How we know

From the 1880s to the 1990s, publishers sent canvassers down every street to list who lived at each address. The street section lists each address with its householder, the name section lists each person with their work and employer. The Vancouver Public Library has scanned them and puts them online.

AddressLore covers ten blocks on three streets, in the directories for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1945 and 1955. Every listing on a house page links to its printed page, so you can check any line against the scan yourself. Where the directory itself misprinted a number, the house page says so.

The canvassers made mistakes and so can we. If a name, a spelling or a number looks wrong, tell us and we'll check it against the page.

*: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark, printed from 1935).

For each address we look up the City's property records: whether the address still exists, and the year built that BC Assessment records (approximate for old houses, so we call it the City's figure). Addresses the City no longer lists usually sit on lots that were merged or redeveloped.

Some numbers changed. Where the Vancouver Heritage Register names a building after a family or by its name, and the directories list that name at a nearby number on the same side, we treat them as one building. Those matches are marked inferred.

Names through 1945. We show residents' names for 1945 and earlier. For later years we say what the directory records about a household (that it's there, its work), not who.

A history, not a background check. No deaths, crimes or incidents, and no searching by person.

What the directories left out. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named: the canvassers printed “Chinese”, “Japanese”, “Orientals” or “Foreigners” instead. We show what was printed and say plainly what it means.

Our own words. We state the facts and write the text ourselves. We link to the library's scans and don't republish them.