Recent blooms in the gardens on Oak Bay Avenue

All photos by Anna Sander, March 2022

Capturing some of the excellent questions from a recent school session:

Q: When did the Oak Bay Archives start?

A: The Municipality started producing and keeping its own records in 1906, and some of our personal and family papers are even older than that, but the District Archives were formally started by a team of dedicated volunteers, mainly for collecting community records, in 1994. The volunteer team was able to bring in a professional consultant archivist for a few hours a week starting in 2012, and that position grew into a half-time municipal employee role in 2016. I'm the District's second professional archivist and I started here in May 2020.

Q: Why are the Archives at Municipal Hall?

A: The corporate records, which are the core of any institutional archive, are created and used here, and stored until their current-business 'life' is finished, so from a District point of view it makes sense to have the historic archives under the same roof, for easy transfer and reference, and good coordination with current and semicurrent records management. The Municipal hall is in the heart of Oak Bay and is the centre of local government, so it's also a logical location for the collection of community records. There isn't another building nearby that could provide public access space, staff working space and large volumes of secure storage space. In other municipalities, amenities are different: Esquimalt and Saanich both accommodate their archives in community centre buildings separate from their municipal halls, though very close by in Esquimalt's case, and the City of Victoria Archives are just across Centennial Square from City Hall.

Q: Why are the Archives in the basement?

A: Archives very often are in the basement! Sometimes that's where the available storage space is, sometimes it's less desirable office space. At Oak Bay, it's very convenient to have the Archives on the lower floor because there's room for researchers, staff, extensive reference materials and archives storage, all with a step-free entrance near by. Using the side entrance, Archives researchers can (normally) come straight to the Archives without needing to go through main reception upstairs. And it doesn't feel like a basement - it's dry and we have big windows that open onto the lawn :D

Q: What do archives do?

"Archives" can mean both historic records and the places where they are preserved and consulted.

- Archival records show the written parts of organizational functions and people's lives. Sometimes this includes visual records and other media as well.

- Archival repositories provide a safe place for historic records to be stored, preserved and processed by archivists and consulted by researchers. Provenance documentation and custodial continuity are a key part of archivists' work, because they support records' authenticity - that is, by systematically recording where records come from and having systems in place for tracking access to them, we can be sure that what we have now is the same as what we had years ago, and hasn't been deliberately or accidentally changed - or if changes have occurred (such as further accessions, weeding, conservation work, flood damage etc) those changes are identified and added to the descriptions.

Q: Are the archives arranged alphabetically like the school library?

No - we arrange some of the small collections of single or very few items in boxes in order of acquisition, purely for efficient storage and ease of finding. We arrange larger fonds (series of records systematically created by the same person or organization) as they were created and used, often by function and chronological order. Because archival items and collections vary in size and shape, archivists often store them according to size or appropriate housing rather than in alphabetical or chronological order. We use location registers to check what's where on each shelf.

Q: Have any of Oak Bay's archives been stolen or gone missing?

Not that we know of. But there have been some mishaps: creation and/or preservation of building permits in the earliest years of the municipality wasn't consistent, many building records were lost in a bad winter flood in 1949, and others were lost in a general clear-out at the time of the move to the present Municipal Hall building in the 1950s. Some of the latter were kept back from destruction and dispersed, so while they are lost to the Archives for now, it's still possible that they may turn up one day.

Q: How many archives are there in Oak Bay?

Since many archives are private, I don't know! I do know that there are many serious private collectors of local history records and memorabilia, and that schools, families, businesses and community organizations in Oak Bay do have their own archives: some examples are the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Glenlyon-Norfolk School, the Oak Bay High School Alumni Association, and the photographs of Dr Jeffree Cunningham.

Q: How many things are there in Oak Bay's archives?

A: Short answer - I haven't counted them! Definitely tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of individual items. I'll start by counting the number of linear shelf metres and boxes, so stay tuned for a better answer...

Q: What happens if we have an atmospheric river and it causes flooding, could the archives get flooded?

A: It could. We always have to allow for the possibility of natural and man-made disasters happening in the archives - problems arise more often than you might think, and most archivists will deal with at least a minor flood at some point in their careers. Many kinds of disasters cause a lot of damage, but they don't often completely destroy archives - repairing archival material is a highly trained specialist job known as archival conservation. We take as many preventive measures as possible, and also train and equip ourselves as well as we can to be prepared to respond to disasters quickly and effectively. Here's a good quick overview about archives disaster preparedness from Queensland State Archives in Australia, and a longer discussion with conservators from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives in the United States.

Q: Do the archives take photos?

A: Do we go out and take pictures of how things are these days, and put them away for posterity? Not usually. That's active collecting, and archives tend to acquire by scheduled transfer or by donation. The difference in principle is an important one. - and so is working with record creators and donors who may create their own archives and collections through this kind of active documentation.

Do we take photos of the things we have so that more people can see them and do research with them, without having to come into the archives themselves? Definitely yes - this is called digitization and it's an important part of what we do, improving access to information in archival records while helping to reduce wear and tear on original materials.

So far, Oak Bay Archives has digital copies of some of its photographs online - they're available to browse and search here.

Q: Do the archives make copies of original records in case something happens to the originals?

Yes, 'insurance copies' are a good idea. We often photograph or scan the whole of a series of 'vital records', those that are essential for legal, business or research purposes. But in most cases we don't have the staff time, funding, equipment, electronic storage space, or urgent necessity to copy everything. Much of the digitization we do is in direct response to individual researchers' enquiries and requests.

Having surrogates (copies or substitutes), also called preservation copies or access copies, can also be helpful for providing access to popular records while sparing the original material from excessive wear and tear - think of newspaper microfilms, and now, digital versions. Old photographs are sensitive to light and surface damage, but any number of people can access digital images of the same information without causing any disturbance to the physical item.

Other advantages to using digital copies: users can usually look at photos at greater magnification than the original, several people can look at the same thing at the same time whether or not they are working together or in the same place or time zone, records can be viewed in different arrangements and combinations than the original (e.g. side-by-side comparison of photos from different pages in an album).

Header image: Effects of water damage to different formats of archival material, from an AABC emergency response salvage training workshop, November 2020. Photo: Anna Sander.

Did you know that Oak Bay Archives has a reference library?

The library was reclassified to suit its focused range of local history subjects and catalogued online in 2020-21; browse holdings at https://www.librarything.com/catalog/OakBayArchives

More about the reference library here

Titles displayed:

Robert Taylor and Janet Morningstar. St Patrick Street, Oak Bay - Oak Bay Avenue to Brighton Avenue - an architectural and social history

Ron Baird Success story : the history of Oak Bay

Joan Hockaday Greenscapes : Olmsted's Pacific Northwest

Larry McCann Imagining Uplands: John Olmsted's Masterpiece of Residential Design

Henry Ewert Victoria's streetcar era

J. F. Bosher Imperial Vancouver Island : who was who, 1850-1950

Stuart Stark The B.C. Agricultural Association exhibition building at the Willows

Janet Bingham Samuel Maclure, architect

Douglas Parker No horsecars in paradise : a history of the street railways and public utilities in Victoria, British Columbia before 1897

Peter Corley-Smith Victoria Golf Club 1893-1993 : one hundred treasured years of golf

Betty Gordon Funke Tweed Curtain Pioneers

Gerry Chaster Trees of Greater Victoria : a heritage

Brandy J. Patterson A good investment: women and property ownership in a mid-twentieth century Canadian suburb, Oak Bay, British Columbia 1940 - 1960

Terri Hunter Under the Oaks : Tales of Oak Bay

Maureen Duffus A Most Unusual Colony: Vancouver Island 1849 - 1860

Crawford Kilian Go do some great thing : the Black pioneers of British Columbia

Grant Keddie Songhees Pictorial: A History of the Songhees People as seen by Outsiders, 1790-1912

Sylvia Van Kirk Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670–1870

Terry Reksten, Illustrated History Of British Columbia

____________ More English Than the English: A Very Social History of Victoria

Some highlights from 17.5 hours/week in an unusual year at Oak Bay Archives:

January

• 10 enquiries
• move planning, future office layout etc planning
• photographing core historic record series for answering enquiries while away from the collections: long and short appraisal cards, building permit books, some maps. An indexing project is underway but we still refer to the originals.
• school outreach - virtual presentation to GNS grade 4
• packing! So. Much. Packing. All office supplies and non-original materials were packed up for offsite storage, while the archives remained in situ (but also required packing/preparation). Most furniture was emptied for offsite storage; the largest and heaviest filing cabinets and map chests remained on site.

