1907:

A petition is presented to city council, requesting that the residents of District Lot 301, otherwise known as “No Man’s Land”, be allowed to become a part of the city of Vancouver. “This district is a sort of buffer between Vancouver and South Vancouver,” claims the Vancouver Daily World, referring to the land (which will one day be the area between Main Street and Clark Drive). “A good many of the residents in lot 301 work in the city and might as well be citizens.”

According to the Vancouver Province, “ninety percent of residents” are said to favour annexation, “praying that this district be included in the city limits.”

”Mr. William Ives, a resident of 301, pointed out to-day that there were fully twelve hundred residents,” the Province continues. “Mr. Ives also pointed out that there is no debt on the district, and that over fifty new buildings are now under way, and fully the same number were being planned.”

However, despite the hopes of No Man’s Land’s residents, Council votes against annexing the district. It will take a further four years of petitioning before they are incorporated into Vancouver’s city limits.

The city of North Vancouver is also incorporated on the same day, but this fails to warrant a mention in any of the major papers.

 

IMAGE: Students of Charles Dickens School, Lot 301, circa 1902. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.