Welcome to Kerrisdale!
In 1902,the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) installed tracks along what is now called the Arbutus Corridor. The Sockeye Special commuter rail linked False Creek to the canneries in Steveston. Kerrisdale development was closely linked to the CPR. In 1905 the BC Electric Company tookover the tracks as part of its Interurban service, and local resident Helen MacKinnon, named the station at Wilson Road (now 41st Avenue) Kerrisdale after her family home in Scotland.
The 1950s marked a change in the in the areas near the commercial building, when Interesting family- oriented apartments such as ‘Dolphin Court’ at Balsam & 39th replaced small family houses, (some were relocated to vacant lots further west).
East Boulevard provided a new type of accommodation for the area when modest highrises began to appear in the 1960s. Kerrisdale became one Vancouver’s “ complete communities” with a mixture of housing types, businesses, automotive garages, a theatre, a community centre and good transit connections occupying a compact area.
Kerrisdale managed to hold the line between its apartment district and single-family areas, despite pressures from developers, lot subdividers and basement-suite barons. There remains, a strong sense of the past in Kerrisdale, in its tree-lined streets of family dwellings and the village-like charm of its commercial centre along 41st Avenue.
Adapted from Michael Kluckner, Vancouver Remembered, Whitecap Books 2006
I love Kerrisdale and have lived in the area for over a decade. This small microcache has only a log so please bring a pen. There is a lot of free street parking on this quiet residential street, but there may be muggles walking their dogs or riding bikes. The best part for me is that I can see the location from where I live - give me a wave! :)
Photo: Looking east over the roof tops from Balsam Street and 39th Avenue - 1968 [City of Vancouver Archives]