page_title: History of Vancouver
section_title: 1950 – present
hierarchical_section_title: History of Vancouver / 1950 – present
caption_attribution_description: The monorail at Expo 86
context_page_description: The history of Vancouver is one that extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants arriving in the area following the Last Glacial Period. Vancouver is situated in British Columbia, Canada; with its location near the mouth of the Fraser River and on the waterways of the Strait of Georgia, Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, and their tributaries. Vancouver has, for thousands of years, been a place of meeting, trade, and settlement.
  The presence of people in what is now called the Lower Mainland of British Columbia dates from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago when the glaciers of the last ice age began to disappear. The area, known to the First Nations as S'ólh Téméxw, shows archeological evidence of a seasonal encampment near the mouth of the Fraser River that dates from that time.
  The first Europeans to explore the area were Spanish Captain José María Narváez in 1791, and British naval Captain George Vancouver in 1792. The area was not settled by Europeans until almost a century later, in 1862. The city grew rapidly following completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway transcontinental line from Eastern Canada, allowing for continuous rail service in the late 1880s.
context_section_description: CBUT, the oldest television station in Western Canada, first went on the air in December 1953. The Oak Street Bridge, connecting Vancouver to Richmond across the Fraser River, opened in 1957. While the Second Narrows Bridge and the Lions' Gate Bridge had provided a connection to the North Shore since 1925 and 1938 respectively, the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing followed in 1960. The last vestiges of British Columbia Electric Railway's streetcar and interurban rail system were dismantled in 1958.
  Another major bridge across the Fraser River, the Port Mann Bridge to Surrey, opened in 1964. Two new universities were established, the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1964 and Simon Fraser University in 1965; both have satellite campuses in Vancouver. Residents of Strathcona – most of them Chinese – formed a protest movement led by civic activist Mary Lee Chan and prevented the construction of a freeway which would have resulted in the bulldozing of the neighbourhood. In 1967, the Greater Vancouver Regional District was incorporated. Greenpeace, one of the leading international environmental organizations, was founded in Vancouver in 1971.
  In 1968 the Canada Council awarded a $3,500 grant to Joachim Foikis of Vancouver "to revive the ancient and time-honoured tradition of town fool." He made a habit of attending all city council meetings in full traditional jester's outfit, adding wit, nursery rhymes and interest to the normally pedestrian meetings and bringing international attention to Vancouver.
  Disc sports debuted in Vancouver on Kitsilano Beach in 1974 with the Vancouver Open Frisbee Championships.
  The continuing growth of the airport on Sea Island resulted in the construction of another bridge across the Fraser River, the Arthur Laing Bridge which opened to traffic in 1975.
  As Pacific Central Station replaced Waterfront Station as the main railway station in 1979, the latter was transformed into the terminal of SeaBus and the future SkyTrain (which opened six years later). Canada's first domed stadium, BC Place Stadium opened in 1983. The SkyTrain and the BC Place Stadium, as well as Science World, Canada Place and the Plaza of Nations, were constructed for Expo 86. This significant international event was the last World's Fair held in North America and was considered a success, receiving 22,111,578 visits.
  In 1951 the population stood at 562,000; by 1971 it reached 1,000,000. The Park Royal Shopping Centre, in West Vancouver, became the first in the city in 1950 and Empire Stadium, was built to host the 1954 British Empire Games. Vancouver became the western anchor of the new CBC national television network in 1958 and the western hub of the newly completed Trans-Canada Highway in 1962. The giant Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, was built in 1959 for passenger and vehicle ferry service to southern Vancouver Island and the nearby Roberts Bank Superport coal terminal was finished in the late sixties. A second, Second Narrow's Bridge was built in 1960 and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, was completed in 1967.
  The establishment of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in 1959 and of Simon Fraser University in 1965, enriched city cultural life. Canada's first purpose-built auto racing track, the Westwood Motorsport Park was built in nearby Coquitlam, that same year. The first McDonald's restaurant outside the United States was opened in Richmond in 1967.
caption: Expo 86 was held in Vancouver. The theme of the world fair was transportation and communication.
exif: {}