Vancouver / Names / L / Lewis / Main Street

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

The Lewises

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Lewis at three addresses in 1940, all on Main Street. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family. The directories print the name on 99 other streets too, all listed on the Lewis 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 Lewises 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

    917 Main Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • Seth Lewis, a driver 1940

    Next door in 1940: Better 'Ole (The) at 915 and Machinery Jobbing & Junk Co at 925. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1821 Main Street

    Mount Pleasant, 1940

    • John Lewis, an engineer 1940

    Next door in 1940: W Keller at 1815 and J Spraickman at 1823. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    2642 Main Street

    Mount Pleasant, 1940

    • Ralph Lewis, proprietor of Lewis Delicatessen 1940

    Next door in 1940: Salon Modern at 2638 and D R Epolitoff at 2648. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for all three: a driver, an engineer and a proprietor.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Mount Pleasant (2) and Strathcona. 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

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Seth Lewis at 917 Main Street, a driver. The 1940 name section lists John Lewis at 1821 Main Street, an engineer. The 1940 name section lists Ralph Lewis at 2642 Main Street, proprietor of Lewis Delicatessen.

Today

917 Main still has its building from before 1946, dated 1910 by the City's record; 2642 Main (1996) has a newer building, by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1821 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 917 Main: no archive photo of the 900 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, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Lewises

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Lewis 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 L. Want a name removed? Tell us.