Burnaby North and Burnaby South were the first high schools built in the City. Before the high school opened, Burnaby students had to travel to Vancouver if they wished to pursue education beyond an elementary level. In 1921, arrangements were made to use the basement of the Presbyterian Church for instruction of local students. By 1922 the Burnaby North High School opened at its first permanent location (4375 Pandora Street - which is now Rosser Elementary). In 1945, the Willingdon Avenue site was built and was used until a new building was constructed in 1961 on Hammarskjold Drive. From 1962, the school was used as Burnaby Heights Junior High school, but it closed in 1982 and the junior high students went to the new Burnaby North on Hammarskjold.
The Capitol Hill Community Hall was designed by local architect Harold Cullerne (1890-1976). After Cullerne returned from service during the First World War, he joined J.H. Bowman in a partnership that lasted from 1919 to 1934. After Bowman retired in 1934, Cullerne practiced on his own, continuing to work on schools and institutional buildings, such as the Art Deco Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver. In 1944, Cullerne designed a community hall for Capitol Hill; the scheme was delayed, and redesigned before it was finally built after the end of the Second World War. A simple front gabled roof hall structure, this hall is a monument to community spirit, erected by community members on a volunteer basis, and used for community events for over half a century. The hall replaced two earlier structures, both destroyed by fire, that had served the same purpose.
Although the Hastings street-car extension to Ellesmere opened in 1913 and there had been much speculation in the area during the real estate boom of 1909-1913, development in Capitol Hill did not really take off until after World War One when workers in Vancouver started to look to Burnaby for affordable but centrally-located neighbourhoods in which to build their homes. The 1913 one-room school had to be replaced in 1923 and in 1948, members of the community came together to build a new Community Hall.
1 photograph : b&w ; 3.2 x 5.3 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of a mound of earth on the 202 Delta Avenue lot, with 142 Delta Avenue visible in the background. The photograph was taken facing northeast.
1 photograph : b&w ; 3.2 x 5.3 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Description Level
Item
Record No.
370-225
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
No known restrictions
Accession Number
BHS1999-03
Scope and Content
Photograph of a mound of earth on the 202 Delta Avenue lot, with 142 Delta Avenue visible in the background. The photograph was taken facing northeast.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. Workmen are relaxing, standing high on a ledge just below the unfinished roof, as community members stand below them, smiling.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. Workmen are relaxing, standing high on a ledge just below the unfinished roof, as community members stand below them, smiling.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. The construction workers are all bent over, busily working on the roof and its supports.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. The construction workers are all bent over, busily working on the roof and its supports.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. The construction workers are all taking a break to look at the camera from their positions on the roof, the roof's ledge and the ground. A dog is also at the construction site.
Photograph of the construction of the Capitol Hill Community Hall. The construction workers are all taking a break to look at the camera from their positions on the roof, the roof's ledge and the ground. A dog is also at the construction site.
1 photograph : b&w ; 4.6 x 3.4 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of Dick Wirick riding his horse, Bus, on the 5700 block of Hastings Street. The horse is rearing. Capitol Hill School can be seen in the background.
1 photograph : b&w ; 4.6 x 3.4 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Description Level
Item
Record No.
370-065
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
No known restrictions
Accession Number
BHS1999-03
Scope and Content
Photograph of Dick Wirick riding his horse, Bus, on the 5700 block of Hastings Street. The horse is rearing. Capitol Hill School can be seen in the background.
1 photograph : b&w ; 4.5 x 2.6 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of Floyd Wirick sitting on a wheelbarrow in backyard of 5870 Hastings Street. Gardening tools, a shed and an unidentified man are in the background.
1 photograph : b&w ; 4.5 x 2.6 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Description Level
Item
Record No.
370-074
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
No restrictions
Accession Number
BHS1999-03
Scope and Content
Photograph of Floyd Wirick sitting on a wheelbarrow in backyard of 5870 Hastings Street. Gardening tools, a shed and an unidentified man are in the background.
1 photograph : b&w ; 3.8 x 2.6 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of George B. Carpenter, principal of Burnaby North High School, at Confederation Park for a school track meet or other function. In the background is the track and a fence with two young women sitting on it.
1 photograph : b&w ; 3.8 x 2.6 cm print on contact sheet 20.2 x 25.3 cm
Description Level
Item
Record No.
370-134
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
No restrictions
Accession Number
BHS1999-03
Scope and Content
Photograph of George B. Carpenter, principal of Burnaby North High School, at Confederation Park for a school track meet or other function. In the background is the track and a fence with two young women sitting on it.
Note on verso of photograph reads: "1949. Garage at / 4507 E. Hastings / Bill Grieve standing by / car. Standard Oil leased it to him. / North East Corner of Willingdon and / Hastings". "606Y", stamped on back.
Photograph of Harry Royle standing with unidentified woman in front of Harry's confectionery store located at 5527 Hastings Street, Burnaby. The woman could be Harry's wife,
Photograph of Harry Royle standing with unidentified woman in front of Harry's confectionery store located at 5527 Hastings Street, Burnaby. The woman could be Harry's wife,
Recording is of an interview with Harry Royle by Ross S. McLeod (and Bettina Bradbury) June 20, 1975. Major themes discussed are: the Depression and the running of a grocery store. To view "Narrow By" terms for each track expand this description and see "Notes".
Biographical Notes
Harry Royle was born in Gibraltar in 1898 to a Spanish mother and an English father (all of the Royle children except for one were born in Gibraltar). Harry's father served in the army for twenty-one years and because of that, the family moved regularly.
While Harry was still a young baby, the Royle family moved to Ireland for six years, where he began his first years of schooling at the age of four.
His dad retired from the army in 1907 and was sent to Canada with the BC Electric Company (the London General Army Buses Company). The rest of his family followed two years afterward in 1909 and settled in South Vancouver.
Harry and his three brothers joined the army and were sent overseas as part of the second division. Luckily, they all returned home to Vancouver in 1919.
Harry worked at the Hudson's Bay Company "counter jumping" before opening his own store in 1924 at 5527 Hastings Street and Ellesmere Avenue, a confectionery and general hangout for neighbourhood children."Harry's" was only twenty-five foot square and carried groceries obtained mainly from Kelly Douglas wholesalers. Most of Harry's customers worked at the mill at Barnet. Those that worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway were the few that still held jobs during the Depression. The store continued to serve the people of Capitol Hill throughout the Depression and war years, until Harry closed shop in 1945.
Bettina Bradbury teaches history and women's studies at York University. She is the author of Wife to Widow. Lives, Laws and Politics in Nineteenth-century Montreal. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, June 2011), 520p; Working Families. Age, Gender and Daily Survival in Industrializing Montreal. (Toronto: Canadian Social History Series, McClelland and Stewart, 1993); (Republished Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996) (3rd edition, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007). These interviews were undertaken after she completed her MA at Simon Fraser University in 1975 with the support of an LIP grant.
Interview was digitized in 2010 allowing it to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council and the BC History Digitization Program of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. It was recognized by the Heritage Society of BC with an award in 2012.