Vancouver’s 100 Centennial Plaques

[Date above is last edited. First published: May 28, 2024]

I want to acknowledge that this project is looking at sites located within the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

I’ve always loved reading any plaque I can find – they’re a great way to get a little snapshot of history. When I started looking into these yellow ovals I’d found around town, I discovered that 100 plaques were installed to celebrate Vancouver’s centennial in 1986 and I decided to look for them all!

 

As the plaques were installed in 1986, there probably won’t be much focus on Vancouver’s diversity and different cultural experiences. Probably very few women too. It’ll be interesting to see what the Vancouver Centennial Commission chose and if there are any surprises.

The List

#	Title	Plaque?
1	City Payroll Stolen	Missing
2	Shanghai Alley	Missing
3	Arrival of the First Train	Missing
4	The North Arm Road	Still up
5	BC Electric Head Office and Depot	Missing
6	BC Electric Depot	Found, but gone
7	The Great Fire	Still up
8	Houdini's Great Escape	Missing
9	The False Creek Trail	Found, but gone
10	The Oldest Building in Chinatown	Missing
11	Reading of the Riot Act	Still up
12	The Hotel Vancouver	Missing
13	The Vancouver Opera House	Missing
14	End Of The Road	Found, but gone
15	Hastings Mill	Still up
16	First City Council Meeting	Found, but gone
17	Young Men's Christian Association	Missing
18	Deadman's Island	Still up
19	The Avalon Dairy	Still up
20	The Hotel Vancouver Bandstand	Missing
21	Hastings Park	Found, but gone
22	Cedar Cottage	Still up
23	Tilley's Bookstore	Missing
24	The Anti-Oriental Riots	Missing
25	Stevens' Folly	Missing
26	Jeremiah Rogers	Missing
27	Whoi-Whoi	Missing
28	Denman Arena	Missing
29	The Komagata Maru	Missing
30	The First Newspaper	Missing
31	The Oppenheimers	Missing
32	Kanaka Ranch	Missing
33	Fairview Shacks	Still up
34	Memorial Park South	Still up
35	Pantages Theatre	Found, but gone
36	Brockton Graveyard	Found, but gone
37	The First Ukrainian Church	Still up
38	Con Jones Park	Still up
39	False Creek Reclamation	Missing
40	Percy Williams	Still up
41	Papal Visit	Missing
42	The First Synagogue	Still up
43	Denman Auditorium	Missing
44	Cambie Street Grounds	Missing
45	Historian of His People	Missing
46	Wreck Beach	Missing
47	Brewery Creek	Still up
48	Theatre Under The Stars	Missing
49	LD Taylor	Missing
50	Stained Glass Pioneers	Missing
51	Sam Stands Firm	Missing
52	The First Mail Delivery	Still up
53	False Creek Industry	Still up
54	Waterworks	Missing
55	The Hollow Tree	Missing
56	Coal Harbour Industry	Missing
57	Athletic Park / VAC Gym	Missing
58	Polar Bear Club	Still up
59	Japanese Internment	Missing
60	South Vancouver	Still up
61	Point Grey	Still up
62	VanDusen Gardens	Missing
63	Pioneer Businesses	Missing
64	Lord's Day Act	Missing
65	Left to Right	Missing
66	Sun Yat Sen	Missing
67	Sadie Marks	Still up
68	CPR Tunnel	Still up
69	The Chain Gang Strike	Missing
70	Sam Kee Building	Found, but gone
71	St Paul's Hospital	Missing
72	Council of Women	Missing
73	First Labour Temple	Missing
74	MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion	Missing
75	Andrew Roddan	Missing
76	Crystal Pool	Missing
77	Father of BC Archaeology	Still up
78	Union Steamships	Missing
79	In the Line of Duty	Missing
80	From Buckets to Aerial Trucks	Missing
81	Hastings Mill Store	Still up
82	The Old Post Office	Found, but gone
83	Carnegie Centre	Found, but gone
84	Labour Strife	Missing
85	Lucklucky	Found, but gone
86	Gun Emplacements	Missing
87	Malcolm Alexander MacLean	Missing
88	Greenpeace	Missing
89	Ackery's Alley	Still up
90	St Mary's	Missing
91	Sikh Temple	Missing
92	Land Speculation	Missing
93	Carleton School	Found, but gone
94	First Baptist Church	Missing
95	Lemon Squash	Missing
96	False Creek South	Still up
97	English Bay	Still up
98	Vancouver Rowing Club	Still up
99	Hart's Opera House	Missing
100	Jericho Military Base	Still up

Credit: Vancouver Centennial Commission, Historic Plaque Program – final list (June 18, 1986). Courtesy of Vancouver Archives

Background

If you’ve ever wandered around Vancouver, you’ve probably spotted a bunch of historical plaques. The most common type is the Heritage Building sign – a bronze rectangle with a blue triangle at the top. These designate a building that has historic significance and they’re pretty formal.

You may have also seen a Places That Matter plaque – a blue oval. The PTM program was started in 2011 to celebrate 125 years since Vancouver was incorporated. These signs are much more community-minded and commemorate some of the lesser-known places, events and people that make Vancouver.

However, in between these two types, there was another plaque program – in 1986, 100 plaques were installed to celebrate 100 years – and those are the ones I’m looking for!

It's really important to acknowledge that this project is looking at sites located within the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. People have been living in this area for 8-10,000 years.

The first non-Indigenous settlements in the area only began in the late 1800s, with the first “official” townsite surveyed in 1870. The Canadian Pacific Railway selected the town as the terminus of their transcontinental railway and Vancouver was incorporated as a city on April 6, 1886 (then promptly burnt to the ground two months later).

100 years later, Vancouver celebrated its centennial. This evolved into Expo 86 with all its huge developments, but there were also lots of little events and programs to celebrate the city’s history. And one of those was the installation of 100 plaques:

“The Vancouver Centennial Commission will be erecting 100 historical plaques during 1986. We welcome suggestions that highlight all aspects of Vancouver’s history (social, political, labour, native, multicultural, neighbourhood, religious, sports etc). The Centennial Plaques should commemorate historically significant and representative people and events in Vancouver’s past.”

Credit: Vancouver Centennial Commission, Suggestion Form (Courtesy of Vancouver Archives)

Update (March 15, 2026) - I've managed to find 40 plaques, in time for their 40th anniversary!

For more info about the plaques as a group - click here.