Clockwise from top left, the W.R. Megaw Motor Co. garage and machine shop circa 1914, the Community Bingo Hall circa 1988, the Valley First Credit Union in 2006, and the Dollarama in 2023.
GARAGES AND AUCTIONEERS
How many different businesses can occupy a building over the years? If 3322 31st Avenue is any example, the answer is “many.”
Thanks to city assessment records and directories held in the Vernon Archives, we can trace this address and its corresponding businesses back as far as 1906. At that time, the property was owned by shopkeeper W. R. Megaw. A few years later, in 1910, he built a garage on the property and named it the W.R. Megaw Motor Co. garage and machine shop. This was the first of its kind in Vernon.
By 1931, the business was known under the name Okanagan Motors Ltd. In 1936, the property was sold to Frank Boyne, who used the building as a salesroom for his auctioneering business. In the 1940s and 50s, Kineshanko Motors operated on the spot.
A shopping centre, a bingo Hall, A thrift store, and More!
In 1964 and 1965, the building belonged to the City of Vernon, and from the late 1960s to early 1980s housed the MacLeods Family Shopping Centre. In the mid-1980s, the building started to be used as a Community Bingo Centre.
In 1999, the business of the day was the Valley First Credit Union. The Kindale Thrift Store later occupied the building, and most recently it has opened as a Dollarama. Such variety!
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
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.
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!
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!
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!
The Vernon Winter Carnival’s proclamation of Queen Silver Star XIV in 1974. Retiring Queen Karen Collingwood is seated in the middle with incoming Queen Charlotte Thompson standing beside her. Candidate Darlene Wright is wearing the green dress and the tiara she donated to the Vernon Museum.A tiara recently donated to the Vernon Museum which was worn by contestant Darlene Wright in 1973/’74.
Queen Silver Star Excellence Program
Today is the last day of this year’s Vernon Winter Carnival and it is therefore fitting to discuss a new donation to the Vernon Museum’s collection: the tiara of a former candidate in the Queen Silver Star Excellence Program. Thank you to Darlene Wright for sharing the following story.
When Darlene was 17 years old, she was approached by the Kinsmen Club of Vernon who asked her to compete as their contestant in the 1974 Queen Silver Star season. She agreed right away, since many of her friends were also competing. Her father had been a Karnival Kop, and was exited for her to participate.
A photo of Darlene Wright in the 1974 Winter Carnival souvenir brochure.
Glitz and Glam
Darlene’s work as a contestant started in the fall of 1973, and one of her first events was a fashion show. She recalled being glammed up with big hair and fancy clothing, which she found very exciting. She wore the tiara in question to a number of events, including a “meet the contestants” night.
Overall, Darlene enjoyed participating in the program, but found some elements challenging, such as learning to give speeches in front of large crowds. She was not bothered, however, when she did not win, and the title of Queen Silver Star XIV instead went to Charlotte Tompson Robb. Charlotte was crowned on February 1, 1974, at an Ice Palace in the Civic Complex.
The Vernon Museum’s Tiara Collection
Darlene passed the tiara along to her own daughter to use for dress-up before she donated it to the museum. Although she now lives in Victoria, she stays up-to-date with the goings-on of the Vernon Winter Carnival from afar. The museum has several crowns and tiaras that belonged to other past program participants in their collection, including that worn by Queen Silver Star I Rhondda Oliver Briggs, each with its own distinct story.
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
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
Fred Little on the open pilot’s seat at the front of the glider he built with Frank Oliver in 1932. Photo courtesy of Warren Little.
A race to the skies
Eldon Seymour and Jim Duddle were not Vernon’s only dynamic duo of intrepid aviators; around the same time the two young teenagers were building their open cockpit airplane in the loft of the Kalamalka Lake Store, Fred Little and Frank Oliver were gliding through the sky in their own creation. Thank you to Fred’s son Warren for supplying the information and photos for this story.
The glider under construction circa 1932. Photo courtesy of Warren Little.
