THEN & NOW
/DEVONIAN PARK
A Colourful History
by Monika Forberger
(click images to enlarge)
This welcoming West End park, which borders Georgia Street from Denman Street to the entrance of Stanley Park and abuts Coal Harbour to the north, has a unique and entertaining history. It was officially opened in 1983 thanks to funding from the Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations. But the land where the park now sits has a fascinating history going back more than 160 years.
Devonian park on a pleasant summer’s day. (Monika Forberger Photo)
In the 1860s the western end of the park became home to a group of Hawaiian families who worked at the various lumber mills around Burrard Inlet. At “Kanaka Ranch,” as it became known, they grew fruits and vegetables and fished and hunted to sustain their small community. They also produced and sold charcoal to Hastings Mill where some of the men worked. This area — closest to what would become Stanley Park in 1888 — was developed first with the building of an ice hockey arena.
THE DENMAN ARENA
The Denman Arena opened in December 1911 by famous hockey brothers Frank and Lester Patrick. At 10,500 seats it was the largest indoor arena in Canada at the time and the country’s first rink to use artificial ice. The Patrick brothers had convinced their businessman father, Joe, to sell his interests in the Kootenay forestry industry and use the proceeds to fund a professional hockey league on the West Coast, and selected Vancouver as one of the franchise locations. At the same time the Patricks built another arena, named after themselves, in Victoria.
To facilitate the making of ice in Vancouver's moderate climate, the Patricks imported mechanical ice freezing equipment they’d seen used in New York. On opening day the arena attracted 1,500 people for a session of public ice skating.
Denman Arena. (Vancouver City Archives Photo)
Built at a cost of $226,382, the Denman Arena became one of the homes for the three-team Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) — the first professional hockey league in British Columbia. It was home ice for the Vancouver Millionaires (later named the Maroons) who won the PCHA title six times between 1915 and 1924. They also won the Stanley Cup in 1915 by defeating the National Hockey Association champion Ottawa Senators three games to none in a best-of-five game series. Sadly, this remains Vancouver’s only Stanley Cup title.
Other notable sports figures who appeared at the Arena were Jack Dempsey, Max Baer and Percy Williams.
In 1914, the Arena was used to house over 1,000 soldiers who were assembling to form the 23rd Infantry Brigade. The soldiers left Vancouver in August 1914 to be deployed as the first Canadian troops in World War I.
Then, in 1924, it was the site of a radio broadcast by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Later that year, the newly installed telephone line was used for the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game in B.C.
On the night of August 19, 1936, 4,000 fans had attended a Max Baer boxing match. A fire broke out in the adjacent Coal Harbour area late that night. Despite the brick veneer — recently added to reduce the wood building’s risk of burning — the fire spread to inside the Arena. The interior exploded into flame and the Arena could not be saved.
The Denman Arena Fire of 1936. (Vancouver City Archives Photo)
A lack of wind prevented the large fire from spreading into downtown. Two people were killed, and three firemen injured. The Denman Arena was destroyed, along with seven industrial buildings, two homes and fifty-eight boats berthed in Coal Harbour. The overall damage of the fire was estimated at $500,000. The concrete floor of the Arena was salvageable and was later adapted into an outdoor dance floor called The Starlight.
In 1945, the site was sold to Vancouver theatre owner H. M. Singer for $80,000. Singer, who owned the State Theatre at 144 East Hastings St. and the Palomar Ballroom at Burrard and Alberni Street, announced plans to construct a new $1 million sports arena on the site. However it was never built and, in 1947, Singer sold the site to Georgia Recreations Ltd.
Denman Auditorium. (Vancouver City Archives Photo)
DENMAN AUDITORIUM
On the same plot of land, just east of the Arena, the Patricks built the 2,500 seat multi-purpose Denman Auditorium in 1927. The Auditorium survived the Denman Arena fire of 1936. It was purchased by Lieutenant Governor Frank Ross in 1951 and was renovated in 1952, re-opening in September of that year as the Georgia Auditorium Concert Hall.
It was a venue for entertainment and some notable rock and roll concerts took place there. This included one in October 1957, presented by a touring group of musicians known as "The Biggest Show of Stars." The lineup included Paul Anka, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, The Drifters, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Buddy Knox. Earlier that year world-renowned tenor Jan Peerce sang at the Auditorium. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra regularly played at the Georgia Auditorium during the 1950s before moving to the QE Theatre.
Other musical greats who performed at the Arena and Auditorium included Maurice Ravel, Dizzy Gillespie, Walter Gieseking, Glenn Gould, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Jeanette MacDonald, and Margaret Truman.
The Auditorium was demolished seven years later in 1959, following the construction of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
“Search” by J. Seward Johnson. (Monika Forberger Photo)
Devonian Harbour Park is now a very popular park in Vancouver’s West End. A historical marker a few metres west of the park’s entrance is a reminder (or a lesson) of the sites’ historic importance — be it for Hawaiian immigrants, hockey, or music. The cherry trees in the park were planted over the years to honour the Hawaiian families who made their homes here.
Known to thousands of West End residents and tourists to Vancouver is the park’s longest (and quietest) resident, the lady in “Search” of something important in her handbag. The bronze sculpture, shown here, by American artist J. Seward Johnson Jr. was installed in 1975.
Remarkably, she is provided with fresh flowers on an almost daily basis. If you’re heading to the park, bring her a posy and take your place in the area’s colourful history.
