Quilchena Elementary, A Brief History
 
 

Part One: Planning The New School
Strathcona Heights, 1911
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Strathcona School, 1920
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Quilchena School, 1927
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On July 10th 1926 the Secretary of the Point Grey Board of School Trustees wrote the following letter to the Dominion Construction Company regarding "a new school building at 37th and Maple Street":
 
 
 
Dear Sirs - This is to advise you that your tender for the general contract on the above named school in the amount of $44,561.00 was accepted by the Board at their meeting last night. Kindly get in touch with Messrs. Townley and Matheson [architects] in order that arrangements may be made to have the contract signed on Monday morning, July 12th. I am to thank you for your care and work in submitting this tender. Yours faithfully, SECRETARY.
  
     
Up until then, in all correspondence the project was referred to as "Strathcona School". It wasn't until construction was nearing completion that we first see evidence of the name "Quilchena".

"Strathcona" would have been a perfect name for the new school. The hillside on which the school now stands was known at the time as "Strathcona Heights" ... and that was also the name of the original two-room schoolhouse built at the same location around 1920 (click on the photographs for further information). In addition, the Vancouver Inter-urban tram station located at the foot of the hill near 37th and West Boulevard was called "Strathcona Station".

In the end, however, it was determined that the name "Strathcona", after Lord Strathcona of the Canadian Pacific Railway, had already been put to ample use elsewhere in the city (among other things a "Lord Strathcona School" had been established in east Vancouver in 1897).

A new and unique name would have to be found.

Former students of the old two-room "Strathcona" school were canvassed, and a public contest was also held in an attempt to find an appropriate and permanent name. Despite hundreds of suggestions however, the Trustees did not feel anything suitable was presented.

One proposal suggested that the school be named for the aboriginal poet Pauline Johnson, as the area had once been covered by the dense forest and running streams often referred to in her poetry.

Perhaps it was the idea of the streams, linked with the desire to establish a Native Indian name, which eventually led to the choice of "Quilchena", which means "meeting of the waters".

Although no such "meeting of the waters" ever occurred on the school site itself, many years ago two streams did converge in the low-lying area half-a-mile north-west of the school in present-day Prince of Wales Park.

In fact, prior to the arrival of European settlers, Vancouver had many streams leading from the higher elevations, emptying into English Bay to the north and the Fraser River to the south. Many of these streams still exist today, running in subterranean culverts beneath city streets and properties.  Many other streams have simply disappeared as the city expanded.
 
 

Part Two: A Growing City
Granville and 37th, 1895
T
oday it's difficult to imagine that all of Vancouver was once blanketed by a thick forest of fir trees. In 1895, Granville Street, then known as North Arm Road, was nothing more than a narrow dirt trail hacked out of the forest, connecting the recently incorporated City of Vancouver with the tiny community of Eburne, population 200, on the north bank of the Fraser River (Eburne was renamed Marpole in 1916).

Then, as now, lumber was "king".

In November 1865 former sea captain Edward Stamp, with the assistance of New Brunswick lumberman Jeremiah Rogers, established Hastings Mill at the foot of Dunlevy Street on Burrard Inlet. Other mills sprang up along the inlet in the years that followed.

A logging camp was established on the south shore of English Bay and the area was named Jericho (the home of Jeremiah Rogers' biblical namesake).

windjammer fleets of the American merchant marine and the British Navy in the latter days of the Age of Sail would have been impossible without the mast-spars

The lumber barons then turned their gaze towards the thickly forested slopes on the south shore of English Bay, today's Kitsilano.

The trees nearest the water were the first to be felled. They were then dragged a short distance to the shore, tied in "booms", and towed to the mills by steam-powered boat. As the tree harvesting moved further up the slope, and further from the water's edge, wooden skids were installed and teams of oxen were employed to haul the logs to the shoreline. When the distance to the water became too great, tracks were laid and steam-powered locomotives were brought into service.

In about 1885 a logging camp was established near the site of present-day Quilchena Park (east of Arbutus on 33rd Avenue). Steel rails were laid from the camp to the water's edge at the foot of Trutch Street in Kitsilano, following the diagonal route of present-day Valley Drive. Jeremiah Roger's steam-powered train became the first logging railway in British Columbia.

By 1911 the lumberjacks had harvested virtually every tree from the Kitsilano shoreline to south of Wilson Road (41st Avenue). The landscape was stark and barren, except for a few isolated houses and piles of burning stumps which remained from the logging operations.

All of this would soon change.

Recognizing the potential for profit a few enterprising individuals purchased much of the recently cleared land. Some of these men are still familiar to us today by way of local street and place names: Robert B. Angus, G. E. McGee, John Robson, Henry Harrison, and Montague Drake, to name a few.
 
 

Part Three: Building The School
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I
t's easy to imagine the planners, architects, and School Board officials standing on the crest of the hill where the new school would be built. As they looked to the west, how could they not be impressed by the magnificent view of the ocean and gulf islands, unobstructed by the trees and apartment buildings we see today.

At more than 300 feet above sea level Strathcona Heights was one of the highest points in Vancouver, exceeded only by the summit at Mount Pleasant (now Queen Elizabeth Park). Who can blame the planners for choosing to build the new school with the main entry facing west towards the ocean, the islands, and the setting sun?

The decision would prove to be an unfortunate one.

The beautifully landscaped main entry on the west side of Quilchena is one of the most attractive school facades in Vancouver. Beginning at the semi-circular concrete balustrade, with it's view over Kerrisdale and Point Grey, a stairway leads through a sloped rockery to a pathway. A few more steps and you're standing in a generous portico, above which it reads "Quilchena, 1926". The double entry doors are built from solid, heavy wood, with divided glass, and large wrought iron handles. Beyond the doors a grand staircase leads to the second floor, with the principal's office located directly to the left.

Sad to say, but the vast majority of students, parents, staff and visitors have never entered the school by this "main door". Chances are they've never even seen it!

With the rear of the building facing Laburnum Street to the east, and the north side of the building facing onto 37th Avenue, the school presents a most unwelcoming presence.