Vancouver / Names / M / McDonald / West 20th Avenue

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

The McDonalds

In the city directories 1940 · five people at four addresses

The directories print five people named McDonald at four addresses in 1940, all on West 20th Avenue, with the close spellings MacDonald and Macdonald. 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 231 other streets too, all listed on the McDonald 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 McDonalds 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

    439 West 20th Avenue

    Riley Park, 1940

    • Miss R M MacDonald 1940
    • Dolena McDonald, a bookkeeper at Western Wholesale Drug 1940

    Next door in 1940: W H Lines at 433 and W V Oddy at 449. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    622 West 20th Avenue

    South Cambie, 1940

    • Roy W McDonald, a service station manager at Shell Oil 1940

    Next door in 1940: J Pritchard at 614 and E H Rowe at 630. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    845 West 20th Avenue

    South Cambie, 1940

    • H O McDonald, a salesman at Goodyear Tire & Rubber 1940

    Next door in 1940: M Tongue at 843 and W R Shields at 847. The block, door by door

  4. 4

    3919 West 20th Avenue

    Dunbar-Southlands, 1940

    • H MacDonald, a representative at Viking Automatic Sprinkler 1940

    Next door in 1940: F N Robertson at 3915 and T G Garrett at 3925. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for four of the five: a bookkeeper, a representative, a salesman and a service station manager.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in South Cambie (2), Dunbar-Southlands and Riley Park. 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 R M MacDonald at 439 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 Dolena McDonald there, a bookkeeper at Western Wholesale Drug. The 1940 name section lists Roy W McDonald at 622 West 20th Avenue, a service station manager at Shell Oil.

H O McDonald, a painter, is listed at 845 West 20th Avenue in 1940; the 1940 line is marked * too. The 1940 name section lists Henry O McDonald there as the householder, a painter, with Henry O McDonald Jr, a salesman at Goodyear Tire & Rubber. H MacDonald is listed at 3919 West 20th Avenue in 1940; the 1940 line is marked * too. The 1940 name section lists Hugh MacDonald there as the householder, a representative at Viking Automatic Sprinkler.

Today

845 West 20th and 3919 West 20th still have their buildings from before 1946; 439 West 20th (1970) and 622 West 20th (2011) have newer buildings, by the City's record.

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 McDonalds

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the McDonald 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 M. Want a name removed? Tell us.