The road currently known as Sperling Avenue was originally the "Pole Line Road" - so named because it served as the route for a power transmission line to connect the Buntzen Lake Power Plant to the Burnaby sub-station at Griffiths Avenue in 1905. It was named after Rochfort Henry Sperling, the Superintendant of the B.C.E.R. Company. The B.C. Electric Railway contracted Herbert Gilley to open the Pole Line Road from Hastings to Johnston Road, as Gilley Brothers were already actively logging the area.