1952:

Little attention is paid in either the Vancouver Sun or Province as, at an official ceremony in Stanley Park, the second Lumbermen’s Arch is officially dedicated by city officials and representatives of the BC Lumber Manufacturer’s Association.

“Stanley Park’s new Lumbermen’s Arch was officially dedicated Tuesday by the head of the organization that made the new span possible,” reads a brief article in the Vancouver Province. The original arch, (known officially as “The Bowie Arch” after designer George P. Bowie) which was constructed in 1912 to honour the visiting Duke of Connaught, was a much taller, more elaborate, and ornate structure, which was held together entirely by its own weight, using no screws, nails, or fasteners of any kind.  The new Arch, made of three pieces of Red Cedar, bolted together,  stands on a site which was once the location of one of the largest and oldest settlements on Burrard Inlet -the Squamish village of Khwaykhway. The village, once home to more than a thousand residents, was occupied for thousands of years, and was an important site for potlatch ceremonies, before all residents were forcibly removed to make way for Stanley Park.

The Vancouver Sun makes no mention of the event.

 

IMAGE: The Bowie Arch in Stanley Park, circa 1913. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.