February

• 11 enquiries
• preparing repositories for deep storage in the midst of a construction project - rearranging shelf contents, reboxing, loading mobile racking between fixed shelving runs
• Because I had started early, I was able to lend a hand at the end of the packing exercise to the rest of the Corporate Services team packing up records in the main municipal vault, plus Heritage Foundation and Commission records stored elsewhere, as members of those bodies were not able to be on site.
• end of Feb started working from home, eventually until end of August

March - August

Working from home. Because of COVID-19, I had already been answering answering all enquiries remotely rather than in person. Remote enquiries (received by post, email or phone) make up a large percentage of any archive's enquiry traffic at any time - but that number has been 100% for all of my time at Oak Bay so far. Until renovations started, I had been able to come in to the office and work with the collections, but while working from home, there were of course many parts of my job that were simply suspended. I couldn't receive new accessions, check original material in response to enquiries, or do any new cataloguing (arrangement and description of collections).

I could, however

• receive and respond to enquiries by remote means
• answer most enquiries at least in part, and often in more depth than I might normally have time for, using online resources and digital images I had taken in preparation for the move.
• progress some retrospective cataloguing, up to the point of needing final checks against the original material
• become more familiar with relevant online research resources
• complete several pieces of continuing professional development training
• review historic donations and accessions documentation
• progress emergency response planning for the Archives
• develop ideas for future volunteer projects and training
• maintain a social media presence via Twitter and here on Connect
• plan the office, repository and reading room layouts for the changed space in Municipal Hall, with furniture requirements
• continue to stay in touch with Archives volunteers via regular email bulletins and Zoom chats
• continue to attend Corporate Services staff and heritage Foundation meetings, which were already on Zoom

Enquiry numbers: March 20, April 9, May 7, June 6, July 12, August 12. Total: 66.

Many thanks to project manager Dave Cockle, who regularly reassured me that the archives were safe and secure, and permitted me occasional site visits to see for myself! The move alone was a huge undertaking with an enormous number of moving parts - it and the renovations went smoothly and on schedule. And the archives were fine.

Thanks to COVID-19-related closures, my colleagues across Canada and around the world had already been working mostly from home for over a year before I had to deal with it, so a list of possibilities was waiting for me to plan my time away from the collections. I found lots of ideas via Emily Lonie's post at Things I'm Fonds Of - scroll down to the 'Advice for Archivists Working From Home' section.

September

• 14 enquiries
• return to the Archives office
• dust everything twice!
• reopen and unpack repositories
• move material and shelves into new storage area
• set up office and reading room including subject files and reference library
• weed ca. 100 duplicates from reference library
• update reference library spine labels

October

• 13 enquiries
• receive all Archives emergency supplies back from OBEP storage (with huge thanks to OBEP Manager Eileen Grant)
• sort/assemble/repackage and find storage places for above

November

• 18 enquiries
• MH foyer display for Remembrance Day: Willows Camp at the Fairgrounds during WW1, with blog post
• MH foyer display: 1925 tax auction property sale brochure

December

• 11 enquiries (logged before Christmas)
• MH foyer display: Historic Weather Events, with blog post

Enquiries total: 143

Blog posts: 10

Ongoing projects:

Copy loans documentation: identifying which photos in the archives' collections are prints and/or digital images of originals held in other archives or in private collections temporarily loaned for the purpose. This is important because in all cases, researchers need to be aware of the original source of the image, and in many cases, Oak Bay Archives has no authority to grant permission for others to use these images.

Tweets: 125, total 70K impressions. The year's top tweets were all in the April #Archive30 series, which was great fun as well, so I'll be running that again in 2022.

New accessions: 5

Volunteer e-bulletins: 13

Volunteer Zoom chats: 11 + one in-person lunch! (distanced, outside, in the summer)

Tasks remaining from the move: complete locations register for repositories, complete grab list (locations register) for emergency supplies. Ongoing dusting!

2021 was another eventful and anomalous year. I still have many collections to familiarize myself with, so much more cataloguing to do, digitization, reboxing, identifying items for conservation... I still feel very new to the job and constantly impatient to get more done, but I have to remind myself that

1. I have yet to work a day of 'formerly normal' conditions in the archives,
2. I still haven't been in post for the full time equivalent of a full year
3. the large and experienced team of archives volunteers have not been able to work with me on site at all
4. I was away from the collections for fully 50% of 2021
5. planning and preparing for the renovations took huge amounts of time in both 2020 and 2021
6. learning new things every day means you know more things every day

There's always more to learn; an archivist's response to the same question, or type of question, after 10 years in a post should be better than after one year. Unfortunately, we rarely get the same question twice! Never stop learning, or asking questions.

2022 holds some new projects that were brewing last year - we hope the present pandemic conditions will just disappear one day, but looking ahead, we have to plan for hybrid online/in person or all-online services, and maybe further rounds of rapid changes. This all takes extra time and thought, and finding new ways of working, but it should make our plans more resilient to change.

image: Victoria City Directory 1949 (Sun Directories), Oak Bay's municipal 'blue pages' entry, between xxxvi and 1.

How have population numbers changed over more than a century of Oak Bay history, and where do we find those numbers?

2021 is the most recent 5-yearly census reporting year; data will be released by Statistics Canada in 2022.

2021: 17,990 [source] (added 2024)

2016: 18 094 [source] (I have no idea why it appears paired with Nova Scotia...)

2011: 18 015 [source]

2006: 17 908 [source for 1996, 2001 & 2006]

2001: 17 865

1996: 17 798

For 1955-1995, the most readily available resource of population data is the hard-copy historic city directories - we have a mostly complete set on the open shelves in the archives reading room, which are available for researchers to use during the archives' open hours. The archivist can also carry out (limited) directory checks in response to enquiries by email or phone.

1991: 17 815

1986: 17 065

1981: 16 990

1976: 17 658

1971: 18 426

1966: 18 123

1961: 16 935

1958: 15 300 (est.)

1956: 14 000 (est.)

1952: 12 000 (est.)

1949: 12 000 (est.)

Prior to 1945, only the total estimated population of greater Victoria is given. Other municipal statistics for 1955 and earlier are available in the city directories (usually near the beginning, may be in different places in the volumes, depending on the format) digitized online at https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php N.B. incorporation dates of municipalities.

There have been two big 'building boom' periods in Oak Bay's history, i.e. first houses on lots built:

1) soon after 1906 incorporation 1910-14 as municipal planners laid out networks of streets and the new municipality installed plumbing, sewer & electricity supply infrastructure - this boom was abruptly interrupted by the onset of WW1, and did not resume afterwards until

2) post WW2-1950s, notably as the areas north and south of Lansdowne Road were developed - Henderson and its side streets from the junction with Foul Bay north to Cedar Hill X Rd, and the Carnarvon subdivision on and around the former Willows Fairgrounds/race track site.

The city directories, because they index by street as well as by name (only up to 1998 alas) are hugely useful for tracing development street by street, as addresses are often listed 'under construction' or 'new house' in the first year they appear.

Interested?

• those city directories again https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php
• census databases to 1926 and other historical census information from Library & Archives Canada,
• recent census information from Statistics Canada
• While census data is not published for almost a century, there are summary reports for Canadian censuses 1931 and later.

Do you have stories about searching Oak Bay census records? Please get in touch!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives

Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

Email: archives@oakbay.ca

Phone: 250-598-3290

- Post by Anna Sander, 16 December 2021.

In a year of unusual meteorological events from heat domes to atmospheric rivers, it seems appropriate to close the year's MH foyer displays with some historic photos to put them in context.

1) Oak Bay Avenue at Hampshire, looking west, during the December 1996 snowstorm. Photographer: Oak Bay Fire Dept, 29 December 1996. OBA PHOT: 2012-001-146 View online

Anyone who was living in Victoria in the winter of 1996-97 will remember that Big Snow: “The blizzard of 1996 set records by dropping 124 centimetres of snow in Victoria between Dec. 22 and Dec. 29. The worst blast of winter weather to reach Vancouver Island since 1916 brought multi-million dollar damages to the region” Keri Coles, Victoria News Dec. 27, 2018

Did you know that record had stood for 80 years? Fortunately for us, the Big Snow of 1916 was unusual enough for its time for contemporary photographers to record it.

"Because of the massive amount of snow, the army deployed 150 soldiers [from Willows Camp in Oak Bay] to the city to help – soldiers from the 88th Battalion (Victoria Fusiliers), the 67th Battalion (Western Scots) and 103rd Overseas Battalion. In some areas, the snowdrifts piled up to 70 inches in depth." - Michaela Ludwig, British Columbia Magazine, November 2, 2016 For a contemporary account, see the Daily Colonist newspaper, 4 February 1916, p.4

On the same day, the Daily Colonist noted :“The municipality of Oak Bay made considerable progress yesterday towards opening up the main thoroughfares to traffic. A gang of men worked all day with teams and a snow plough and by tomorrow night it is expected that it will be possible for merchants to reach all parts of the municipality with their deliveries.” - Daily Colonist newspaper, 4 February 1916, p.5.

2) Oak Bay Public Works crew, aided by the municipal horse team, clear the tracks at the Oak Bay Street Car terminus, near the corner of Newport and Windsor Road. Public Works Superintendent Samuel Gunter on the right. Oak Bay Hotel in background, far right. February 1916. OBA PHOT: 1994-001-022 View online

The one mention of the Big Snow in Oak Bay Council minutes, apart from the lack of meetings in the first part of February, is:

“The Reeve stated that he would like to have a letter sent to the B.C. Electric [Railway] Company thanking them for hauling out the coal free of charge during the recent severe weather… The Reeve also stated that he had sent a letter to the Admiralty thanking them for supplying the Municipality with 2000 sacks, as without such it would have been impossible to have obtained the coal.”

