BURNABY
Located in the heart of the Greater Vancouver area and taking up 98 square kilometres is the city of Burnaby. Positioned between the cities of Vancouver to the West and North and Coquitlam and New Westminster to the East. The west border splits right down the middle of Boundary dividing the road into Vancouver on the west side and Burnaby on the east. From the deep blue waters of English Bay south to Marine Way and from Boundary west towards North Road, this city has much to offer visitors and residents.
The landscape of Burnaby combines rolling hills, ridges, valleys and mountains. It is the third most populated city in British Columbia, home to an estimated 197,290 people. With easy access to the Greater Vancouver area, the North Shore Mountains, and Whistler to the North, it’s no wonder why Burnaby is growing to become one of Vancouver’s best places to live.
Due to the expanding urban centres of Vancouver and New Westminster the area of Burnaby between these two cities didn’t start growing until the first 20 or 30 years after it’s incorporation. For the first while it served as a rural agricultural area that supplied nearby markets and later became an important transportation route between Vancouver, the Fraser Valley as well as the interior of the province. Before the settlers came in the late 1800’s, the area was nothing but a forest of tall trees and wildlife and the area developed very slowly until 1887, when the Canadian Pacific Railway extended into Vancouver. Due to this expansion, the traffic between New Westminster and Vancouver increased rapidly shocking Burnaby into development.
On September 24, 1892 the municipality finally received its charter and was named after Robert Burnaby, the man who had explored the area around Burnaby Lake in 1859. By the late 1890’s, Burnaby had its first park, store, post office, and church and over the next five years, the population had increased to about 400 people. With the opening of the Barnet Mill in North Burnaby, brought a second settlement within the municipality and almost 100 years later Burnaby’s population has grown to almost 165,000 residents.
In 1992, Burnaby celebrated its 100th anniversary and was officially renamed from the Corporation of the District of Burnaby to the City of Burnaby.