Port Mann
Encyclopedia
Port Mann townsite
was created in 1911 in the municipality of Surrey, British Columbia
. The new town was to adjoin the new railway yard and roundhouse forming the terminus of the new trans-national rail-line operated by Canadian Northern Railway
. Newspaper quoted that the town was intended to be a model town. Purchase of sections had been completed by 1911 and clearing of the forest had begun. The sale of lots began in March 1912 and by June 1912 all land in the townsite had been sold. Four million dollars worth of land was sold in Port Mann. Borrowing from mid-nineteenth century notions of Baron Haussmann
’s Paris, Port Mann was laid out by landscape architect Frederick S. Todd
with streets radiating from a central circus in the residential section. The business sector was to cluster around a large open square. In June 1912 the Toronto World also published that Port Mann would be the site of a large scale steel mill by Carnegie Steel Company
of Pittsburgh as well as the site of flour mill, and grain elevators by International Milling, and the site of a large dry dock and shipbuilding yards. However, the model town of Port Mann, nor the extensive industrial investment was ever fully realized. Immigration to Canada dropped sharply in 1913. The population of Vancouver declined from 120,000 in 1912 to 75,000 in 1916. Building permits in Vancouver dropped from a high of $20 million in 1911 to less than $2 million in 1914. Building permits would only reach $20 million again in 1929. The railway never terminated in Port Mann, instead the Canadian Northern Railway negotiated running rights with Great Northern across Fraser Railway Bridge to Vancouver to terminate at what is today Pacific Central Station.
From a map the area of the townsite encompassed an area from what is today 130th Street to 152nd street and from the Fraser Foreshore to 108 Avenue.
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 or plan was often the first legal act in the establishment of a new town or...
was created in 1911 in the municipality of Surrey, British Columbia
Surrey, British Columbia
Surrey is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver, the governing body of the Greater Vancouver Regional District...
. The new town was to adjoin the new railway yard and roundhouse forming the terminus of the new trans-national rail-line operated by Canadian Northern Railway
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...
. Newspaper quoted that the town was intended to be a model town. Purchase of sections had been completed by 1911 and clearing of the forest had begun. The sale of lots began in March 1912 and by June 1912 all land in the townsite had been sold. Four million dollars worth of land was sold in Port Mann. Borrowing from mid-nineteenth century notions of Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
’s Paris, Port Mann was laid out by landscape architect Frederick S. Todd
Frederick Todd
Frederick Gage Todd was the first resident landscape architect in Canada. For the majority of his life he was one of a small group committed to the art and practice of structuring urban growth in the first half of the century. His projects ranged from Vancouver, B.C...
with streets radiating from a central circus in the residential section. The business sector was to cluster around a large open square. In June 1912 the Toronto World also published that Port Mann would be the site of a large scale steel mill by Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.-Creation:...
of Pittsburgh as well as the site of flour mill, and grain elevators by International Milling, and the site of a large dry dock and shipbuilding yards. However, the model town of Port Mann, nor the extensive industrial investment was ever fully realized. Immigration to Canada dropped sharply in 1913. The population of Vancouver declined from 120,000 in 1912 to 75,000 in 1916. Building permits in Vancouver dropped from a high of $20 million in 1911 to less than $2 million in 1914. Building permits would only reach $20 million again in 1929. The railway never terminated in Port Mann, instead the Canadian Northern Railway negotiated running rights with Great Northern across Fraser Railway Bridge to Vancouver to terminate at what is today Pacific Central Station.
From a map the area of the townsite encompassed an area from what is today 130th Street to 152nd street and from the Fraser Foreshore to 108 Avenue.