History
Moodyville (at the south end of Moody Avenue, now Moodyville Park), is the oldest settlement on Burrard Inlet, predating Vancouver; only New Westminster is the older non-native settlement in the region. Logging came to the virgin forests of Douglas Fir in North Vancouver, as sailing ships called in to load. A water-powered sawmill was set up in the 1860s at Moodyville, by Sewell Moody. Subsequently, post offices, schools and a village sprang up. In time, the municipality of North Vancouver (which encompassed the entire North Shore from Deep Cove to Dundarave) was incorporated. In the 1880s, Arthur Heywood-Lonsdale and a relation James Pemberton Fell, made substantial investments in North Vancouver and in 1882 he financed the Moodyville investments. Several locations in the North Vancouver area are named after Lonsdale and his family. The financial collapses of the 1890s and 1907 aggrieved the young city into bankruptcy. As a result of this, the separate areas of West Vancouver, and District of North Vancouver came into being, with the City holding onto only a small portion of its former area.
Part of the reason was the cost of developing raw mountainous terrain. And, originally the ocean foreshore was primarily swamp.The great distances, and large rivers to span, hindered development. Bridges were built, only to have them washed out in a few years from winter floods. The City and District built Keith Road in 1912, which undulated from West Vancouver to Deep Cove amid the slashed sidehills, swamps, and burnt stumps.
Yet the City did gain a strong foothold, with Lonsdale Avenue. Serviced by the North Vancouver Ferries, it proved a popular area. Commuters used the ferries to work in Vancouver. Street cars and early land speculation, spurred interest in the area. Streets, city blocks and houses were slowly built around lower Lonsdale. Wallace Shipyards, and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway provided an industrial base, although, the late arrival of the Second Narrows railway bridge in 1925 controlled development.
Sawmills, logging, and small farms continued in the interwar years. Yet the nearby mountains also proved to be a permanent attraction. Ski areas were set up on Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour.
The North Vancouver mountains have many drainages: Capilano, MacKay, Mosquito, Lynn, and Seymour Rivers. The Depression again bankrupted the city, while the Second World War turned North Vancouver into the Clydeside of Canada with a large shipbuilding program. Housing the shipyard workers, provided a new building boom, which continued on through the Post war years. By that time, North Vancouver became a popular housing area.
The area around lower Lonsdale Avenue features several open community spaces, including Waterfront Park, Lonsdale Quay shopping area, and the pier at Ship Builders Square.
Read more about this topic: North Vancouver (city)
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