Vancouver / Names / R / Robson / West Hastings Street

A family name on West Hastings Street, Downtown

The Robsons

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Robson at two addresses in 1940, all on West Hastings Street, with the close spelling Robison. 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 41 other streets too, all listed on the Robson 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 Robsons 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

    510 West Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • G R Robson, a barrister 1940

    Next door in 1940: Can Bk of Commerce at 508 and Ziegler's Coffee Shop at 512. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    1201 West Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Wilfred J Robson, a financial secretary at Canadian Labor Defense League 1940

    Next door in 1940: Logging Allison at 1225. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for one of the two: a financial secretary.

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 G R Robson, a barrister, at 510 West Hastings Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Wilfred J Robson at 1201 West Hastings Street, a financial secretary at Canadian Labor Defense League.

Today

510 West Hastings still has its building from before 1946, dated 1912 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 1201 West Hastings, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Hastings Street looking east from Granville on 1 July 1888, with flags strung across it and the Alfred Bunker building on the corner
1 July 1888 Hastings Street looking east from Granville on 1 July 1888, with flags strung across it and the Alfred Bunker building on the corner. Not at the house at 510 West Hastings: no archive photo of the 500 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, Str P127. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 2 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 Robsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Robson 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 R. Want a name removed? Tell us.