Gastown is the original settlement that became the core of the city of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and a national historic site and a neighbourhood in the northwest section of the

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues, including disproportio ...

, adjacent to

Downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. ...

. Its historical boundaries – the waterfront (now Water Street and the

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

tracks), Carrall Street, Hastings Street, and Cambie Street – followed the borders of the 1870

townsite A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat (United States) or plan ( ...

survey, the proper name and postal address of which was Granville, B.I. ("Burrard Inlet"). The official boundary does not include most of Hastings Street except for the

Woodward's Woodward's Stores Ltd. was a department store chain that operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, for 101 years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company. History Charles Woodward established the first Woodward store at the corner o ...

and

Dominion Building The Dominion Building (originally Dominion Trust Building) is a commercial building in Vancouver, British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwe ...

s, and stretches east past Columbia Street, to the laneway running parallel to the west side of Main Street.

History

Gastown was Vancouver's first neighbourhood and was named for "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

seaman, steamboat captain and barkeep who arrived in 1867 to open the area's first saloon. He was famous for his habit of talking at length (or "gassing") and the area around his saloon came to be known as "Gassy's town," a nickname that evolved to "Gastown." The town soon prospered as the site of

Hastings Mill Hastings Mill was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet and was the first commercial operation around which the settlement that would become Vancouver developed in British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1865 by Captain Edward Stamp, Edward S ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

, and quickly became a general centre of trade and commerce on

Burrard Inlet Burrard Inlet () is a shallow-sided fjord in the northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coa ...

as well as a rough-and-rowdy resort for off-work loggers and fishermen as well as the crews and captains of the many sailing ships which came to Gastown or Moodyville, on the north side of the inlet (which was a dry town) to load logs and timber. In the 1960s, citizens became concerned with preserving Gastown's distinctive and historic architecture, which like the nearby

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

and Strathcona was scheduled to be demolished to build a major freeway into the city's downtown. A campaign led by businesspeople and property owners, as well as the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

and associated political protestors gained traction to save Gastown. Henk F. Vanderhorst, a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

immigrant to Canadian citizen, opened the 'Exposition Gallery', an art gallery on Water Street which started, flourished and encouraged a flow of other fledgling business startups to boom in the Gastown core. His influence with the revitalization of Gastown was acknowledged in 1976 by being awarded 'The First Pioneer Citizen of Gastown' award by Mayor

Art Phillips Arthur Phillips (September 12, 1930 – March 29, 2013) served as the 32nd mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 1973 to 1977. Prior to being elected to this post, he founded the Vancouver investment firm of Phillips, Hager & Nort ...

. "A key to the city". Vanderhorst's efforts, in part, pressured the civic, provincial and federal governments to declare Gastown a historical site, protecting its heritage buildings to this day. Gastown was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

in 2009.

21st century

Gastown is a mix of "hip" contemporary fashion and interior furnishing boutiques, tourist-oriented businesses (generally restricted to Water Street), restaurants, nightclubs, poverty and newly upscale housing. In addition, there are law firms, architecture and other professional offices, computer and internet businesses, art galleries, music and art studios, tattoo parlours, and acting and film schools. In February 2013, The Gastown Gazette began publishing local news and stories about the ongoing protests against gentrification in the

and Gastown area of Vancouver. The

community paper Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regu ...

has since gathered provincial and national attention for reports on the neighbourhood. Gastown has become a hub for technology and new media. It has attracted companies such as Zaui Software, Idea Rebel, MetroQuest, BootUp Labs Entrepreneurial Society, SEOinVancouver and MarketR. Popular annual events that take place on the

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

streets of Gastown include the

Vancouver International Jazz Festival The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is a jazz festival held every summer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The festival grew out of a local jazz scene that centred on Vancouver Co-op Radio (CFRO-FM), a community radio station, in the ...

and the

Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix The Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix is a criterium cycling race held in Gastown, the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded by a local dentist and bike racer, Roger Sumner, in 1973, the Gastown Grand Prix regularly ...

international bicycle race. 8212 2012-07-16 Gastown Lamplighter HDR 2012-07-16 Gastown HDR

In June 2004,

Storyeum Storyeum was a short-lived tourist attraction, located at 142 Water Street, Vancouver. Storyeum was located in the largely touristy area of the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Storyeum offered up a live, interactive, ...

opened in Gastown. It was a lively theatrical 65-minute show that re-enacted the history of BC using eight sets that were all located below street level. Unfortunately, due to mounting debt, the attraction closed its doors in October 2006. The Gassy Jack statue was toppled on February 14, 2022, by protesters during the 31st annual Memorial March for

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native Americans in the United States, ...

. In the summer of 2024, as a pilot project, Water Street was converted into a

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

with car-free and car-light areas from Richards Street to Carrall Street.

Gastown steam clock

Gastown's most famous (though nowhere near oldest) landmark is the steam-powered clock on the corner of Cambie and Water Street. It was built in 1977 to cover a steam grate, part of Vancouver's distributed

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

heating system, as a way to harness the steam and to prevent street people from sleeping on the spot in cold weather. Its original design was faulty and it had to be powered by electricity after a breakdown. The steam mechanism was completely restored with the financial support of local businesses as it had become a major tourist attraction, and is promoted as a heritage feature although it is of modern invention. The steam used is low pressure downtown-wide steam heating network (from a plant adjacent to the

Georgia Viaduct The Georgia Viaduct is a twinned bridge that acts as a flyover-like overpass in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It passes between Rogers Arena and BC Place Stadium and connects Downtown Vancouver with Main Street and Strathcona. History ...

) that powers a miniature

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

in its base, in turn driving a

chain lift A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from t ...

. The chain lift moves steel balls upward, where they are unloaded and roll to a descending chain. The weight of the balls on the descending chain drives a conventional

pendulum clock A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is an approximate harmonic oscillator: It swings back and forth in a precise time interval dep ...

escapement An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to t ...

, geared to the hands on the four faces. The steam also powers the clock's sound production, with

whistle A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...

s being used instead of

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

s to produce the Westminster "chime" and to signal the time. In October 2014, the clock was temporarily removed for major repairs by its original builder, and was reinstalled January 2015.

References

External links

Official Gastown Community Website

Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix

''The Gastown Gazette''
community newspaper

comparisons of old photos with modern locations

Archival photos

View of Gastown from offshore, 1884, prior to announcement of CPR terminus

View of Gastown from offshore, 1886

View of Alexander Street, Gastown c.1911

View of Water Street from jct. Cordova Street, c.1890

View of Water Street from Maple Tree Square, 1887
(Sunnyside Hotel at right)
View of Cordova Street from above intersection of Carrall; July 1, 1890 Dominion Day celebrations

View of Cordova Street from above intersection of Cambie; c.1900 when this was still the city's principal shopping district
{{British Columbia parks National Historic Sites in British Columbia Neighbourhoods in Vancouver Historic districts in Canada Tourist attractions in Vancouver History of Vancouver