. C. Fuller conducts business in the grocery and liquor lines … There is no old or shelf-worn stock in his store, and the groceries present a fresh and inviting appearance.” Meanwhile, an “abundant supply of poultry of all kinds may be found at the establishment of Knight & Co., purveyors of meats … and the array of beef, pork, sausages, head cheese, etc., which are to be here found are displayed in a manner to delight epicurean eyes.”

The article traces its way down the remainder of 30th Avenue, describing the many confectionary, stationery, drug, and jewelry stores along the way. While we unfortunately cannot travel back in time, it is almost possible to imagine yourself in 1894, walking down Vernon’s unpaved main street, with such descriptive writing.    

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Head of Archives

 

 

 

 

Agatha Christie Comes to Vernon

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

On the left is a black and white photo of a woman resting her head on her hands; on the right is an excerpt from the Vernon News.
A portrait of Agatha Christie in 1958 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license) next to an excerpt from the Vernon News of September 28, 1922, discussing the visit of her husband Archie to the city.

A future famous author comes to town

In the fall of 1922, her visit to Vernon barely earned a mentioned, but only a few years later she had begun to develop a reputation as one of the best mystery writers of all time.

On September 23, 1922, none other than Agatha Christie arrived in Vernon with her husband Col. Archie Christie. At the time, she had already published her first novel featuring Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but it had not earned her much notoriety.  

Journey around the World

As reported by the Vernon News on September 28, 1922, Archie Christie arrived in Vernon as part of a trade mission led by Major Ernest Belcher to promote the upcoming British Empire Exhibition in London. Although she is not mentioned in the Vernon News article, Agatha Christie had also come along on this around-the-world tour.

Prior to arriving in Canada, the group first visited Madeira, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, and stopped in Victoria, B.C., on September 16, 1922. In a letter she wrote to her mother from her comfortable room in the Empress Hotel, Agatha Christie stated that “it was delicious coming into Victoria yesterday afternoon, blue sea and sunshine, crisp but not cold, and a wonderful scent of pinewoods!”

The group traveled to Vernon a week later, where Archie Christie was met by a delegation from the city’s Board of Trade. He was taken on a tour of Coldstream, and joined in discussions about inter-imperial trade and the upcoming exhibition set to be held in 1924. What his wife did while he was toted around the city is sadly not known.

Did Vernon have an impact on Agatha Christie? 

Only four years later, in 1926, Christie finally began receiving attention for her work, with the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. That same year, however, she sadly saw her relationship with Archie come to a tumultuous end, which resulted in her being reported missing from her home in Sunningdale, England, for 11 days. While her disappearance and subsequent reappearance have never been fully explained, she went on to find love with her second husband Max Mallowan, and become the best-selling fiction writer of all time.

Whether or not Agatha Christie had any lasting impressions of the small city she visited during her 1922 world-wide tour cannot be confirmed, but her 1930 novel Giant’s Bread, published under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, did include a main character named “Vernon:” so who knows?

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Miriam Jayne

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

A woman with grey hair wearing a jean shirt over a blue patterned dress has a pink birthday badge pinned to her dress. She is outdoors, and leading a horse by a rope.
The above photo shows Miss Jayne at one of her birthday parties, the year she decided to invite a horse as a guest just so that she could take it for a walk. She had always loved horses. This photo was used as the cover of her funeral program, a copy of which is held at the Vernon Archives.

George VI’s Body Double

Did you know that the Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s first physiotherapist, Miriam Jayne, also had connections to King George VI?

Miriam Jayne was born in 1923 in Bristol, England, to Lt. Col. and Mrs. Wallace Jayne. When she was a child, Miriam’s father Wallace worked as a body double for King George VI, a role which was shrouded in mystery. While the responsibilities of royal body doubles is kept quiet for safety’s sake, Queen Elizabeth’s body double was known to attend practice runs of important state events in order to afford the Queen more time in her packed schedule, so it is suspected Wallace Jayne filled a similar role for her father.

Journey to Canada

Meanwhile, Miss Jayne went on to have her own military career, and joined the Women’s Land Army during World War Two. She later trained as a chartered physiotherapist and orthopedic nurse, practicing in England, Wales, and Scotland. Miss Jayne moved to Canada in 1950, and Vernon in 1952, where she began working at the Vernon Jubilee Hospital. She remained in this position until 1988.

An Okanagan Landing resident

Miss Jayne was also an active community member; a resident of Okanagan Landing, she was approached in 1998 by the Landing Association to produce a history of the organization since their beginnings in 1949. This publication was unveiled in 2002, and included sections on the history of the SS Naramata, the Okanagan Landing Regatta, the North Okanagan Sailing Association and the Okanagan Landing Fire Department.

