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Photos: Five historic pictures that show how small Vancouver was 135 years ago

Vancouver is still growing, but in the city's earliest days, its growth was huge.

Vancouver is still growing, but in the city's earliest days, its growth was huge.

When it was incorporated in 1886 and named Vancouver, there were about 1,000 residents in the town. They were mostly settlers from European countries, though there were First Nations communities living on the land that would become part of Vancouver.

By 1891, that number had ballooned to 14,000.

Compared to 2025, both numbers are very low. The entire population in 1891 could go to a Canucks game now and it'd be a disappointing attendance.

It should be noted that those population numbers are only for the City of Vancouver. Around 6,500 people lived in New Westminster, and there were many other settlements in the area, but they were all separate, distinct communities with rural roads or ferries connecting them.

These photos show that while growth was planned (that's why the forest is mostly gone and roads are laid out), it was still quite small compared to now. For comparison, Powell River has about 14,000 residents in 2025.

While seeing the old buildings of Vancouver is interesting, these photos also show the views that were lost as developments and infrastructure blocked some and altered the landscape in others. For example, the eastern end of False Creek still existed, and ships' masts can be seen from the original Hotel Vancouver.

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