Wow! This sure takes the sting out of being conned into paying for the PG Hotel.

Shasta Cafe
Masons Cafe
Corless House


I have lived most of my life, never heard of any of them.

Anybody got any info, locations, stories?

The forgot the Old Jimmy James candy and ice cream store on Third Ave.

"I have lived most of my life"

Hmm, I guess most of us have lived most of our lives. Kinda looks silly doenst it.

It should have been "I have lived here most of my life"

So, what are the signs going to be about? Prince George was founded on the fur trade. Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser. River travel. Then came the Grand Trunk Railway.

Don,

That would be Fort George your talking about with the 1st three.

Prince George was founded on the railway and timber.

I havent heard of those eeither - a quick search tells me that the Shasta cafe used to be beside the PG Hotel and was "the nicest cafe in town" and the Corless house eventually was used by JJ Springer and Co. Havent found anything on the Mason yet though.

I havent heard of those eeither - a quick search tells me that the Shasta cafe used to be beside the PG Hotel and was "the nicest cafe in town" and the Corless house eventually was used by JJ Springer and Co. Havent found anything on the Mason yet though.

AAAAG - I hate it when I do that, thats what I get for having too many windows open - lol. Sorry for the double post

"Prince George was founded on the railway and timber."

Prince George as distinct from South Fort George and Central Fort George was established by the railroad, but Prince George in its modern sense is the result of the consolidation of the three. The history of the city certainly goes back to the Northwest Company Fort.

There was no fort. It was a trading post without any fortifications. The fort was at Fort St. James.

The Corless House is on Third Avenue. There is a sign near the entrance door explaining a bit of the history.

Go to the library site. They have their tour buildings on the web. You'll find the Corless House there as well as the Shasta and Mason's which is where the White Goose is today:

http://www.lib.pg.bc.ca/files/virtual_tour.swf

For some, it is a list of places to tear down in order for the downtown to survive.

Yes, Mackenzie and Fraser discovered the aboriginals who resided here before the two European explorers passed they passed through many centuries later.... :-)

gus,

whether there was a fort or not really isn't a consideration, the original "white man" name for the area was Fort George. When the rumors of the railway were coming here, two different groups bought up land and named them South Fort George and Central Fort George.

The Railway ended up going through neither parcel of land and the Grand Trunk incorporated their own town, Prince George in 1915. It wasnt until 1976 that South Fort George was incorporated into the City of Prince George.

"There was no fort. It was a trading post without any fortifications."

Fur trade posts were referred to as "forts" whether or not they were fortified, presumably because most were. The Northwest Company post here was referred to from the outset as "Fort George".

In your eyes, it is not a consideration. In mine, it is. I am assuming people are allowed to have different opinions. ..... :-)

So, here is my humble opinion. The area was explored by Mackenzie in July 1793 when he came down the Parsnip and into the Fraser. Was there any great discovery by him? Does not seem to have been. He was interested in getting to the Pacific not establishing any sort of trading posts.

Fraser came by some 12 years later in 1805 and travelled south from the Peace to establish trading posts. Rocky Mountain Portage House (Hudson's Hope), Trout Lake Fort (McLeod), Fort St. James in 1806 and Fort George in 1807.

So, while the CIty of Prince George was incorporated in 1915, I prefer to say that Prince George, as a community established by Europeans, was "founded" in 1807.

Why do I say that? Easy. When one speaks about when a community ws first established, one might speak about the legal establishment or one might speak about the establishment of a settlement.

Montreal was already an aboriginal settlement (Hochelaga, about 2,000 years old when Europeans arrived) when Cartier landed there in 1535. It began to be settled by Europeans in 1542, founded in 1642 as Ville Marie and established in 1832 as a city by the English.

I think it is a shame that we think of this region in terms of 100 years when it has been settled, be it ever so sparsely, rather than 200+ years.

"The Northwest Company post here was referred to from the outset as "Fort George".

Yes, I realize that. And today we refer to it as BC's Northern Capital. People's tendency to exaggeration has not changed throughout the ages ..... :-)

"Fur trade posts were referred to as "forts" whether or not they were fortified, presumably because most were"

I wonder about that. I think the real reason is because they wanted the places to sound strong. "Don't mess with us, we have forts allong along the trade routes"

Gus,

not real sure what your point is, simple facts are the area was know as Fort George for many years, whether there was a fort or not has no bearing on this. As I pointed out in my original post, Fort George was established based on the fur trade and river travel. Prince George was established based on the Grand Trunk Railway and timber.

The actual physical location of "Fort George" (the indian establishment on the banks of the Fraser) and Prince George were 2 seperate locations.

Going to your ramblings about whether places names "Fort" had actual forts, Im pretty sure when Prince George was established there were no actual Prince's in the area, well maybe the odd indian princess.

I guess the whole area was built on a lie.

Now there is a point. Perhaps that is why it has stayed nice and cozy and small till the 1960's for a decade and a half of a growth spurt. Not much here other than dreams of forts and capitals of some vast territory with ramshackle towns.

:-)

Get rich quick schemes. Flip hotels to governments. The owner of the Alexandra Hotel did it in 1923. Still continues to this day ... :-)

BC's northern capital?? What pompous arrogance. BC doesn't have nor does it need a northern caital. Get over yourselves.

idiots

Was the Shasta Cafe just to the left of the Royal Produce on 3rd ave? Pretty much across the street from the current Evergreen Pharmacy.

And Mason's cafe, somewhere close to where the Princess Theatre was near 3rd and Vancouver St?

Mark my words: These signs will either get busted up or vandalized by graffitti by the n'er do wells that roam the downtown.

