Vancouver’s oldest surviving building is a treasure trove of the city’s early history

You might know it as that tiny museum by Jericho Beach with beautiful marina views, but the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum is much more than that. The homey structure you see standing at the foot of Alma Street today started out as a two-floor wooden building on the other side of the city in 1865 – making it Vancouver’s oldest surviving building.

A relic of Vancouver’s “Wild West” past

Starting out on the south shore of Burrard Inlet, the pioneer store was originally British Captain Edward Stamp’s Lumber and Sawmill Company, according to the museum. Six decades later, it established itself as the heart of the Hastings Mill and Granville logging settlement during the area’s “Wild West” stint, pre-construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Locals would swap stories and play cards around the store’s warm fire and pick up the essentials: Nails, picks, tobacco, and winter provisions. According to the museum, pioneer wives could also find cloth for their dresses as well as spices like cloves and fenugreek to make their food “a little easier on the palate.”

Loggers from surrounding camps would come by boat to pick up their mail, with tall ships bringing news from all over the world to the newly named “Vancouver.”

I talked to local author and executive board member at the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum, Lisa Smith, who has been dedicating her time and knowledge of Vancouver to the museum for over a decade.

“I’ve been volunteering for around 15 years, and I’ve really enjoyed my time here. When I first became interested, I went to a lecture by Vancouver historian Chuck Davis at the museum, and I said ‘I’d like to be involved,'” Smith shares.

In 1887, the evolved general store was designated as storage, where it sat “virtually unnoticed for forty years,” according to the museum’s website.

Up until that point, it had served as the city’s first post office, library, and community centre, and had played a pivotal role in the Great Fire of 1886.

And it wouldn’t stop there.

Bon voyage via barge

It turns out that the infamous English Bay barge isn’t the only one to make headlines over the years. In July of 1930, the Old Hastings Mill Store and Post office was hoisted onto a small barge of its own,  transported through the Lions Gate and across English Bay to its new home at what is now Hastings Mill Park.

Museum-goers today can watch it all unfold on a small TV screen at the museum, which plays the footage of the building’s travels – captured by the original moving company, F.W. Gosse.

Vancouver’s trove of treasures

Now owned by the oldest continuing society in Vancouver, the Native Daughters of British Columbia, Hastings Mill is a treasure trove with artifacts originating from all corners of B.C.

“A lot of people came forward and donated things because they wanted to share them with the public,” Smith tells me.

In 1930 when the museum was at risk of being demolished, the Native Daughters and Sons began restoring its interior and exterior, ripping out the old shelves and adding a stone fireplace. The rest of the original building has been preserved, including the main post and beam features remaining today, according to its website.

“The ladies managed to raise $5,000 as well as donations of coal, wood, supplies, and expertise from the local community to renovate the store and create the museum,” Smith explains. “In 1932, the store opened as a museum, and we’ve been collecting items ever since.”

This was made official when the building was named a “Museum of B.C. Historical Relics in Memory of the Pioneers” by Premier Simon F. Tolmie in January of 1932.

Flash forward to today, and the museum is home to an array of “Indigenous belongings and pioneer artifacts big and small,” according to Smith. “It’s really a remarkable place.”

In fact, the museum is so full to the brim with treasures, that it’s no longer able to accept public donations.

“We do appreciate people wanting to bring in more things, but we’re just so full right now.”

When I asked her about her personal favourite collection at the museum, Smith divulged her appreciation for Joe Fortes.

“I really love early Vancouver lifeguard Joe Fortes. I wrote Our Friend Joe: The Joe Fortes Story, so I have a special regard for him,” she explains. “His 1910 Certificate of Appreciation given to him by the City of Vancouver is in immaculate condition and it’s up on display.”

Repatriation of Indigenous artifacts

Smith tells me that the largest individual collection of items can be attributed to the gathering of Indigenous artifacts by Mary DesBrisay.

“She was a resident of a Hastings Mill-owned logging camp on eastern Vancouver Island, collecting all kinds of Indigenous items. I’d like to think she collected them honestly and provided fair compensation for the items she acquired, though I don’t know if that was always the case.”

Smith explains that this is why the museum has begun repatriating items, including three Haida bentwood boxes, which had been at the museum since 1948.

“When we weren’t in our homes during summertime, that’s when they took our ginaxan,” said Repatriation Coordinator Aay Aay Gidins in a blog post. “When we bring home a ginaxan, we are taking home part of our history.”

The bentwood boxes now reside at Saahlinda Naay, the Haida Gwaii Museum. Through its accumulation of precious items over the years, the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum has committed to telling the stories of colonial exploitation and injustice enacted on local Indigenous communities by white settlers.

It may also explain the distinct “atmosphere” of the museum, which Smith describes as potentially being “haunted.”

Paranormal experiences

“The most curious experience I had was when I was still new here,” Smith tells me. “I was trying to find something in the small storage room, hunting around for a set of keys and I heard an extremely loud rap on the wall, almost as if someone had banged a yardstick against it. Nothing had fallen or tipped over, but I got the distinct feeling that someone was angry I was there causing all that commotion.”

Smith says that as startled as she was by the incident, it’s only one of many ominous experiences that have transpired at the museum.

“There’s definitely an energy here. We’ve had paranormal investigators come in from Cornerstone Supernatural, and we have a psychic medium on our board that says the building is ‘definitely full of people from times gone by.'”

Smith details more of her personal experiences at Hastings Mill in her book, Hastings Mill: The Historic Times of a Vancouver Community – donating all the royalties to the maintenance of the building.

Museum hours & info

When it comes to first-time museum-goers, Smith says that many are like “deer in headlights” when they first come in. “They don’t really know where to turn. Depending on what they’re interested in, we can offer them a personal tour, or let them explore at their leisure.”

Ready to check it out for yourself? The museum hosts many concerts, workshops, and interactive events in addition to showcasing some of Vancouver’s earliest history.

The Old Hastings Mill Store Museum is currently closed for the season, reopening on Sunday, Feb. 9 for a special Ikebana Japanese Flower Arranging Workshop.

Starting the following weekend on Feb 15th and 16th, the museum will be open every Saturday and Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Old Hastings Mill Store Museum 

When: Reopens on Sunday, Feb. 9
Where: 1575 Alma Street
Cost: Entry by donation

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