- Oak Bay Municipal Records. Council Minutes 1916, p.11.

3) Clearing Government at Johnson Street during the Great Snow of 1916. At left is 1401 Government St, designed by Leonard Buttress Trimen and built 1881 for EG Prior Hardware, now a listed heritage building. Copy loan from private collection – original not held at Oak Bay Archives. Patrick Family Album, 1916. OBA PHOT: 2015-000-014 View online

4) Horse drawn snow plow clearing Government Street at Fisgard after the Great Snow of 1916. Copy loan from private collection – original not held at Oak Bay Archives. Patrick Family Album, 1916. OBA PHOT: 2015-000-020 View online

5) The #2 Oak Bay Streetcar makes its way along Douglas Street through the snow. Copy loan from private collection – original not held at Oak Bay Archives. Patrick Family Album, 1916. OBA PHOT 2015-000-015 View online

It's not so surprising that an exceptional weather event like the 1916 snowfall might have prompted photographers to get outside and record it (did they use snowshoes? skis?) whatever the equipment and effort required, but outdoor and informal photographs proliferated with the advent of the highly portable, simple to use Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900. Here are some more photos of historic Oak Bay weather, datable from album context to pre-1920.

6) Downtown Victoria after snow fall, near James Bay. Photographer: Frank Burrell, ca.1900. OBA PHOT: 2010-010-285 View online

7) Homes in the snow: looking west from Gonzales Hill, over Foul Bay Beach. Unwin-Hinkins album, ca. 1916. OBA PHOT: 2006-006-012 View online

8) House in Oak Bay ?near Gonzales Hill after snowfall. Unwin-Hinkins family album, ND ca. 1916. OBA PHOT: 2006-006-013 View online

9) Snowy tree-lined road, probably in south Oak Bay. Unwin-Hinkins family album, ND ca. 1915-16. OBA PHOT: 2006-006-015 View online

Personal photo albums include images of windy or stormy weather as well as picturesque snowy scenes. How different would a photo look taken from these locations today?

10) Looking toward Trial Islands from Shoal (McNeill) Bay on a stormy day. Unwin-Hinkins family album, ca.1915. OBA PHOT 2006-006-009 View online

11) Stormy weather at Shoal (McNeill) Bay, looking east toward Anderson Hill. Unwin-Hinkins family album, ca.1915. OBA PHOT: 2006-006-010 View online

12) Storm over Oak Bay, taken by Frank Burrell ca. 1910. OBA PHOTO 2010-010-197. View online

All photos displayed are modern prints from digital images. Most are enlarged, cropped and manipulated for colour and contrast.

Interested? Read contemporary accounts of the Big Snow of February 1916 and its aftermath in the Victoria Daily Colonist and Victoria Daily Times newspapers

More digital images of the Big Snow of 1916 (and other weather events) are available on the websites of Esquimalt, Saanich and City of Victoria Archives, and the BC Archives

Do you have family stories, photographs or other records of historically bad or beautiful weather in Oak Bay? Please get in touch!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives

Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

Email: archives@oakbay.ca

Phone: 250-598-3290

- Post by Anna Sander, 9 December 2021.

Willows Camp in WW1 - Remembrance Day display in Oak Bay Municipal Hall foyer, November 2021

Archives display cabinet in Oak Bay Municipal Hall foyer Willows Camp was established in the Willows Fairgrounds in 1914 as a training camp for BC soldiers joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force, prior to embarkation for Europe and deployment to the Western Front.

The Fairgrounds, including the Exhibition Building, stables, and the race track previously called Willows Driving Park, were located in the area developed after WW2 as the Carnarvon subdivision, below Lansdowne slope. The Fairgrounds borders – defined by a high wooden fence – ran along Henderson on the west, the north side of Neil on the northern boundary, a line extending through what's now Dryfe St to the east, and a line extending eastwards from the end of Haultain on the south side.

1925 Fire Insurance map showing the Exhibition Grounds and surrounding streets. Compare with 2021 Google Maps, with former fairgrounds site superimposed in semitransparent yellow, approximate track site in blue.

Display cabinet

Display contents:

1. Oak Bay Rolls of Honour, 1914-18 and 1939-45 View for WW1 View for WW2

2. Cavalry unit entering Willows Camp via Fair Street gate. WW1, no date. Copy loan from a photo postcard?. Original postcard not found at Oak Bay Archives, digital image not available.

3. Small group of Canadian Army soldiers in uniform, in front of a large field of white bell tents at Willows Camp, and a man in civilian clothes among the tents. The high wooden fence around the fairgrounds can be seen behind the tents. The then brand new Young Building set back from the corner of Lansdowne and Foul Bay (built 1913-15), which was first Victoria Normal School (teacher training), then Victoria College (later UVic) and now houses Camosun College, can be seen in the background, on the hill above the Lansdowne slope. 1915. OBA Photo Number: 2005-020-001. Original photo postcard held at Oak Bay Archives. View

4. Troops Tug-o-War at Willows Camp ca. 1915. OBA Photo Number: 2005-020-003. Original photo postcard in Oak Bay Archives. View

5. Postcard print of military training exercises with horses at Willows Camp, ca.1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-166. Original photo postcard held at Oak Bay Archives. View

6. WWI officers at Willows Camp – right, ?Western Scots or 50th Gordon Highlanders, ca. 1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-183. Original print held at Oak Bay Archives. View

7. Unidentified soldier on horseback at WWI Willows Camp, ca.1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-188. Original print held at Oak Bay Archives. View

8. Quartermasters of the 67^th Battalion, Western Scots Regiment, at Willows Camp, ca. 1916. Photographer: Patrick family. OBA image number: 2015-000-012. Copy loan from private collection. Original print not held at Oak Bay Archives. Digital image not available.

9. Kilted Canadian troops drill in front of the Exhibition Building on the Willows Fairground – Willows Camp during WW1. Copy of a colourized photo postcard, no date [1914-1918]. No OBA ref. Original postcard not found at Oak Bay Archives. Digital image not available.

10. The 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, strike tents at Willows Camp, preparing to embark for Europe, 1915. Source: Okanagan Military Museum, Kelowna, via digitalmuseums.ca Not held at Oak Bay Archives. View

11. Quartermasters of the 67^th Battalion, Western Scots Regiment, marching near Vancouver Street, en route from Willows Camp to Victoria Harbour for departure to the European Front, ca. 1916. Photographer: Patrick family. OBA image number: 2015-000-011. Copy loan from private collection. Original print not held at Oak Bay Archives. View

12. World War I troops marching from Willows Camp in the Willows Fairgrounds along Willows Road, now Eastdowne, toward Cadboro Bay Road ca 1915. Note the Willows Park Grocery building (3^rd house back on the right), which is still at the corner of Dalhousie and Eastdowne and now houses Yumbrosia Deli. Photographer unknown. OBA Photo Number: 2012-001-057. Original print held at Esquimalt Archives, image no. 014.01.02. View

Some of these photos are featured in an Oak Bay News article, here: https://www.oakbaynews.com/community/photos-a-look-at-troop-training-in-oak-bay-during-the-first-world-war/

The "115 mentions of Willows Camp in an archive of community newspapers" are searchable in the BC Historical Newspapers online collection, part of UBC Library's open Collections, here: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers

All photos displayed are modern prints from digital images. Most are enlarged, cropped and manipulated for colour and contrast.

Interested? More digital images of WW1 activities at Willows Camp are available on the websites of

• Esquimalt Archives
• Saanich Archives
• City of Victoria Archives
• BC Archives
• Okanagan Military Museum via Community Stories at museums.ca.

Do you have family stories, photographs or other records of military activity at Willows Camp? Please get in touch!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives

Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

Email: archives@oakbay.ca

Phone: 250-598-3290

- Post by Anna Sander, 9 November 2021.

Most of these questions were not asked directly @OakBayArchives, but they're good ones!

Q: What's changed in the archives with the big renovations at Municipal Hall this year?

A: Have a look at a new photo tour post: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives/news_feed/oak-bay-archives-photo-tour-october-2021

Q: The archives have been closed for so long - how can archivists work without visitors and researchers? What are all the Archives volunteers doing?

A: The Archives have indeed been closed to volunteers, visitors and researchers in person since mid-March 2020 - a couple of months before I arrived to take up the post of professional archivist in May. I have not yet had one day of normal reading room conditions! Some volunteers are working on versions of their previous projects at home. I've been keeping them up to date since I arrived via regular email bulletins, and we have regular Zoom chats. Their expertise and experience has been invaluable as I've begun learning the collections and responding to enquiries. We're still playing it by ear, but they and I look forward to the day when I'm able to have volunteers back in the archives.