No place can be called "established" until it is properly stolen from its First Nations inhabitants.
I agree with Imorge, above. Those signs had better be high up and well anchored to save them from spray painted clowns' logos or soon appearing on eBay. Out my way public signs soon acquire bullet holes or spray paint.
This is just SummerSoul's opinion.

Another waste of tax payers money. The Strand Theater, once stood where the Hospital Employees Union building is, south east corner of 3rd and Dominion. The Strand Theater building is long gone.

The Shasta Cafe, was in the 400 block of George Street I believe. Mason's Cafe, on the corner of 3rd & Dominion. it was also a classy place of the day.

And yes Palopu, Jimmie James Ice Cream Stand, wow, you and I are dating ourselves now....lol My dad use to take me there on Saturday mornings, I think I was about 4 or 5 years old. Never forget that. He was located across from the present Evergreen Pharmacy. I probably have a slide of it somewhere, my father was a shutter bug. He took 1000's of pictures of Prince George in the early days (50's), many of various events going on around the town. I hope to go through all of them shortly, and maybe put a CD together for all to see.

The Kresge's building, sits where the original Government Building was. It was a red brick structure if I remember correctly.

Our original indoor arena was situated where the Day's Inn (Simon Fraser Hotel) now sits. It collapsed in the mid 50's from a heavy snow load, hence the Coliseum that the Spruce Kings call home today.

I don't want to say you are wrong Gus, but I do believe the Corless House was located on 4th Ave., not 3rd Ave. I think it may have been near, or maybe the same building, that housed the BC Electric and Power Authority office. I may have the name wrong, but that is where they had their office, where you paid your electric bill.

We didn't have hydro power in those days. We had a generating station, where Carney Street meets 1st Ave. It was powered by diesel generators. We always had candles in our houses, because in the winter time, overload would cause power outages. We have it great today, but I would welcome back yesterday in a heart beet!!

Another piece of local trivia, that most people it seems, are not aware of, is that "Shooter's Bar & Grill" on Brunswick Street, was originally the "Pentecostal Tabernacle", and the Airport was where the Prince George Golf & Country Club course is now.

The Legion use to be right across the street from the Post Office on 5th Ave., and the RCMP building and lock up, use to be where the present Legion is today. It moved across the street to the north side of 7th Ave., before calling home where it is now.

The public swimming pool (the only one we had at the time) was over on 3rd and Watrous, where the lawn bowling is going on now! Well not right now, but it will start soon...lol

I remeber the swath on the north side of Connaught Hill, where the Ski Jump use to be, but can't say I remember the Ski jump itself. Can you believe it, WAY before my time.

At the end of 15th Ave, as it joins University Way, there use to be a place called 100 Steps. When we were young, we use to ride our bikes up a trail, (there was no 15th ave up that far). When we got to the base of Cranbrook Hill, there was a creek flowing, and there were two ladders going up the bank. At the top of the ladders, there were several concrete foundations, we guessed something left from WWII army structures. Anyway, getting back to my story, there were two ladders going up the bank. These ladders were made out of logs, and each consisted of 50 steps, for a total of "100 STEPS". In the summer break, we always refer to "lets go to 100 steps for the day"

Years later, Arron Thompson, the City manager, along with his sons, built a ski hill there. It was called "100 Steps Ski Hill" Check it out. Those were the days when we got a ton of snow in town!!

Anyway, a little local trivia. I may not be bang on, on some of the dates or streets, but I think I am pretty close!

Happy Easter Everybody.

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Going back abit in local history, not as far as some, but I really wish they could have done something to save the Ben Ginter house.

Now that was art deco, it would have made an interesting place to visit, maybe turned it and the area around it into a park, museum, or some kind of recreational area.

Another spot outside of town but would have made a great park is the old Mandalay Ranch home site. Real sad to go there today and see it now.

OH, and taxinapothile, thanks for sharing that, I remember allot of those places, but its always good to get a refresher to bring back the memories.

I did a quick search on Ben Ginter, was feeling a bit nostalgic, I found this little snipet, there are allot of people around this site that will get a real kick out of it

"In Prince George, for instance, there is Contractor Ben Ginter, who arrived in 1949 with a stake of $1,500. He has run it to $20 million since, building highways and pulp mills, and a $250,000 hilltop house for himself that includes an indoor waterfall and swimming pool fed by a diverted mountain creek. While clearing the sites for the new pulp mills of Prince George, Ginter thought ahead and bought up swatches of land in the hills overlooking them. "When those pulp mills start producing," he says, "that stench is going to sit right down there in the valley. And people are going to start scrambling up these hills to build their homes. And they are going to build them on my land."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836438-5,00.html#ixzz0k9yWU9DR

taxinapothoel ... yes, you are right, the Corless house is on 4th, which I understand to be in the same location it was built.

The government building you speak of was the Alexander hotel that was sold to the province.

When I came to town in the early 1970s, 100 stepos ski hill was still operating ands I skied there on several occasions.

And you might remember that the apartmnents that are there now were built after an attrocious home made precast apartment building about 7 or 8 stories high was built there and had to be torn down. The concrete from that went into rip rap on one of the Island Park properties in the area where a couple of houses had to be moved from the riverbank due to erosion.

Yes I do remember that building Gus. It took 318 pounds of dynamite to bring it to the ground!

hey guys, great information! i grew up here and so did my mom, so i've heard lots of great stories, but i still love hearing about what pg used to look like. my brain is just trying to picture some of these old buildings. thanks again. if you have any more, i'd love to hear about it!