Vancouver / Names / B / Brown / Drake Street

A family name on Drake Street, Downtown

The Browns

In the city directories 1940 · three people at two addresses

The directories print three people named Brown at two addresses in 1940, all on Drake Street, with the close spelling Browne. No first name or initials tie one address to the other: we can't tell if they're one family. The directories print the name on 254 other streets too, all listed on the Brown name's own page.

Reserve this family's book, freeThe name in every directory we hold from 1901 to 1945, at every address, each line with its page, to read here or save as a PDF. About $29 when orders open.

Where the Browns lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    530 Drake Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Miss E Brown 1940
    • Etta Brown, a stenographer 1940

    Next door in 1940: G N Latham at 526 and Mrs S Grundy at 534. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    536 Drake Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Mrs R Brown, widow of E 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs S Grundy at 534 and W F Spina at 540. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the three: a stenographer. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown (2). Each neighbourhood's page shows its trades, its people and every street in it, the way the directory printed them.

The story, address by address

In 1940 the directory lists Miss E Brown at 530 Drake Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Etta Brown there as the householder, a stenographer. In 1940 the directory lists Mrs R Brown at 536 Drake Street. The 1940 name section lists Rachel Brown there as the householder, widow of E.

Today

The City no longer lists 530 Drake and 536 Drake, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 4 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section

The book of the Browns

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Brown name in each Vancouver directory we hold from 1901 to 1945: everyone printed under it at every address, their work from the name sections, who lived next door, and the page behind every line, to read here or save as a PDF to print or give.

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Another name, or a house

Sources

Henderson's and successor city directories for Vancouver, read by us line by line: the street sections for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1940 and 1945, and the name section for 1930 and 1940 where we've read it (Vancouver Public Library, BC City Directories). Names are shown through 1945, as printed. Close spellings are grouped, as on the house pages, since a family's name was often spelled differently from one year to the next; one name can still be several families, and we join lines only where the first names or initials agree. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named by the canvassers, so they can't be listed by name: their houses' pages say where. More family names under B. Want a name removed? Tell us.