Much of what archivists do in normal times happens "behind the scenes" and doesn't involve visitors and researchers: answering remote enquiries, cleaning, condition surveys, environmental monitoring, accessioning, listing, packaging, arranging and describing, writing blog posts, working with teachers to create school outreach activities... I had a lot to do, starting right back in the summer of 2020 and intensifying at the end of the year and into early 2021, to prepare the collections and the Archives space for 6 months of storage/renovations - and I have a lot to do again now that I'm back in: catching up with enquiries that need checking within collections, moving and reboxing, appraisal and weeding, complete update of the locations register, writing policy and training documents, etc.

But what on earth does an archivist do without access to the archives?? This is a question many, if not most, archivists everywhere suddenly had to grapple with in the spring of 2020. I was able to work on site from when I started in May - never having visited the archives! - through the rest of 2020, but then had 6 months of working from home during the 2021 renovations. This is not an ideal situation, and it does bring some important limitations, but I did have the advantage of advance warning and time to prepare. And thanks to an initiative from the Society of American Archivists' Accessibility & Disability Section, archivists needing to work from home already had plenty of ideas and tools to use and develop further: read more at https://www.ica.org/en/archivists-at-home

[If you find the display font small for reading, try pressing Ctrl and + on your keyboard.]

The Archives are not yet open to volunteers, visitors or researchers in person, but we are open for enquiries by email, post and phone. In the meantime, here's a quick photo orientation to the new layout of Oak Bay Archives, following Municipal Hall renovations in 2021.

Planning ahead: before visiting the Archives (once we're open again), you will have made an appointment in advance by emailing archives@oakbay.ca or calling 250-598-3290 and receiving confirmation of your appointment time.

Making appointments is mostly new for Oak Bay Archives, but usual/required in many archives. Our space for visitors is smaller than before, and we want to make sure researchers are able to make the most of their time.

As before, the Archives office and reading room are at the front of the lower floor of Municipal Hall.

From the outside, the Archives windows are the two at lower right, indicated by the yellow oblong above. Step-free access to the Archives will be, as before, via the entrance on the side nearest Athlone Court, indicated by the yellow arrow above.

Access via the side entrance is operated by staff key fobs only, so you will need to ring the doorbell or call 250-598-3290 when you arrive, and the Archivist or an Archives volunteer will meet you at the door and accompany you to the Archives.

You can also access the Archives from the main foyer upstairs; if you have an appointment, ask at the main reception desk. Staff will call down to the Archives and the Archivist or an Archives volunteer will come upstairs to meet you and accompany you to the Archives.

There is no step-free access between the two floors. For step-free access to the Archives, please come to the side entrance on the ground floor.

The internal entrance to the Archives is no longer via the double doors immediately inside the side door, but at the end of the hall. This was the 'staff entrance' to the Archives before and is now the main entrance. There is a single washroom nearby.

At the reception/reference desk, you'll sign in and receive the paperwork and orientation you need to get started. We will already know about your topic of interest from appointment correspondence or conversation, and will have your first box or file of archival material ready for you. This room used to be the processing area and archivist's office, and is now the searchroom.

The big table in the searchroom is large enough for maps, drawings, large reference books etc. Normally this table will be for one user at a time. Does only one person need so much space? Imagine having a laptop, digital camera, a reference publication or two, and just one map on that surface. It will fill up quickly! We need to allow enough space per researcher that all files and documents have enough room on the table without getting piled on each other or hanging over the edge.

Frequently consulted reference works are on the shelves to the left, and files of cuttings and other printed sources for people, places and events in Oak Bay history are on the right. You will be able to consult the Archivist or reference volunteer on duty about scanning or photocopying requests.

While the big windows to the front lawn are familiar, we also have a new window and a new wall! The window between the searchroom and the office improves sightlines between the two rooms, especially when the connecting door is closed, and the new wall separates the office and reference area from the new offices created in what was the large meeting room across the whole front of this floor. The door is unchanged, as is the footprint of the office and reference area.

In the reference area you will find another table/work station and the reference library. Did you know the reference library catalogue is online? Click here to browse our holdings. Sort the collection by clicking on the column headings - Author, Title etc.

All researchers are invigilated, which means that the Archivist or duty volunteer is always on hand tat the reference desk to answer questions, help you to find useful reference works, return archival material you've finished using and bring your next box or file, and assist you with correct handling, especially of large or fragile items.

When your research session is finished, you'll return your archival and reference materials and complete any copying request forms etc. Once you're ready to leave, the Archivist or duty volunteer will accompany you to the exit. Please make sure you have all your belongings with you as you go, as the door will lock behind you!

On the other side of what's now the inner room is the Archivist's office. In the foreground you can see some recent accessions awaiting processing - listing, describing, arranging and packaging - before being moved to the repository for storage.

Let's go back in time...

But what about the archives? Where are all the boxes and volumes on shelves? Where's the map chest? The renovations gave us some more storage space! This means that now all reference material is in the searchroom, and all archival material is in the repositories. The archives are still on site at Municipal Hall and can be produced to the searchroom.

What's next? There is still some moving in to do and some final building-related snagging to be completed. Most of the archives have been moved around for storage and then easier access, thanks to the expanded storage space, so that for example long boxes of maps are no longer stacked several high on top shelves in narrow corners. Shelf locations will soon be finalized and a new locations register completed. Recent accessions will be processed, and hopefully some more new cataloguing will be done before the end of the year.

Stay tuned! We will publish opening dates when they are available.

Teachers: Interested in incorporating archival records, historic photographs, maps, local history into lesson plans? Wondering how to connect school classes with archives during the pandemic? Please get in touch!

Researchers: Doing a house history, genealogy or local history research? the Archives are very much open for enquiries by email, telephone and post. News and highlights will appear here on Connect Oak Bay and on Twitter, and new research resources on the Archives pages of the Oak Bay website.

Donors: Thinking of giving historic records to Oak Bay Archives? Thank you! Please have a look at the BC Archives' donations guidelines at https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/assets/Donating-records_Brochure_BCA2018.pdf. Most of this is relevant to any archival donation - translate 'BC' to 'Oak Bay' of course!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives

Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

Email: archives@oakbay.ca

Phone: 250-598-3290

- Post by Anna Sander, October 2021.

Street Names - Origins and Changes

This version is online as of September 2021 and will be added to and updated as a live document, edited by Anna Sander, Archivist. The 2017 version compiled by Jean Sparks of Oak Bay Archives can be viewed at https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/history/archives/research/street-names

A useful list of similar historic street name changes within the City of Victoria is online here.

Questions? Corrections? Sources? Email the archivist

Introduction:

"In the early years, names were given to Oak Bay streets without consideration of duplication of names already in use in adjacent areas. As a result of this practice, street names had to be changed on numerous occasions following complaints from postal authorities about confusion in mail delivery. At one time, there were three streets in Oak Bay with the name Gonzales. One attempt at a general tidy-up occurred in 1920:

“'Upon motion of the Reeve, it was resolved ‘that the City of Victoria be requested to change the name of Oliver Avenue and Saanich Municipality be requested to change the name of Patricia Avenue so as to avoid confusion with streets of that name in this Municipality; this request being made in view of the fact that such named streets in Victoria and Saanich are short and that in return Oak Bay will consent to the change of name of seventeen streets now conflicting with street [name]s in Victoria, Saanich and Esquimalt.' [source: Oak Bay Council Meeting minutes 20 April 1920, p.73.]

"How some of the names listed here were arrived at, though, must be pure conjecture, as the thoughts of councillors at the time are unknown. Nor is there reference in any of the early council minutes to the reason for giving a particular name to a street. Some have their origin in the name of a prominent personage. Others are of a nostalgic nature, leading to reminiscences of known places in the British Isles. If you can trace an (preferably documented) Oak Bay connection to these names, please let us know!

"Research suggests that a number of streets in the former Hudson’s Bay Company properties honour persons associated with HBC history, while several on the Lansdowne slope (and one in the Uplands) end in “downe”, perhaps reminiscent of the English topographical feature of treeless grassy slopes or uplands, bringing in an association with the nearby Uplands development. (See OED 'down' n.1 senses 1-2 https://www.oed.com/oed2/00069237) The suffix also fits with Lansdowne (derived from a surname), which predates the '-downes' development and informally lends its name to the area above Carnarvon Park. As with other names supplied on the plans when the land was subdivided, no explanation of street name choices was provided by the company."

[Introduction from George Murdoch, 'Oak Bay Streets and Origins', appendix to History of the Municipality of Oak Bay. Updated 2021.]

===

List of street names

Street names are listed alphabetically, followed by either (historic), indicating that the name has been changed, or (current). Note that some names have been used more than once, and the names of some streets have changed more than once!

Changes in street names, and the development of streets over time, can be traced through the BC and City Directories, online for most years 1860 - 1955 at https://bccd.vpl.ca/ . Print copies of directories for most years 1956 - 1998 are held in the Archives.

Alexander Street (historic). Named for developer H.B. Alexander. Now Dewdney Avenue.