The Work Begins
When Fred and Frank were in their early twenties, they began building a glider in the kitchen of Fred’s family home. At the time, Fred was a professional mechanic, and was employed by Watkin Motors in Vernon (he later went on to serve the City as Fire Chief and was named the 1969 Good Citizen of the Year). Frank, meanwhile, was a businessman, the owner of Specialty Cleaners.
Once complete, the glider was flown from Vernon’s first airfield, located in the Mission Hill area. This take-off location was ideal, because updraft winds from Kalamalka Lake allowed for long flights in the glider.
Successful first flight
Local flying instructor Lowell Dunsmore piloted the first flight of the 32-foot Northrop Standard on June 12, 1932. On the second of three attempts, the Ford Model A towing car reached about 65 km/h. The glider soared into the air and hovered a steady ten feet above the airstrip before Dunsmore released the tow cord and brought it to a gentle landing. The following Tuesday, Fred and Frank performed another five successful flights in their aircraft.
Not to be outdone, Eldon Seymour and Jim Duddle also saw their own homemade glider successfully piloted by Lowell Dunsmore a few weeks later, and launched the City of Vernon airplane the following year. While the latter may have been the first home-built aircraft in Vernon with an engine, Fred and Frank owned and constructed the first glider in the B.C. Interior.
The glider went on to have many successful flights but was unfortunately later wrecked by a winter snow storm that collapsed its top.
Final preperation being made to the glider before it performed it’s first flight in 1932. Photo courtesy of Warren Little.
Lowell Dunsmore at the controls during the glider’s first flight in 1932. Photo courtesy of Warren Little.
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator
The skeleton of the plane in 1935 above the Kal Lake Store. Pictures from left to right are Ernie Buffum, Jack Taylor, Jim Duddle, and Eldon Seymour. GVMA #3831.
The ‘City of Vernon’ CF-AOM airplane in 1935. Pictured from left to right are Jack Taylor, Jim Duddle, an unknown little guy, former Lt. Governor Robert Bruce, Ernie Buffum, Lowell Dunsmore, and Eldon Percy Seymour. GVMA #10812.
Eldon Seymour and Jim Duddle next to the plane circa 1937. GVMA #4569.
Test pilot Lowell Dunsmore with the plane in 1935. GVMA #9360.
The plane in 1935. GVMA #1377.
The plane in flight in 1938. GVMA #4358.
Jim Duddle next to the plane in 1936. GVMA #4568.
Eldon Seymour next to the plane in 1936. GVMA #4567.
Two teenagers set their sights high
In 1933, a couple of Vernon teenagers began construction on an open cockpit airplane (CF-AOM). Two years later, the plane, named the City of Vernon, took its first flight.
Jim Duddle and Eldon Seymour were 18 and 17, respectively, when they started their project in the loft of the Kalamalka Lake Store (now the Rail Trail Café & Market). The boys purchased the plans from a magazine, and sourced materials from an American supplier since they could not locate a Canadian one.
With financial assistance from flight enthusiast Jack Taylor, and welding expertise from former airframe mechanic Ernie Buffum, the plane was constructed for a grand total of $1463.00. It took the boys 10 months, since they could only work on it during evenings and weekends.
The City of Vernon Takes off
The City of Vernon took off for the first time in June of 1935. The brave man who agreed to test it was a local flying instructor, Lowell Dunsmore, whose successful career had produced a number of pilots, including Charles Grey, the first for the RCMP. After one quick inspection, he hopped in and took it for a spin, finding that it handled beautifully.
After Dunsmore gave the plane his stamp of approval, Jim and Eldon passed a happy three years of unlicensed flying all over the province and across the Rocky Mountains. The plane was also used for search and rescue missions, photo reconnaissance, and timber cruising. It was Vernon’s first home-built aircraft.
Joyride through the skies
In 1941, the Canadian government suspended private flights, which put an end to James and Eldon’s joyride through the skies. But both boys maintained their love of flying, with Eldon going on to receive his pilot’s license and Jim joining the air force.
In later years, the City of Vernon was partially dismantled and sold to a collector in Spokane for $50.00.
