Vancouver / Names / B / Brown / West 20th Avenue

A family name on West 20th Avenue, Dunbar-Southlands, Riley Park, South Cambie, Shaughnessy and Arbutus Ridge

The Browns

In the city directories 1940 · six people at two addresses

The directories print six people named Brown at two addresses in 1940, all on West 20th Avenue, 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 most under one roof: four Browns at 661 West 20th in 1940. 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

    661 West 20th Avenue

    South Cambie, 1940

    • M T Brown, a paint contractor 1940
    • Bernice Brown, a stenographer at Associated Dairies 1940
    • Marion D Brown 1940
    • Norma E Brown 1940

    Next door in 1940: E Street at 653 and W A Dillabough at 677. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    881 West 20th Avenue

    South Cambie, 1940

    • L H Brown, a salesman at the Hudson's Bay Company 1940
    • Laurence W Brown, a linenkeeper at Canadian Pacific Steamships 1940

    Next door in 1940: E T Stenner at 875 and H Howie at 887. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for four of the six: a linenkeeper, a paint contractor, a salesman and a stenographer.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in South Cambie (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 M T Brown at 661 West 20th Avenue; the 1940 line is marked *: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark). The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Mort T Brown there as the householder, a paint contractor, with Bernice Brown, a stenographer at Associated Dairies, Marion D Brown, and Norma E Brown. In 1940 the directory lists L H Brown at 881 West 20th Avenue; the 1940 line is marked * too. The 1940 name section lists Laurence H Brown there as the householder, a salesman at the Hudson's Bay Company, with Laurence W Brown, a linenkeeper at Canadian Pacific Steamships.

Today

661 West 20th and 881 West 20th still have their buildings from before 1946.

Every line as printed

All 8 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.