Allenby Street (current) Renamed for Field Marshall Viscount Allenby following World War I. Originally Robert Street to the west of the Exhibition Grounds and Wakefield Street to the east of the Grounds.

Anscomb Place (current). Named for Herbert Anscomb, 1892-1972, a former reeve of Oak Bay (1925), mayor of Victoria (1928-31), and a cabinet minister in the provincial government.

Armstrong Avenue (current) ? possibly named for an early landowner.

Ashdowne Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company Land Department, Winnipeg (Manitoba).

Avondale Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company Land Department, Winnipeg (Manitoba).

Babbacombe Place (historic) South of 951 Beach Drive to water. Now closed. Babbacombe is a small seaside town in south Devon, England, noted for its attractive bay and beach of the same name.

Barkley Terrace (current) Named for Captain Charles William Barkley, an early explorer in local waters (ca. 1787). Formerly part of Highland Drive and Patricia Avenue.

Bartlett Avenue (current) Named for Alfred T. Bartlett, an early resident of Oak Bay. Bay Road (historic) Now Cedar Hill Cross Road.

Beach Drive (current) Originally three sections - Beach (First Street) from intersection of Dallas Road and Foul Bay Road (Victoria City boundary) along to the bend by the Victoria Golf Course; "Mount Baker Avenue" from that point to just beyond Bowker Creek, where it ended; and The Uplands portion was called Shore Road. By 1908, it was called Beach Drive all the way to Uplands, then Shore Road.

Beach Avenue (historic) Now Broom Road. Descriptive.

Beachway Avenue (historic) From Bells Road (now part of Musgrave Street) to city limits, now Cavendish Avenue.

Beaver Street (historic) Original name of Beaverbrooke Street. Name changed at the request of the Victoria Postmaster.

Beaverbrooke Street (current) Originally called Beaver Street. Name changed at the request of the Victoria Postmaster. Possibly named after small stream in the area rather than Lord Beaverbrooke.

Bee Street (current) Origin unknown. Listed in city directories from 1912.

Beech Road (historic) Found in 1911 Census. May be misspelling of Beach.

Bellevue Street (historic) Now Beresford Place.

Bell's Road (historic) Now part of Hampshire Road between Bowker and Cavendish. [source, updated 2023]

Belmont Street (historic) Now Satellite Street.

Beresford Street (current) Originally Bellevue Street. Renamed for Admiral Lord Charles Beresford (1846-1919) .

Bold Point Lane (historic) Was Island View Lane and later became Radcliffe Lane.

Boundary Road (historic) Now Falkland Road.

Bourchier Street (historic) Now Goldsmith Street. Changed in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. [updated 2022]

Bowker Place (current) Derived from the name of the J.S. Bowker residence, Bowker Place (formerly Oak Bay Farm) presently at 1931 Bowker Place.

Bowker Avenue (current) Named for John Sylvester Bowker, 1867-1935, early resident of the District and son-in-law of John Tod. Originally Oak Bay Road.

Brighton Avenue (current) Originally two names: Cowan Avenue and Brighton Place (Monterey to Transit). Possibly named for the English seaside town of Brighton, Sussex.

Brighton Place (historic) One of the original names for Brighton Avenue along with Cowan Avenue. Brighton Place was the block between Oliver Street ((historic) name St. Andrew Street) and St. Patrick Street. It was to be left as a green space (square shaped). The municipality sold off the land in the 60s and four homes were built - two on Oliver Street and two on St. Patrick Street.

Broom Road (current) Originally Beach Avenue, changed to avoid confusion with Beach Drive.

Burdick Avenue (current) Early settler Newton Townley Burdick (1882-1953) was an alderman and reeve of Oak Bay in 1918.

Burns Street (historic) After Scottish poet Robert Burns. Now Elgin Road.

Byng Street (current) Originally Church Road. Renamed for Lord Byng of Vimy (WWI). Also called Oakland(s) Road.

Byron Street (current) For the English poet, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, better known as Lord Byron (1788- 1824).

Cadboro Bay Road (current) A shortening or variant of the name Cadborough, first vessel to enter the bay of that name (c. 1842) in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Becomes Fort St at Foul Bay. See also Willow Crescent.

Calvert Crescent (historic) Anderson Hill to Earn Street - closed for Elkington Close - now part of Centennial Trail. Origin unknown.

Camas Lane (historic) Camas Lane is named after the native plant (kwetlal, Latin Camassia) cultivated as a food resource by Indigenous peoples. This lane was unnamed until approximately 2005. It is historically significant for following the survey line delineating the south end of HBC's Uplands Farm, and it was used as a pathway from the beach to the HBC trading post on what is now Nottingham Park. More about Blue Camas tradition and restoration: https://terralingua.org/2020/05/12/camas/

Cardiff Place (current) Named for Cardiff, Wales.

Cardigan Road (current) Named for Cardigan, Wales.

Carnarvon Street (current) Named for Carnarvon, Wales. Formerly Gordon Street.

Carrick Street (current) Continuation of a street in Saanich with the same name. Originally Fourth Street.

Cavendish Avenue (current) Possibly named for William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle. Originally Beachway Avenue.

Cedar Hill Cross Road (current) Originally called Bay Road.

Central Avenue (current) Central location, dividing south Oak Bay.

Charlton Street (historic) Prior to 1928. From Foul Bay Road to Fairgrounds. Now Newton Street.

Chaucer Street (current) After English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343-1400).

Chelsea Place (current) Named by HBC, possibly for the affluent area of southwest London, England.

Chiltern Place (current) Named by HBC, possibly for the Chiltern Hills, north and west of London, England.

Christie Way (current) For Victoria alderman, the late Mrs. Margaret Christie, who was responsible for the subdivision of city-owned property once part of the lane of the Old Men's Home (Mountain View) on Hampshire Hill. Councillor from 1944-54.

Church Road (historic) Now Byng Street.

Clive Drive (current) Named for Sir Clive Phillipps-Wolley, who built a large home, Woodhall, at the upper end of the street in 1891.

Connaught Avenue (historic) Previously Olympia Avenue, now Estevan Avenue.

Cookman Street (current) Probably named for an early resident.

Cotswold Road (current) Uplands. Named for the Cotswold Hills in England, following the HBC tradition of naming streets for British places.

Cowan Avenue (historic) Original name for the section of what is now Brighton Avenue from Foul Bay Road to Victoria Avenue.

Cranleigh Place (current) Name taken from Cranleigh House School (formerly the Willows Hotel), itself named after the English public (i.e private, boarding) school in Cranleigh, Surrey.

Cranmore Road (current) Contraction of names of early families Crane and Blakemore. Originally called Tod Road, leading to John Sylvester Bowker's Oak Bay Farm. NB There is currently another Tod(d) Road.

Crescent Road (current) Descriptive.

Crestview Road (current) Descriptive.

Cubbon Drive (current) A subdivision of the former Joseph Pemberton Jr. property. Named for local developer Harold Cubbon.

Currie Road (current) Originally Longbranch Avenue. Named for Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie, C.B., K.C.M.G., commander of the Canadian forces, WWI.

Dalhousie Street (current) Previously three separately named sections: Thistle Street at the upper end; Margaret Street in the middle; and Seaview Avenue toward Beach Drive. Changed from Dalhousie Avenue to Dalhousie Street in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. Possibly to honour George Ramsay Dalhousie, 9th Earl of Dalhousie (1770-1838), governor-in-chief of Canada, or after Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (named for the same). [updated 2022]

Deal Road (historic) Part of Cattle Point Loop/Scenic Drive. Also called Southdowne Road. Changed in 1928 when road not completed due to establishment of Uplands Park. 1908 Victoria map shows Deal as part of what is now the Cattle Point loop. Deal went from Beach directly to the waterfront (no loop). Southdowne Rd, between Beach and Lansdowne, is now wholly within Uplands Park.

Deal Street (current) Possibly named for the seaside town in Kent, England.

Denison Road (current) Was to have been part of Highland Drive (now Barkley Terrace). Renamed for Napier Denison, 1866-1946, Dominion Government Meteorologist, at the time the observatory was was constructed on Gonzales Hill. Denison was known to thousands of Victorians as "our weatherman."

Devon Road (current) Named for the English county, known for its rural character and picturesque coastlines.

Dewdney Avenue (current) Originally Alexander Avenue. Renamed for Edgar Dewdney, 1835-1916.

Dorset Road (current) Named for the English county. Southern section extending to Beach Drive was called Meadow Road, changed in 1928.

Dover Road (current) Named for the seaport town in Kent, England.

Dryfe Street (current) Possibly an early settler. Scottish place name.

Dufferin Avenue (current) Originally Scott Avenue. Named for Lord Dufferin, Governor General of Canada, 1872- 1878.

Dundrum Road (current) Hudson's Bay Company name. A suburb of Dublin, Ireland, and a ruined medieval castle with a view over the town and scenic bay of the same name in County Down, Northern Ireland. [updated 2021]

Dunlevy Street (current) Named for Peter C. Dunlevy, an early settler prior to 1906. Originally Fourth Street, then Fuller's Avenue (or Street) after early landowner.

