Historic Steveston, British Columbia
Heritage Sites in Steveston
Scotch Pond
Scotch Pond began as a tidal slough on the Sturgeon Bank flats. A year-round Musqueam settlement stood here until the late 1890s, with fishing sites, clam beds and food plants close by.
The Scottish-Canadian Cannery was built in 1899 at the end of a boardwalk, with worker housing on pilings over the water. In 1905 the Atagi family opened a boatworks at the head of the slough, carrying on Japanese boatbuilding traditions until they were forced to leave during the internment of the 1940s.
The Canadian Fishing Company took over the site around 1925 and dredged the slough in the 1950s to make a moorage for its fleet. Today the Scotch Pond Heritage Cooperative Association, a group of fishermen, looks after it as a traditional fish boat moorage.
Steveston Fisherman’s Memorial
Often called the Fisherman’s Needle, this monument in Garry Point Park is shaped like the traditional needle fishermen use to mend their nets. It stands on a stone base laid out as a compass, beside the south arm of the Fraser River.
The project began in 1990 with the gathering of names, and the memorial was unveiled on May 4, 1996. The names of 147 fishermen and their boats were engraved on the walls around the compass, and more have been added every few years since.
Its inscription reads: “This memorial honours all the fishermen of our community who have lost their lives in pursuit of their profession.” A remembrance is held here each year on April 28, the National Day of Mourning.
Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site
Built in 1894, and nicknamed the “Monster Cannery”, this was once the largest of Steveston’s 15 canneries and one of the biggest in British Columbia.
Originally a salmon cannery until canning operations came to a halt during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the site continued to operate as a raw fish station and net loft until the 1940s. During World War II, herring was canned here to send overseas to Allied soldiers. Later, the cannery operated as a herring reduction plant until it closed in 1979.
The site was declared a national historic site in 1976 and is now a museum presenting the history of the West Coast fishing industry, operated by the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society on behalf of Parks Canada.
Steveston Museum & Post Office
Built during Steveston’s boom days, this building was the area’s first bank. It opened as a Northern Bank in 1905 before operating as a branch for the Royal Bank of Canada for almost 50 years. Purchased from the B.C Mills catalogue and shipped down the Fraser River from New Westminster, the building was assembled on site.
From 1966, Dr. James Campbell had his medical practice here until he sold the building in 1977. Since then, the building has been operated by the Steveston Historical Society and the City of Richmond.
Today, the museum and post office is surrounded by traditional wooden boardwalks and filled with captivating exhibits about life in Steveston village.
Steveston Japanese Canadian Museum
A short walk north along No. 1 Road would have once brought you to a 30-bed hospital, built in 1900 by the Japanese Fishermen’s Benevolent Society.
This building served as an administration office for both the hospital and Japanese School next door.
Moved onto the Steveston Museum site from its original location in 2010 and opened in 2015, today it houses exhibits on Steveston’s Japanese Canadian community.
Explore Nikkei Stories, a 10 part video series on the audio-video kiosk and reveal stories of struggle and triumph within Steveston’s Japanese Canadian community.
Steveston Nikkei Internment Memorial
In April 1942, more than 2,500 Japanese Canadian (Nikkei) residents of Richmond were removed from their community. They were among over 22,000 people sent to internment camps in the BC Interior or to farms in Alberta and Manitoba. They were not allowed to return to the coast until 1949, and many came back to find their property and possessions had been sold.
This memorial garden, designed by Hapa Collaborative for the City of Richmond, was completed in 2019. It marks the 75th anniversary of the removal and the 70th anniversary of the return.
The pattern of stones is based on a placemat that an interned woman wove by hand from discarded fruit and salmon labels. Boulders are engraved with a map of the camp locations, Japanese plum trees honour the community’s origins, and curved paths trace the leaving and the returning.
Steveston Tram
This building’s architecture is inspired by the Steveston Station that once stood onsite. The original Canadian Pacific Railway tracks built in 1902 run through the building, creating a fascinating heritage feature.
Between 1905 and 1958, these tracks carried B.C. Electric Railway Company interurban trams between Vancouver and Steveston via Marpole. This line was part of an extensive network of streetcars in Vancouver and Interurbans that ran all the way to New Westminster and Chilliwack.
Today this building houses the Interurban Tram Car 1220, which was built in St. Louis in 1912. It is the largest artefact in the Richmond Museum’s collection and one of only seven surviving Interurban trams.
Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site
Once a multicultural community built on pilings and connected by boardwalks, these diverse historic buildings explore the history of wooden boat building and living conditions on the waterfront.
Built in 1889, the Britannia Cannery operated a single canning line until 1917. As a result of the rockslides at Hell’s Gate four years earlier, many canneries were forced to close or were converted to other uses. The Britannia site served as a shipyard and maritime repair shop until 1979.
Declared a national historic site in 1991, the remaining buildings illustrate the industrial activities and living arrangements of a typical Steveston cannery and shipyard of the early 1900s. Exhibits feature stories of the hardships and hope experienced by the multicultural workforce.
London Farm
Completed in the late 1890s, this historic farmhouse was home to two generations of the London family. Charles and his brother, William, arrived from Ontario in 1877. They purchased 200 acres and began to clear the land for farming. Charles married Henrietta Dalzeil in 1888 and raised their family of five here.
Their eldest daughter, Lucy, and her husband, Herbert Howse, also raised their family here until 1948. It was bought by the City of Richmond in 1978.
The farmhouse reopened in 1983 after extensive restoration. It now serves as a museum that depicts pioneer life in Richmond at the turn of the century. The farm is also home to heritage perennial gardens, historic farm equipment and the Spragg family barn.
London Farm website
Visitor information
Historic Places register
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