Miriam Jayne passed away in 2014.

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Christmases Past

Posted on by Vernon Museum
A black and white image of an old car with three occupants and some greenery attached to it on a snowy backroad. In the background is a mountain and trees.
A group out Christmas tree hunting near Vernon circa 1913.

An older woman seated in a chair with her hands folded over a blanket on her lap.Christmas Spirit

Wishing all who celebrate, a very Merry Christmas! While it goes without saying that some Christmas traditions have changed significantly since the early 20th century, the spirit of the season has largely withstood the test of time.

In an interview from 1988, Jean (Crockard) Knight shared her childhood memories of Vernon at Christmas time. Jean and her family came to the area from Scotland in 1906, and moved in with her grandparents who owned a large home on 35th Avenue. Jean was one of seven children, four of whom were born in Vernon.

Roast chicken and plum pudding

At first, Jean’s father William had some difficulty finding work in Vernon, which meant that the Christmas season was a time for ingenuity. The family made a lot of their own decorations, and Jean even recalled being taught how to do so in school. Eventually, William began working as a stonemason and was involved in the construction of the Vernon Courthouse.

The family later moved into their own cottage on 43rd Avenue, and on Christmas Day, they would bundle up warmly to make the kilometer or so trek to visit their grandparents. Jean’s grandmother had a chicken coop, so Christmas dinner usually consisted of roast chicken with all the trimmings, followed by a rich fruit pudding (similar to an English plum pudding) which they called a “dumpling.”

A close-up of a green Christmas Tree with lights. A small red wooden rocking horse decoration in hanging in the foreground.

Gifts, sleigh rides, and skating

Presents were not plentiful; Jean recalled that she and her siblings would only receive one or two each, for which they were always grateful. When she was about 15, Jean’s father purchased a gramophone for the family, a gift that was thoroughly enjoyed by all of them. It was around this time that Jean began working at Olson’s Bakery, and always put some of her wage aside to purchase small gifts for her parents, while the rest went towards the family’s household expenses.

As a teenager, Jean loved going for sleigh rides with her friends, and while William could not afford his own sleigh, one year he decided to fix up his own. He fastened a box on bobsled runners, covered it with a quilt, and drove the family into town for Christmas concerts and other seasonal activities (Jean’s personal favourite was skating). 

Jean married Harry Knight (the nephew of Vernon’s first butcher Henry Knight) in 1922, but always recalled her happy childhood traditions, some of which she passed down to her own children. “We always had good Christmases and plenty, too,” she said.

The Museum & Archives of Vernon would like to wish you a safe and happy holiday, and a wonderful 2023!

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Sophie Ellison

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

Two black and white photos of the same woman. The left photo shows a younger woman gazing away from the camera. She has curly dark hair pulled back into a low bun, and is wearing a white dress with a lace collar and floral ornament at the front of her shirt. The right photo is of an older woman, also gazing away from the camera. She is also wearing a white dress or shirt, which is fastened around the neck with a broach.
(Left) Sophie Johnson circa 1884 and (right) circa 1900.

A remarkable women in Vernon’s History

Since 1992, October has served as Women’s History Month in Canada, which includes International Day of the Girl on October 11 and Persons Day on October 18.

Much is known about her husband Price Ellison, one of Vernon’s founding fathers and a Member of the Legislative Assembly, but Sophia Christine Ellison (often called Sophie) is just as remarkable for her contributions to this City.

a yOUNG wOMAN ARRIVES IN vERNON

Sophie Johnson was born in 1857 to Lutheran missionaries from Sweden who settled in the eastern United States. When she was 27, Sophie travelled with her cousin Emma Lind to Vernon to visit her uncle Peter Anderson. Vernon at the time was mostly occupied by single men, so the arrival of the ladies caused quite a bit of excitement. It wasn’t long before the beautiful Sophie caught the eye of blacksmith and rancher Price Ellison, whom she later married.

Vernon’s First School Teacher

In October of 1884, a one-room school house was opened in Vernon, on what is now 25th Avenue, to serve the children of five local families. Sophie was asked to teach the children, since although she had no formal training, she had an extensive knowledge of art, literature, and music. She agreed, and became Vernon’s first teacher.

Unfortunately, the schoolhouse was burnt down in March of 1885; a blaze began while Sophie and the children were inside completing their lessons, as recounted by student Marie Houghton (later Brent). They managed to carry everything movable outside, but their beloved schoolhouse was lost. 