Durham Road (historic) Uplands road on Oak Bay Municipality 1911 map. Not built. (North end of Shoreway near Cadboro Bay intersection.)

Earn Street (current) Part of Centennial Trail - Transit Road to Island Road. Possibly after Loch Earn in Scotland.

Eastdowne Road (current) Another of the "downes" named by Hudson Bay Company. The southern portion of the road from Cadboro Bay Road to Haultain Street (Fairgrounds) was originally Willow Road.

Edgecliffe Place (current) Cul-de-sac subdivision named after the (historic) Edgecliffe estate (formerly 925 Foul Bay Road) where the road is situated.

Elgin Road (current) Originally Burns Street (for Scottish poet Robert Burns). May be named for Elgin, Scotland, or it could be named for Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin.

Elkington Close (current) After Dr. Eric Henry William Elkington, M.D. (1893-1990), dentist and owner of property prior to subdivision of 572 Island Road.

Empress Street (historic) Now Epworth Street.

Epworth Street (current) Originally named Empress Street. Possibly after village of Epworth, Lincolnshire, England.

Esplanade (current) Originally Oak Bay Esplanade.

Essex Road [added 2022]

Estevan Avenue (current) Originally Olympia Avenue, later changed to Connaught Avenue. Present name may be for an early Spanish explorer, though could have been suggested by news reports of the arrival of the lighthouse tender C.G.S. Estevan in Victoria at the time of the name change.

Exeter Road (current) Named for the cathedral city in Devon, England.

Fair Street (current) Name originated from the agricultural fair held annually at the Willows Exhibition Grounds.

Falkland Road (current) Originally named Boundary Road. Present name commemorates the Battle of the Falkland Islands during World War I.

Fifth Street (historic) Now Musgrave Street.

First Street (historic) Section of Beach Drive from Dallas and Foul Bay Roads along to the bend by the Victoria Golf Course.

Florence Street (current) Origin unknown.

Foul Bay Road (current, also historic spelling Fowl) From the bay of the same name. The name was given to the bay by early mariners because its exposed position and rocky seabed provided a poor anchorage.

Fourth Street (historic) Earlier name of Dunlevy Street and (separately) Carrick Street.

Frederick Norris Road (current) Named for former reeve of Oak Bay (1954-58) Frederick E. Norris.

Frederick Norris Place (current) Named for former reeve of Oak Bay (1954-58) Frederick E. Norris.

Front Street (historic) Now Penzance Road and Maquinna Road.

Fuller's Avenue, sometimes recorded as Fuller Street (historic). After Alfred Dixon Fuller, early developer who purchased much of the John Tod estate in 1879. Originally Fourth Street, now Dunlevy Street.

Gibbs Road (current) Named for former Reeve of Oak Bay (1950-53) and MLA, P.A. Gibbs.

Glen Avenue (current, but road not in use) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Now closed - base of Gonzales Hill park between Barkley and Denison.

Goldsmith Street (current) Originally Bourchier Street. Changed in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. Renamed for Irish/English poet Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774). [updated 2022]

Gonzales Avenue (historic) Name formerly used for two separate roads: Quimper Street (called Gonzales ca. 1913- 1928), near the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point; and present day Granite Street (changed ca. 1912), south of Oak Bay Avenue between Amphion and Hampshire. Named by "Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino, commander of the Princesa Real, in honor of his pilot, Gonzalo López de Haro". [source: Wikipedia] [updated 2022]

Gonzales Rock, Gonzales Hill - predecessors of Sylvan Lane.

Goodwin Street (current) Originally Nile Street, changed 1920/21. [updated 2023]

Gordon Street (historic) Now Carnarvon Street.

Granite Street (current), south of Oak Bay Avenue between Amphion and Hampshire, formerly one of the Gonzales Avenues. [updated 2022]

Greatford Place (current) May have been named for an early settler or the Lincolnshire village.

Guernsey Street (current) Originally Katherine Street, first listed in city directories in 1912. Changed in 1920-21, renamed for the island of Guernsey in the English Channel in mistaken honour of the Le Gresley family as the first settler residents of the street. The birthplace of John Le Gresley, whose house was built at 2184 Katherine Street in 1912, was Jersey, not Guernsey. Unfortunately, the Le Gresleys were visiting back in Jersey at the time, and the neighbours, thinking it would be a nice surprise for them, got their Channel Island connection wrong. [sources: BC Archives BMD indexes, BC CIty Directories, Guernsey St residents. Updated 2021, 2023.]

Hall Road (current) Named for Frederick James Hall, an early resident of the area.

Hamiota Street (current) Probably from the only other known Hamiota, a rural municipality in Manitoba. More from Manitoba Archives, and its centenary history from University of Manitoba Libraries. [updated 2021]

Hampshire Road (current) Originally Junction Road. Named by early farmer William Noble after his home county of Hampshire, England.

Hampshire Terrace (current) Named for the English county - birthplace of early farmer William Noble.

Hanover (historic) "East from 2103 Cadboro Bay Road" i.e. a southern extension of Epworth St toward Marrion. [1913 Fire Insurance plans, City directories 1915-1917. Added 2022.]

Harlow Drive (current) Origin unknown.

Haro (current) Unpaved, off Cedar Hill Cross (X) Road on University land. Probably named for its view of the southern reach of Haro Strait, named in 1790 by "Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino, commander of the Princesa Real, in honor of his pilot, Gonzalo López de Haro". [source: Wikipedia] [updated 2021]

Haro (historic) Now Rosario Street.

Hattie Street (historic) Now Pentland Road.

Haultain Street (current) This is a continuation of a street that starts in the City of Victoria and passes through a portion of the District of Saanich. Origin of name is unknown. First named Third Street in Oak Bay (see also Heron).

Hazel Street (current) May have been named for an early medical doctor associated with the Royal Jubilee Hospital.

Henderson Road (current) Named for William Henderson, second reeve of Oak Bay, 1909-11.

Heron Street (current) Originally another Third Street (see Haultain Street). Present name may be derived from the bird indigenous to the local waterfront.

Herrick Street (historic), now Satellite Street. Originally named after (James) Herrick McGregor (1869-1915), surveyor. He lived at the corner of Newport Avenue and St. David Street. He was one of the men behind the Oak Harbour Plan (deep sea harbour and hotel) with Joseph Pemberton, circa 1891, and surveyor of record for the Uplands subdivision. More by Peter Grant at Oak Bay Chronicles; see also comment by Larry McCann. [updated 2021]

Hewlett Place (current) Named for Harold F. Hewlett, Reeve of Oak Bay 1923-24. Originally part of Mitchell Street.

Highland Drive (historic) Now Barkley Terrace - was to continue to Denison Road but not completed [see Oak Bay Municipality map 1911]).

Hood Lane (current) Possibly for HMS Hood (cf. Hood Canal). Originally Rainier Lane.

Hudson Avenue. Now Sutherland Road.

Humber Road (current) Origin unknown. Family name, noted tidal estuary on the east coast of northern England, major river in the city of Toronto. [updated 2021]

Inglewood Terrace (current) Origin unknown. Place name.

Island Road (current) Possibly named as the road leading to Trial Island.

Island View Lane (historic) Original name of Radcliffe Lane.

Junction Road (historic) Now Hampshire Road, south of Oak Bay Avenue.

Jutland (historic, proposed in in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921) Previously, and now, Sutherland Road. [updated 2022]

Katherine Street (historic) Now Guernsey Street.

Kelsey Place (current) Named for Hudson's Bay Company explorer Henry Kelsey, the "Little Giant," 1667-1724.

Kendal Avenue (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company, possibly after the English market town in the picturesque Lakeland area of Cumbria.

King George Terrace (current) Named for King George V. Part near Beach Drive originally called Sunrise Avenue.

Kings Road (current) A continuation of a Victoria road of the same name.

Kinross Avenue (current) Scottish place name.

Lafayette Street (current) Origin unknown.

Lansdowne Road (current, also historic spelling Landsdowne) Named by Hudson's Bay Company after Governor General Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1883-1888).

Larch Street (historic) Now Plumer Street.

Larkdowne Road (current) HBC named street ending in "downe."

Laurel Street (historic) Now Victoria Avenue, south of McNeill Avenue.

Lincoln Road (current) Originally two sections: the northern end was called Seagull Avenue and the southern end was Second Street. Possibly for the English county town. Historic: unbuilt portion through what is now Uplands Park ending at Spoon Bay approx. present end of Exeter Rd. Changed from Seagull Avenue to Lincoln Road in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. [see 1913 Fire Insurance plan vol.3. updated 2022]

Linkleas Avenue (current) Part of Golf Links Park Subdivision, on the Lea of the Links.

Lion (historic) Off Macquinna at the end of Lorne Terrace. Found in Fire Insurance book of Victoria, Volume Three.

Long Branch Avenue (historic) After Longbranch, a resort town in New York State. Now Currie Road.

Lorne Terrace (current) Honours the Marquess of Lorne, Canada's 4th Governor General.

