Presentation House, the longest serving public building on the North Shore, is also one of the oldest buildings, an unprepossessing structure in Lower Lonsdale that started, “from a small core structure to a rambling complex”. Serving as a school, city hall, a jail, an art gallery, a museum and a theatre, the building tells the story of the development of North Vancouver. Imagine all the people who have played a part in the life of Presentation House since its start in 1902 – school children, politicians, police, photographers, artists, archivists, actors, musicians, audiences and larger-than-life personalities such as, Pierre Elliott Trudeau and, in April 1972, Muhammed Ali who sparred in the hallway with the City Clerk. There was even a royal drive-by in 1939 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Sidetracked on a Side Street
The Pacific Great Eastern Railway, despite its name, was a Western company. Incorporated in Vancouver in 1912, it was founded to create a railroad between Prince George and the docks of North Vancouver via Squamish and the Howe Sound. Decades passed before this goal was fully achieved due to a section of challenging, mountainous terrain and ongoing financial challenges. It became known as the Province’s Great Expense to Prince George Eventually. However, the story of the PGE Railway is one of ambition and perseverance that created an important, historic route along the waters of the Burrard Inlet and Howe Sound, remnants of which still exist today.