A new one was built, but Sophie stepped down from teaching when she became pregnant with her first child. Sophie and Price Ellison went on to have 8 children. The family first lived in a log cabin near Price’s forge, but once they outgrew that, moved to a three-story home on Pleasant Valley Road.

An activte mother and community member

In addition to caring for her large family, Sophie was an active community member. She served on the Vernon Branch of the Council of Women and the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Board, and was the first president of the Vernon & District Women’s Institute. She played the pipe organ at two local churches, and was an avid supporter of the Girl Guides of Canada.

When Sophie celebrated her 90th birthday in 1947, the Vernon News described her life as “bound up intimately with the development and growth of her beloved city.” Sophie Ellison passed away on July 4, 1954.

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Temporary Foreign Workers in Vernon

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

An undated photo of an orchard in bloom in Coldstream. Temporary foreign workers from Latin America (and other regions) have served in Vernon’s agricultural industry for decades.

Latin American Heritage Month

In 2018, October was declared Latin American Heritage Month in Canada. Latin America stretches from Mexico to Tierra Del Fuego, and B.C., as well as Vernon in particular, has a closer relationship with the region than one might think.

Temporary Foreign Workers in B.C. and Vernon

During the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858, Mexican labourers arrived in the colony of British Columbia to serve as pack train operators who led long processions of horses, donkeys, or other pack animals loaded with freight. About 400 horses and mules from Mexico journeyed into the province alongside the pack train operators.

Between the years of 1892 and 1973, no individual from Latin America was naturalized at the Vernon Court House, but temporary foreign workers from the region did begin arriving around the turn of the 21st century. In 2005, that there were about 400 temporary foreign workers in the Valley, a number which increased to around 3,000 in 2009.

Challenges and vulnerabilities

The Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Service Society hosted pop-up clinics with Interior Health for temporary foreign workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (photo courtesy of VDICSS, 2021).

The temporary foreign worker population continued to grow over the next few years (and this trend is set to continue) to meet the Okanagan’s economic development and labour market needs; however, these individuals often face health and safety concerns while at work. Since the 1980s, it has been difficult to locate temporary housing for foreign workers, and, in more recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic left them particular vulnerable.

In 2020, the Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society committed to identifying and responding to the needs of temporary foreign workers, as well as creating a database of information highlighting their economic impact on the region. In 2021, the group teamed up with Interior Health to host a number of pop-up vaccination clinics for temporary workers.

In terms of permanent Latin American immigrants in Vernon, the 2016 Census identified 35 originating from Mexico, 10 from Brazil, 20 from Colombia, 20 from El Salvador, and 20 from Guyana.  

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

German History in Vernon

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

A black and white photo of a man wearing a white shirt and sitting among boxes of Okanagan Spring Lager and Pale Ale. He is smiling at the camera.
Jakob Tobler, president of the Okanagan Spring Brewery, in 1989. Tobler emigrated with his family from Germany in the 1980s, and is one of several Germany-Canadians who have contributed to Vernon’s cultural diversity.

German Heritage Month

October is German Heritage Month in Canada! With more than 3 million people, German Canadians represent one of the biggest cultural groups in the country, which has in turn adopted a wide range of German traditions, including the celebrated Oktoberfest.

German Immigration

Silky flag of Germany waving in the wind with highly detailed fabric texture

The first Germans in Western Canada arrived in 1817 as part of a military contingent hired by Lord Selkirk of the Red River Colony. Immigration to the Okanagan Valley, meanwhile, began around the turn of the 20th century.

In July of 1911, the Vernon News reported that a number of German residents living in the Canadian prairies were visiting the Valley in the hope of finding land on which to settle. The first German settler who was naturalized at the Vernon Courthouse was William Harroff, a carpenter, in 1923. By 1947, approximately another 450 German immigrants became Canadian Citizens at the Courthouse.

Discrimination and celebration

An angry crowd confronting German settlers on board the S. S. Sicamous circa 1919.

Although German culture is now rightly celebrated in Vernon and the Okanagan Valley, it goes without saying that this was not always the case, considering the complicated legacy of the two World Wars.

Within days of the outbreak of World War One, the Canadian government developed a comprehensive set of national security guidelines around German immigrants to Canada. Then, between 1914 and 1918, hundreds of German men, women, and children were incarcerated at the Vernon Internment Camp.

In 1919, after the war had ended, the S.S. Sicamous docked in Kelowna with a number of German settlers on board, and was met by an angry crowd. This sentiment towards German immigrants continued up to and beyond World War Two.

