Vancouver / Names / R / Roos

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Rooses

In the city directories 1940 · four people at four addresses

The directories print four people named Roos at four addresses in 1940 in four of the city's neighbourhoods. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family.

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 Rooses 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

    700 Cambie Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Joe Roos 1940

    Next door in 1940: J W Chadwick at 710. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    2986 Graveley Street

    Hastings-Sunrise, 1940

    • Margaret A Roos, widow of W 1940

    Next door in 1940: A W Davie at 2980 and Mrs C Bennett at 2992. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    309 Main Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • O Roos, a cook 1940

    Next door in 1940: Rainbow Mission at 307 and Stockholm Cafe at 311. The block, door by door

  4. 4

    1172 Pacific Street

    West End, 1940

    • Armas Roos, a painter 1940

    Next door in 1940: K S Nielson at 1166 and C G Temple at 1176. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the four: a cook and a painter. One is a widow, listed under her own name.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown, Hastings-Sunrise, Strathcona and West End. 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 Joe Roos at 700 Cambie Street. The 1940 name section lists Margaret A Roos at 2986 Graveley Street, widow of W. In 1940 the directory lists O Roos at 309 Main Street. The 1940 name section lists Olaf Roos there as the householder, a cook.

The 1940 name section lists Armas Roos at 1172 Pacific Street, a painter.

Today

2986 Graveley still has its building from before 1946, dated 1939 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 700 Cambie, 309 Main and 1172 Pacific, so those buildings are 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 309 Main: no archive photo of the 300 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 136-513. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 5 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 Rooses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Roos 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.