Biz-Biz

Board of Trade Luncheon, Hotel Vancouver [Aug. 19, 1949]
Board of Trade Luncheon, Hotel Vancouver [Aug. 19, 1949]
You’ve heard of Show Biz. This is Biz Biz, the history of business in Vancouver, told through the activities of The Vancouver Board of Trade. The Board began in 1887 (details here), and for all those 120 years has been promoting the economic interests of the city, sponsoring charitable events, presenting notable speakers (recent examples include the minister of national defence, the head of Canada Post, the chief executive of the Port of Vancouver, many many more), commissioning studies of a broad range of topics (like the provision of affordable housing, or the growth in rates of property crime), bringing business people together to form new networks, advising small business, promoting Vancouver abroad . . . the plate is always full.
Researching the earliest years of the Vancouver Board of Trade turns out to be more interesting than we’d anticipated. Most of us know at least a little of the history of The Board’s first president, David Oppenheimer (who was also the city’s second mayor), but another figure pops up in those early years whose name has almost vanished into an undeserved obscurity. He was Robert Clark, a city alderman and haberdasher….

Business through the years...

#43 Chuck Davis – BC BookLook

January 14th, 2016 The ultimate expert on all historical matters pertaining to Vancouver, Chuck Davis, routinely asked students in Vancouver...

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C. P. R. Hotel, Vancouver, B.C.

Biz-Biz 1888

Van Horne The Daily News-Advertiser in its July 15, 1888 issue, reported that The Council of the Vancouver Board of Trade had...

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Board of Trade trip to Ioco Refinery [CVA 99-1756]

Biz-Biz 1889

Busy Board On January 1, 1889 the Daily News-Advertiser carried an editorial about the Board that bears quoting 118 years after it...

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[Klondike Gold Rush crowd follow the 5th Regiment leaving the C.P.R. dock [Can P22]

Biz-Biz 1900

High Praise The members of the Vancouver Board of Trade would have been basking in the praise of its activities given in...

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Some buildings in Atlin during the Klondike Gold Rush [AM54-S4-: Out P527.1]

Biz-Biz 1901

More on the Gold Rush The year began for the Board, said the January 9th Province, with a continuation of its...

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Phillips armoured submarine telephone cable for B.C. Telephone on a C.P.R. freight car. [City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1184-2905]

Biz-Biz 1902

Missing material It should be noted that, because of the condition of some of the newspaper microfilms used as the...

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Van Winkle Bar Gold Mine, Fraser River, near Lytton, B.C. on C.P.R. circa 1895. [City of Vancouver Archives CVA 256-02.35]

Biz-Biz 1903

Mining Matters The regular monthly meeting of the Board on February 3rd was mainly concerned with the new Provincial Mining...

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C. P. R. Steam Engs. #5813 and 5438 and train circa 193?. Jonathan Rogers of the Rogers Building arrived on this train. [City of Vancouver Archives CVA 447-1888]

Biz-Biz 1904

Taxation and a Railway The Board met on January 19 in special session to discuss the province’s Assessment Act. “President...

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Canadian Pacific Railway arrival of the first through train at the seabord of British Columbia circa 1886. Jonathan Rogers of the Rogers Building arrived on this train. [City of Vancouver Archives AM54-S4-: Can P2]

Biz-Biz 1905

The president of the Board for 1905 was A.B. Erskine. He will serve as president in 1912, too. Commercial Travelers,...

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Boat in the First Narrows circa 191? [City of Vancouver Archives AM1592-1-S9-F74-: 2011-092.3435]

Biz-Biz 1906

Post Office Blues The design of the new post office [which today is the clock-topped building, part of the Sinclair...

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Canadian Fishing Company, New England Fish Company and Grand Trunk Pacific buildings and docks [City of Vancouver Archives PAN N40.2]

Biz-Biz 1907

Going with the Grain The Council of the Board made Page One of the Province for January 2, 1907 with a request...

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Miss Emily Edwardes on trip from Vancouver to Seattle, to visit Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition circa 1909 [City of Vancouver Archives CVA 371-3153]

Biz-Biz 1908

Parthian Shot The dredging of the First Narrows “received fresh impetus” at the Board’s first meeting of 1908. The January...

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Deadman's Island [CVA 677-135]

Biz-Biz 1909

Wheat Wave “The Vancouver board of trade,” reported the Province of January 6, 1909 (Page 3), “is leading in the movement to...

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The Royal Navy's revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, which gave its name to the type

Biz-Biz 1910

Seeing the name “Tehuantepec” in a newspaper headline about the Vancouver Board of Trade was bound to excite our curiosity....

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Coal Creek, B.C. looking northwest [on the] Crow's Nest Pass Railway [City of Vancouver Archives Out P1223]

Biz-Biz 1926

Annual meeting The Province for March 10, 1926 reported on the annual meeting of the Vancouver Board of Trade held the night...

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Hotel Vancouver [CVA 677-951]

Biz-Biz 1932

Trade with Australia boomingBC exhibit “disappointing and disgusting”45 New FactoriesSteelman tells us: Abandon IsolationWartime Registry for all citizens!One-Cent Cafeteria! Good...

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Rainbow Lodge, Alta Lake [CVA 289-004.204]

Biz-Biz 1933

New Gold Rush The Vancouver Sun, on Page 4 of its June 12, 1933 edition, quoted A.J. Smith, the paper’s financial editor,...

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Biz-Biz 1935

The January 10, 1935 Vancouver Sun (Page 2) indicates that British financiers were leery of investing in BC’s mines. Our mining industry,...

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Cleveland Dam [CVA 275-20]

Biz-Biz 1936

More Money George Pearson, the provincial Minister of Labor, spoke to the Advertising and Sales Bureau of The Board of...

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S.S. "Prince George" at dock [CVA 447-2577.2]

Biz-Biz 1937

Some 1937 highlights (described in more detail below): H.R. MacMillan views our export trade with alarmAverage annual income in BC hits...

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Fraser Valley Milk Producers' Association display of evaporated milk products [CVA 180-1611]

Biz-Biz 1938

A new President The January 19, 1938 Sun (Page 3) announced that “John Whittle, vice president of Vancouver Board of Trade for...

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Troops embarking on a ship during the second world war [CVA 1184-3491]

Biz-Biz 1939

A note: the federal government has an interesting brief article here on how the Second World War affected the Canadian economy. An excerpt:...

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For a once-over-lightly look at the history of The Vancouver Board of Trade, go here.