An Image Timeline of Fires in Greater Vancouver

1886- The Great Vancouver Fire Courtesy of BCARS:pdp00815

1898- Fire on Columbia Street Courtesy of BCARS:A-03363

1909- Ruins of the Barnet Mill Courtesy of BCARS:C-05762

1912- Fire on Hastings Street Courtesy of BCARS:D-06371

All cities have gone through different stages of development. Vancouver didn't spring up overnight; its history actually begins with inhabitation by native peoples, followed by early settlers and eventually small communities.

If you have never done a timeline before, it is a sequentially organized series of events, generally plotted on a line divided by time increments (decades, centuries, etc.). A simple timeline of fires in Vancouver appears at the right of the page; this example includes pictures. A chronology is somewhat similar, organizing events in the order in which they happened. Both give similar information but a chronology relies on verbal description while a timeline is more of a visual graph of history. At the beginning of The Vancouver Book, Chuck Davis does an unusual chronology in which he includes "a few obscure and eccentric pieces here and there to give the flavor of each period." You may find this blend of significant events and trivia interesting reading. We have included several pictures on our timeline, you may want to do the same on yours.

To build your own timeline you will need to do some research first. Pick a place or a subject that you would like to know more about; for example you could do a timeline on your hometown or even your favorite ice cream flavor. Libraries, museums, archives, local historical societies or the internet are good places to find information for your timeline.

You can find some events that had global significance and major local impact to investigate and include in your timeline. For example, G.A. (Bill) Roedde and son-in-law Arthur Catherboth went off to serve in World War 1. Bill Roedde took photographs of what he saw while he was fighting in Europe.

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