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator
The MAV is proud to present this special blog post written by collections intern Alexandra Fox, who is currently developing a display on the history of Vernon’s Jewish Community.
“My name is Alexandra Fox. I am a 24 year old Jewish woman. I was born to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, so technically I am not considered Jewish because Jewishness is considered matrilineal. However, it is the religious side that I connect to the most, maybe in part due to always being told that I look Jewish. When my father married my mother, a lot of his family was mad that he wasn’t marrying a Jewish woman.
Religion has always been a complicated thing for me. My father used to be very religious when growing up, and the rest of his family still is, but when he moved to Canada from South Africa he left that behind him. Therefore, I wasn’t raised very religious and never had my bat mitzvah. My sister has also struggled with this confusion of identity and is currently volunteering in Israel, in part to get to know that part of herself more. When I am around some of my family that is more religious, I sometimes feel awkward because religion has been such a huge part of their identity growing up and I never had that.
Intern Alex hard at work on her exhibit about Vernon’s Jewish Community.
I never really went to a church or synagogue while growing up but I took part in holiday celebrations. I always took part in Christmas and at least one day of Hanukkah. Eight days is a lot and since you have to leave the candles burning until they die out, it wasn’t always practical to do all the days. It has always been interesting for me to see how the dates of Hanukkah change year to year, as they are based on the Jewish calendar, so they fall anywhere between the first week of December and the last week. In fact, Hanukkah in 2024 starts on December 25th and ends on January 2nd 2025!
When embarking on my exhibit, I wanted to do it on something I connected to and had meaning for me. It was a struggle to find objects for the exhibit, as the Vernon Museum & Archives doesn’t have a Jewish collection, so I went to the community to ask if they could loan objects. Before I got the objects, I honestly almost gave up on the topic and chose a new one. Therefore, I am very thankful to Laura McPheeters, who is the president of the Okanagan Jewish Community Association in Kelowna (although she is a Vernon resident).”
Grassroots of Vernon’s Jewish Community
For the next three months, The Museum & Archives of Vernon will present an exhibit on the Jewish community in Vernon. Did you know that, in terms of settlement, this community is relatively new to the area?
The first Jewish settlers came to B.C. from other places in Canada, the United States, and Western Europe after the 1850s, during the Gold Rush, and settled mostly in Vancouver. The end of the 19th century saw an influx of Jews from Eastern Europe instead of Western Europe, as before.
In terms of Vernon, it unfortunately appears that the first members of the Jewish community to arrive in the area found themselves stripped of their rights and freedoms, and interned in the Vernon Internment Camp. At least two Jewish German nationals who lived in the Lower Mainland were apprehended following the break-out of World War One and transported to Vernon. However, in this case, it was their German heritage and not their Jewish identity that
An excerpt from the 2021 Vernon Census.
was the reported reason for their internment.
Time to settle
The first Jews to actually settle within Vernon did so in the 1970s; the 1971 census says there were around 20 Jews then. The population grew to 55 in 1981, dropped to 50 in 1991, and then rose again to 170 in 2001. The most recent census, that of 2021, was the first one to include Jewish as an ethnicity and as a religion, whereas it was just listed as a religion previously, and 185 people answered they were ethnically Jewish while 90 said they were religiously Jewish.
Aerial view of Camp Hatikvah on the shores of Kalamalka Lake near Oyama taken circa 1956.
Close Knit Community
Even now, the Jewish community in the Okanagan is relatively small and organizations like the Okanagan Chabad House and Camp Hatikvah serve to unite them. The latter opened in Oyama in 1956, and seeks “to produce proud, happy Jewish youth who were earnest and sincere in their beliefs.” Moreover, this summer camp is not exclusive to Jews, as other communities can rent it for their camps, and in the past it has been most notably used by the Boy Scouts. The MAV has previously hosted events for the Okanagan Jewish community, including Hanukkah, and this exhibit aims to increase awareness about this small but close-knit community among the wider population of Vernon.
