Vancouver / Names / G / Gordon / Main Street

A family name on Main Street, Riley Park, Strathcona, Downtown, Mount Pleasant and Sunset

The Gordons

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Gordon at two addresses in 1940, all on Main Street. 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 106 other streets too, all listed on the Gordon 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 Gordons 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

    2545 Main Street

    Mount Pleasant, 1940

    • R Gordon, a patcher for B C Plywoods 1940

    Next door in 1940: Belvedere Delctsn at 2543 and W E Turnbull at 2549. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    2813 Main Street

    Mount Pleasant, 1940

    • Robert McK Gordon, a laborer 1940

    Next door in 1940: Shell Oil at 2801 and H Broad at 2821. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for all two: a laborer and a patcher.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Mount Pleasant (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 R Gordon at 2545 Main Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Robert Gordon there as the householder, a patcher for B C Plywoods. The 1940 name section lists Robert McK Gordon at 2813 Main Street, a laborer.

Today

2545 Main still has its building from before 1946, dated 1916 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 2813 Main, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards
March 1940 Streetcars on Main Street, past a row of billboards. Not at the house at 2545 Main: no archive photo of the 2500 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 136-513. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 3 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 Gordons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Gordon 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 G. Want a name removed? Tell us.