Lulie Street (current) Originally Warwick, then St. Lulie Street. Conflict with St. Louis Street caused the "St." to be dropped, possibly after Lulie Gore.

Lyn Crescent (current) Subdivision off Central Avenue, c. 1950.

Maquinna Road (current, also historic spelling Macquinna) May have been named for Chief Maquinna whom Captain Cook met on his first exploratory voyage into Nootka Sound. Originally Front Street on Harling Point. Penzance Road was also part of Front Street.

Margaret Street (historic, also Avenue) Now the middle section of Dalhousie Road, from Cadboro Bay Road to Musgrave Street.

Margate Avenue (current) Named for the English seaside town.

Marne Street (current) Commemoration of the famous Battle of the Marne in WWI.

Marrion Street (historic) For Robert Marrion, a settler prior to 1906. A short road that extended SE from the junction of Fort x Foul Bay. First resident, Alfred Howell & family. One of few Oak Bay streets to have disappeared; properties were purchased by the municipality in the 1970s to create the Oak Bay Recreation Centre on Bee St. Commemorated in the name of Marrion Village seniors' housing complex. Previously Prospect Rd, not to be confused with PROSPECT below; see George Cram map 1895, city directories 1899-1909. [added 2021, updated 2022.]

Mayhew Street (current) named after the Hon. Robert Wellington Mayhew, 1880-1971. Reeve of Oak Bay 1935-37, MP for Victoria, 1937-52; Federal Fisheries Minister, 1948-52; and First Ambassador to Japan, 1952-54. Son Charles Alan Mayhew (d.1943) m. Elza Mayhew, sculptor.

McGregor Heights (historic) Closed. From Granite Street to Brighton Avenue. Named after subdivision developer James Herrick McGregor.

McLaren Avenue (current) Named for dairy farmer Duncan McLaren.

McNeill Avenue (current) Named for Captain William Henry McNeill of the Hudson's Bay Company and early landowner at Shoal (now McNeill) Bay.

Meadow Place (current) Descriptive of surrounding area of 'Pemberton Meadows', off Foul Bay Road.

Meadow Road (historic) Uplands boundary from South Circle (Midland Road) to Shore Road (Beach Drive). Now part of Dorset Road. Changed in 1928.

Middowne Road (current) Another Hudson Bay's Company name ending in "downe". East-west mid-line of the subdivision.

Midland Circle (current) Turn around for BC Electric Tram in the Uplands. Plans show a north and south circle, connected by Midland Way.

Midland Road (current) Originally Midland Way, traversed by BC Electric Company Uplands streetcar tracks, and Midland Circle where streetcars turned for return trip to the City of Victoria.

Midland Way (historic) Connection between North and South Midland Circles. Now Midland Road.

Milton Street (current) For John Milton, the English poet (1608-74).

Mitchell Street (current) Named for an early resident (c. 1908). Formerly Cowan [?? Cowan is now Brighton]. Also included in Hewlett Place.

Monteith Street (current) Possibly for W.B. Monteith, an early resident.

Monterey Avenue (current) Originally called St. George Street north of McNeill Avenue. Changed to the present name in 1921.

Monterey Crescent (historic) Was to be a street running from the bend in Monterey Avenue (at Bowker Creek where it turns into St. Ann Street) over to the end of Lulie St onto Monteith St. It was never opened as that is now Firefighters' (formerly Firemen's) Park. The Firehall was opened in 1939. See historic fire insurance plans.

Mount Baker Avenue (historic) Section of Beach Drive from Victoria Golf Course (or Windsor Road?) to just beyond Bowker Creek, where it ended. By 1908 the section appears as Beach Drive

Mountjoy Avenue (current) Named after Mountjoy, the estate of Frederick Despard Pemberton.

Mowat Street (current) After an early resident.

Murdoch Crescent (current) After former reeve George Murdoch.

Musgrave Street (current) Originally Fifth Street. Named after John Musgrave, principal of the early real estate firm of Swinerton & Musgrave, and Commodore of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Myrtle Street (historic) Now Victoria Avenue, north of McNeill Avenue.

Neil Street (current) Originally Thompson Avenue west of Cadboro Bay Road. Changed to West Thompson Avenue in 1939. When the former Willows Fairgrounds was subdivided, a new road was created in alignment with Neil Street in Saanich and with West Thompson Avenue. Renamed Neil Street.

Newport Avenue (current) After resort area Newport Beach, Long Island. Part of a group of streets named after resort destinations.

Newton Street (current) This new road created in the subdivision of the former fairgrounds also aligned with a Saanich street named Newton. Probably named for an early resident. A portion of this road previously existed between Foul Bay Road and the fairgrounds and was known as Charlton Street, prior to 1928.

Nile Street (historic) Now Goodwin Street.

Norfolk Road (current) Original name. This was changed to Norwich in 1928 and later changed back to the original name, after the English county.

Norfolk Avenue (historic) road on Exhibition Grounds. Access road from Cadboro Bay Road to stables, now Woodhouse. [updated 2022]

North Hampshire Road (historic) Hampshire Road north of Oak Bay Avenue.

Norwich (historic) (historic) street in the Uplands. Changed from Norfolk Road in 1928, later reversed.

Nottingham Road (current) Named for Nottingham, England. Formerly Somerset Road/Street/Avenue?

Oak Bay Avenue (current) Original name. Changed in 1913 to Pandora Avenue until a later council reversed the decision. Continuation of Pandora east of Fort. NB: not all of Oak Bay Avenue is in the municipality of Oak Bay. West of Foul Bay to Fort, it is in the City of Victoria; east of Foul Bay to Newport, it is in Oak Bay.

Oak Bay Road (historic) Now Bowker Avenue.

Oak Bay Esplanade (historic) Now Esplanade.

Oakdowne Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Another of the 'downe' roads.

Oakland(s) Road (historic) Now Byng/Plumer.

Ochil (historic) east from Monterey Avenue immediately south of Monterey School. Now part of school grounds.

Oliver Street (current) Originally St. Andrew Street. Changed in 1921 and named for W.E. Oliver, first reeve of Oak Bay in 1906.

Olympia Avenue (historic) Now Estevan Avenue.

Orchard Avenue (current) Origin unknown - descriptive? not to be confused with former Orchard now Field St, City of Victoria.

Pacific Avenue (current) Suggested by proximity to ocean.

Pandora Avenue (historic) Oak Bay Avenue name change in 1913. Reversed back to Oak Bay Avenue at a later date, possibly 1921?

Patio Court (current) California inspired five house cul-de-sac, north side of San Carlos.

Patricia Avenue (historic) Now Barkley Terrace.

Pattullo Place (current) Named for Thomas Dufferin (Duff) Pattullo (1873-1956), 22nd Premier of British Columbia and long time resident of Oak Bay.

Pelly Place (current) Named for J.H. Pelly, Governor of Hudson's Bay Company 1822-52.

Pentland Road (current) Originally Hattie Street. Scottish place name.

Penzance Road (current) Possibly for Penzance, Cornwall, (UK). Originally Front Street on Harling Point. Maquinna Road was also part of Front Street. Changed from Penzance Street to Penzance Road in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. [Updated 2022]

Pleasant Avenue (historic) Now Roslyn Road.

Plumer Street (current) Formerly Church Road, Larch Street, and Oakland(s) Road. Named for Field Marshall Viscount Plumer (WWI). [Church Road and Oakland(s) Road are categorized with Byng Street #1027.]

Plymouth Road (current) Named for Plymouth, Devon, England.

Prince Andrew Place (current) Named for the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Houses first built 1961, not listed in city directories before that. [updated 2023]

Prince Edward Drive (current) Named for the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Houses first built 1949 and 1951; first listed in city directories 1950. [updated 2023]

Prospect Place (current) Originally Prospect Street, also Prospect Avenue. Connects Oak Bay Ave at Newport to San Carlos. Changed in 1921. *See also MARRION, above. "One other special feature is the actual layout of Prospect Place, which is undoubtedly the one piece of urban design by F.M. Rattenbury within Oak Bay's boundaries. Designed virtually as a private drive, Oak Bay Avenue was continued (as Prospect Place) through a street of houses by named architects to the gates of Rattenbury's own home." [source]

Prospect Street (historic) Now Prospect Place.

Quimper Street (current) Named for Sub-Lieutenant Manuel Quimper of the Spanish Navy who explored local waters in 1790. Was Gonzales Avenue - near the Chinese Cemetery, at Harling Point. Name changed in 1928.

Radcliffe Lane (current) Originally Island View Lane and later changed to Bold Point Lane. Origin unknown.

Rainier Lane (historic) Possible views of Mount Rainier. Now Hood Lane.

Rattenbury Place (current) Named for F.M. Rattenbury, architect for the Parliament Buildings in Victoria, early Oak Bay alderman and reeve in 1913.

Redwood Avenue (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company - reference to sequoia trees of Cedar Hill area.

Renfrew Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Possibly after place name (county town in Scotland) or family name.