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
A stock certificate from 1897 preserved in the Vernon Archives that shows A. G. Fuller purchasing 100 shares in the Silver Star Mining Company.
International Mountain Day
Today is International Mountain Day! Did you know that Vernon’s own mountain, SilverStar, was once the site of a promising but ultimately unsuccessful mining operation?
However, long before this, the mountain was used for generations by the Syilx People of the Okanagan Nation, with foot trails providing access to the mountain’s rich hunting and foraging grounds. Once settlers arrived in the region, the peak became known as Aberdeen Mountain after Lord Aberdeen, Canada’s governor general from 1893 to 1898.
Silver Star Mining Company
The mountain’s earliest claim was staked in 1896 by the Silver Star Mining Company, of which rancher Cornelius O’Keefe was the president. Shafts were dug near the mountain’s submit by pick and shovel, while black powder was used to break up larger pieces. The raw ore was loaded into buckets, and then transported down the mountain on pack horses.
Trace amounts of silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum and copper were quickly found in the ore, which lead miners to believe they had found their own Montezuma’s treasure. Mining fever was spreading all across the province at this time, and reports by the Vernon Newsof the “magnificent specimens” coming down from the mine only served to generate more excitement. Several well-known Vernonites invested dozens of shares in the company, which were sold at a cost of $1.00 each.
Moving forward
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the enthusiasm to fade, as prospectors quickly realized that the ores were too low a grade to be worked at a profit. The mountain’s mining era quietly ended in disappointment around 1926. But a handful of intrepid skiers were waiting in the wings for their turn to explore the mountain…
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator
Joan Heriot (right) with friend Sveva Caetani circa 1990.
Canada History Week
Nov. 20 to 26 is Canada History Week, and this year’s theme is Arts, Culture, and Creators.
Although the name of her close friend, Sveva Caetani, might be more well-known, Joan Heriot was also a talented artist whose gift to Vernon was a series of beautiful creations.
Joan Heriot was born in Vernon on January 7, 1911, and lived with her parents Allan and Jessie in Coldstream. Allan worked as an entomologist, but both he and Jessie were also amateur artists. Joan was fascinated with her father’s work, and decided to pursue her own career as an entomologist when she was only six-years-old.
Entomologist by trade, artist by passion
Joan went on to complete a science degree at UBC, but was told she would never find employment as a female entomologist in Canada, and so departed for England. She completed a Master’s degree at the University of Liverpool, and then taught as a lecturer at the Brighton Technical College for around 30 years.
After her retirement in 1966, Joan returned to Coldstream. With a renewed reminder of the beauty of the Okanagan’s scenery, Joan decided she wanted to start painting again, a hobby she had not indulged since her childhood. She tracked down her former art teacher, Miss Topham Brown, who was then in her nineties, and took a series of art classes with her, but it was in working with pastels that Joan found her calling.
She went on to create a series of beautiful pastel landscapes, and was particularly fascinated with trying to capture light and form. Her artwork was in high-demand, and although she did not paint on commission, she did have a waiting list of people to whom she would offer her new creations.
A Lasting Legacy
Joan Heriot’s circa 1930 watercolour depiction of Miss Topham Brown’s drawing camp near Killiney Beach on Okanagan Lake.
Joan was also an active community member and supporter of several local organizations, including the
and the North Okanagan Naturalists Club. She maintained an interest in biology, geology and archeology throughout her life, and was always ready for an adventure; when she was in her 70s, Joan went white-water rafting for the first time.
Joan passed away on July 29, 2012, but her legacy lives on. The Joan Heriot Studio at the Caetani Centre and the Joan Heriot Centre for Environmental Studies at the Mackie Lake House serve as reminders of her dedication to both organizations. The Vernon Public Art Gallery has exhibited her artwork on several occasions, and a series of her personal records are held at the Vernon Archives. A tree was also planted in her memory at the Bishop Wild Bird Sanctuary.
To explore more of Vernon’s history, check out our other blog posts!
Gwyneth Evans, Research and Communications Coordinator