Thankfully, this time of distrust and discrimination is largely behind us, and as of 2016, Vernon was home to more than 10,000 people of German descent, including the celebrated Tobler Family of the Okanagan Spring Brewery.

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Vernon’s Sister Cities

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

a group of men and women standing facing the camera. Behind them is a golf course, and on the right is part of a sign that reads "1st tee and range" with an arrow.
A sister city exchange group from Saint-Lambert visiting Vernon in 1992. Included in the picture are Vernonites Patrick Mackie (center, wearing a hat), and then Mayor Wayne McGrath (third from left).
A short, bush-like tree with gnarled branches and dropping leaves outside a brown brick building.
The Weeping Beach donated to the City of Vernon by the City of Saint-Lambert outside the Vernon Museum.

A tree from Saint-Lambert

Outside the Vernon Museum, at the foot of a small gnarled tree, one can find a little plaque that reads “weeping beech donated by Mayor Guy Boissy of Saint-Lambert, Quebec, a Sister City of Vernon, 18 October 1997.” Saint-Lambert, located in southwestern Quebec, is home to more than 20,000 people, and, as the plaque suggests, is one of Vernon’s six sister cities.

The History of Town twinning

A sister city or twin town agreement is made to promote peace and diplomacy and to create cultural and commercial ties between municipalities across borders. The first modern example of town twinning can be traced back to World War Two, when Alfred Robert Grindlay, then Mayor of Coventry, England, demonstrated solidarity for the people of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Russia, since both cities were emerging from the wreck of devastating blitz attacks.  

Vernon’s Sister City Committee

At a Vernon City Council meeting on September 1, 1982, an “International Friendship Committee” was established, and a resolution passed that twinned Vernon with its first sister city—Modesto, California.

The Committee later became known as the Sister Cities Committee, and coordinated the twinning of another five municipalities, including Saint-Lambert. The others are Tome, Japan (twinned in 1986), Tavullia, Italy (1993), Frankenburg, Austria (2008), and Anandpur Sahib, India (2012). Over the years, the Committee organized several trips to these sister cities, including a visit to the “Holy City of Bliss” (Anandpur Sahib) in 2016.

Enduring relationships

A testament to Vernon’s enduring relationship with its twin cities can be seen in the form of a wayfinding sign outside of City Hall with the cardinal directions and approximate distances of Tome, Tavullia, Frankenburg, Anandpur Sahib, Saint-Lambert, and Modesto. 

Wayfinding sign outside of Vernon City Hall.
  • Saint-Lambert: Click here to learn more
  • Tome: Click here to learn more
  • Anandpur Sahib: Click here to learn more
  • Tavullia: Click here to learn more
  • Frankenburg: Click here to learn more
  • Modesto: Click here to learn more

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

Saint-Lambert, Canada
Anandpur Sahib, India
Frankenburg, Austria

 

Tome, Japan
Tavullia, Italy
Modesto, U.S.A.

 

A Vernon Maternity Home

Posted on by Vernon Museum

 

A black and white image of a 1910s house in Vernon. A tree partially covers a veranda over the front door and a white fence circles a small yard. A truck with a canopy is parked in front of the house.

The Atkinson Family

An unassuming house at 1900 33rd Street was once the site of a maternity home.

The house, located a few blocks away from the Vernon Jubilee Hospital, was built on what was formerly known as Sully Street in 1906. Carpenter/contractor Joseph A. Atkinson built the two-story building for his wife and five children, who had journeyed west from Ontario. In 1914, Joseph’s wife Angeline, a trained midwife, had it converted into a maternity home.

A Family Home Transformed

An obituary for Angeline Atkinson that appeared in the Vernon News a year after her passing, in 1938.

The building needed some remodeling to accommodate this change; the dining room was re-designed to serve as a nursery, and a small room off of the dining room as the birthing area. Meanwhile, the bedrooms upstairs were used as the maternity wards. The mothers were made very comfortable, as were their babies, nestled in bassinets made from old laundry hampers.

Babies R Us

Angeline worked closely with several local doctors, who often recommended her maternity home to their patients. When other business prevented them from attending their labouring patients, it was often Angeline herself who delivered the babies.

Angeline and Joseph Atkinson are buried in Vernon’s Pleasant Valley Cemetery.

During its 19 years of operation, hundreds of babies were born in the Atkinson Maternity Home. It closed in 1933, and Angeline passed away four years later, in 1937.

 

To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts! 

Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator

 

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