Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
In 1870, the Earl of Granville - otherwise known as George Leveson-Gower - gen-
erously lent his grand title to the search for a new name for the fledgling commu-
nity that had grown up around Gassy Jack Leighton's bar on the banks of the Bur-
rard Inlet (in what's now known as Maple Tree Sq). The locals had begun calling it
'Gastown' but the colonial administration wanted something of its own. Virtually
no-one used the name 'Granville' to describe the settlement and it was aban-
doned after a year and replaced with 'Vancouver,' after the seafaring British cap-
tain who had set foot on the forested shoreline in 1792. 'Granville Street' was later
adopted for the moniker of one of the city's busiest thoroughfares.
