Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
KING OF CITY HALL
The Great Depression caused major belt-tightening among the regular folks of
1930s Vancouver. But despite the economic malaise, mayor Gerry McGeer
spared no expense when it came time to build a new
City Hall
in 1936 (50 years
since Vancouver was incorporated as a city). Defending the grand art-deco edi-
fice he wanted as a make-work project for the idled construction industry, the $1
million project (a very large sum for the time) was completed in just 12 months.
But while the work was appreciated by some, McGeer showed no additional
sympathy for the local working class. Believing that radicalism was taking hold
among out-of-work locals, he ordered police officers to crack down on protests
whenever they emerged. When hundreds gathered to call for jobs in East Van-
couver's Victory Sq, McGeer turned up to personally read them the riot act. A few
weeks later, police and an estimated 1000 protesters fought a three-hour street
battle with rocks, clubs and tear gas. Rumors at the time said the police were pre-
paring to use machine guns against the crowd when it began to disperse. The
most famous incident in Vancouver labor history, it was later called the
Battle of
Ballantyne Pier
.