Ripon Road (current) Originally York Road. Changed in 1928. Possibly for Captain Ripon of the CPR Coast Steamship service, a prominent figure in the early years, or the cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England.

Robert Street (historic) To the west of the Exhibition Grounds into Saanich. To the east of the Grounds, the road was called Wakefield. Now both are called Allenby Street.

Rock Road (historic) Esplanade near Cattle Point. 1911

Rosario Street (current) Earlier called Walter and Haro. Derived from Rosario Strait.

Roslyn Road (current) Originally Pleasant Avenue.

Runnymede Avenue (current) Named for Runnymede, England. historic/anecdotal - Salubrious Avenue.

Runnymede Place (current) Named for Runnymede, England.

Rutland Road (current) Originally Suffolk Road, in both cases perhaps for the English counties.

San Carlos Avenue (current) Possibly after California resort town. Incorporates Patio Court.

Sandowne Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Another of the 'downe' roads.

Saratoga Avenue (historic) After resort town of Saratoga, N.Y. Now Windsor Road.

Satellite Street (current) Derived from name of Satellite Channel (between the Saanich Peninsula and Salt Spring Island). Original driveway to a summer camp (home). Historic names Belmont Street and Herrick Street.

Scott Avenue (historic) Named for early developer. Now Dufferin Avenue.

Seagull Avenue (historic) The northern end of Lincoln Road. Southern end was called Second Street.

Seaview Avenue (historic) Now a portion of Dalhousie Road. From Musgrave Street to the sea at The Esplanade.

Second Street (historic) Southern end of Lincoln Road. Northern end was called Seagull Avenue.

Shady Lane (current) Descriptive Next to Bowker Creek off Beach Drive.

Sherringham Place (current) Possibly for Sheringham, England, but Sherringham with both rs is also a surname.

Shore Road (historic) Descriptive -Section of Beach Drive from Bowker Creek to the Uplands.

Shore Drive (historic) Section of Beach Drive from Bowker Creek to the Uplands.

Shoreway (historic) Section of Beach Drive from Bowker Creek to the Uplands.

Smythe Street (current) Origin unknown, prob. name.

Somass Drive (current) Origin unknown - cf Somass River, Port Alberni.

Somerset Road (historic) Now Nottingham Road.

Southdowne Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Another of the 'downe' roads. Uplands.

St. Andrew Street (historic) Changed to Oliver Street in 1921.

St. Ann Street (current) After Saint Ann and possibly Sisters of St. Ann.

St. David Street (current) Welsh Saint.

St. Denis Street (current) French Saint. Original survey crossed Windsor Park.

St George's Road (historic) Proposed name for Transit Road, in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921. Not used. [Updated 2022]

St. George Street (historic) North part of Monterey Avenue from McNeill Avenue to Oak Bay Avenue.

St. Henry Street (historic) Original survey crossed Windsor Park west of St. Denis Street. [Never completed?]

St. James Street (historic) Transit Road north of McNeill Avenue to Newport Avenue.

St. Louis Street (current) After Louis IX, only canonized King of France.

St. Lulie Street (historic) Now Lulie Street. Site of early Oak Bay landfill. There is no St Lulie - may have been a misreading for Luke.

St. Patrick Street (current) Irish Saint.

Stonehewer Place (current) Part of the Kildonan estate (931 Foul Bay Road) of John Sutherland. Named after a former Sutherland residence, Stonehewer House.

Suffolk Road (historic) Now Rutland Road.

Sunny Lane (current) Origin unknown - descriptive? Related to nearby Sunrise and Sunset.

Sunrise Avenue (historic) Descriptive - Eastern part of King George Terrace from Sunny Lane to Beach Drive. Related to nearby Sunny and Sunset.

Sunset Avenue (current). Related to nearby Sunny and Sunrise.

Surrey Road (current) Named for the county in England.

Sutherland Road (current) Change to Jutland in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921 - but not put into effect owing to existing Jutland Rd Gorge Rd-Burnside), later Hudson Avenue. Named for John Sutherland, early resident and a member of early Oak Bay council. [updated 2022]

Swanson Place (current) Named after John Swanson (1827-72), HBC master of Beaver, Cowlitz and Enterprise shipping vessels.

Sylvan Lane (current) Descriptive.

Tarn Place (current) Origin unknown.

Theatre Lane (current) Named for the Oak Bay Theatre which closed in 1985.

Third Street (historic) Previously both Heron Street and (separately) Haultain Street.

Thistle Street (historic) Now a portion of Dalhousie Road, from Eastdowne Road ((historic) Willows Road) to Cadboro Bay Road. Thompson Avenue (current) Possibly named for explorer David Thompson.

Thorpe Place (current) Origin unknown.

Tinto Street (current) Possibly for the hill in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Tod Road (historic) Now Cranmore Road.

Tod Road (current) Originally the driveway from Cadboro Bay Road to the home of John Tod, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The house (Oak Bay House) still exists on Heron Street. Also Tod Lane.

Topp Avenue (current) Named after local developer or for C.H. Topp, a former city engineer of Victoria.

Townley Street (current) Name given to a Saanich street of which the one in Oak Bay is a continuation. Possibly named for an early resident Newton Townley Burdick, active in real estate and reeve of Oak Bay in 1918.

Transit Road (current) Previously called St. James Street north of McNeill Avenue to Newport Avenue. Proposed change to St George's Road in Bylaw No.288 "Street Names By-law", passed 25 January 1921, not used. Named after surveyor's instrument or describing 'transit road' to McNeill Bay land fill? [Updated 2022]

University Woods (current) Originally part of Hudson's Bay Woods; proximity to the University of Victoria.

Uplands Road (current) After HBC Uplands Farm and subdivision.

Uplands Place (current)

Upper Terrace Road (current) For location.

Valdez Place (current) Named for Cayetano Valdés y Flores Bazán (1767–1835) , an early Spanish explorer of the northwest coast.

Victoria Avenue (current) Named for Queen Victoria. Originally in two sections: Laurel Street from Beach Drive to McNeill Avenue and Myrtle Street north of McNeill Avenue.

Wakefield Road (historic) Off Exhibition Grounds to the east. Now Allenby Street. To the west of the Grounds this road was called Robert Street.

Wales Road (historic) Uplands, between Upper Terrace and Midland Road. Not built - now a pedestrian trail. [added 2021]

Walter Street (historic) Was also Haro. Now Rosario Street.

Warwick (historic) Suggested for Lulie Street.

Weald Road (current) = a forest or uncultivated upland. Area of Kent, England.

Wessex Close (current) From the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, England.

Wessex Crescent (current) From Wessex, England.

West Thompson Avenue (historic) Now Neil Street. Continuation of Thompson Avenue running from Cadboro Bay Road to Foul Bay Road and into Saanich.

Westdowne Road (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Westerly road of the subdivision. Another one of the "downe" roads.

Willow Crescent (historic) From Willow Road (now Eastdowne Road) to Bowker Avenue. Now part of Cadboro Bay Road.

Willows Road (historic) From Cadboro Bay Road to the Fairgrounds at Haultain Street. Changed to Willows Road in 1928. Now Eastdowne Road.

Willows Road (historic) Was Willow Road. Now Eastdowne Road.

Wilmot Place (current) Originally driveway to Wilmot House, home of Joseph Despard Pemberton Jr.

Windsor Road (current) Originally Saratoga. Renamed 1921- 22 for the Royal House of Windsor.

Woodburn Avenue (current) Named by Hudson's Bay Company. Scottish and north English family name.

Woodhouse Road (current) Named for W.L. Woodhouse, reeve of Oak Bay 1941-45. Formerly Norfolk, between Cadboro Bay Rd and Exhibition grounds. [updated 2022]

Woodlawn Crescent (current) An early subdivision off Monterey Crescent/Avenue.

Wootton Crescent (current) Named for former reeve, R.A.B. Wootton, 1948-49.

Yale Street (current) After James Murray Yale, 1798-1871, Chief Trader for the HBC at Fort Langley. York Road (historic) Uplands. Now Ripon Road.

York Place (current) Named for York, England. Original Oak Bay Avenue address.

Zela Street (current) Ancient city, site of Battle of Zela, 67 BC. (But why in Oak Bay??)

More musings - not necessarily serious! - about Oak Bay and greater Victoria street names:

Nesbitt, J. 'Parrott's after a Bird Cage'. The Islander Magazine, Daily Colonist, 28 June 1970. https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19700628/page/n51/mode/1up

Paterson, T.W. 'Victorians Take Place Names Seriously.' The Islander Magazine, Daily Colonist, 18 June, 1972. P.12. https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19720618/page/n59/mode/1up

Nesbitt, J. 'Nesbitt Finds Mystery In Victoria Street Names'. The Islander Magazine, Daily Colonist, 3 April 1977 https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19770403/page/n69/mode/1up

Nesbitt, J. 'Jim Nesbitt Looks... at Oak Bay street names'. The Islander Magazine, Daily Colonist, 15 May 1977. https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19770515/page/n75/mode/1up

Questions? Corrections? Sources? Email the archivist