Vancouver / Names / R / Ross / Main Street

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

The Rosses

In the city directories 1940 · six people at five addresses

The directories print six people named Ross at five 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 151 other streets too, all listed on the Ross 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 Rosses 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 Main Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • Alex Ross, a machinist 1940

    Next door in 1940: Service Tobacco Stand at 714. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    928 Main Street

    Strathcona, 1940

    • James Ross 1940

    Next door in 1940: Machinery Cascade at 912 and Tacoma Junk Co at 936. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    3278 Main Street

    Riley Park, 1940

    • Mrs H Ross 1940

    Next door in 1940: S C Bell at 3272 and W Elliott at 3282. The block, door by door

  4. 4

    3294 Main Street

    Riley Park, 1940

    • Hector Ross, who worked for Restmore 1940
    • James Ross, proprietor of Sun Shoe Repair 1940

    Next door in 1940: 4 listings at 3290 and Mrs O S Morasky at 3298. The block, door by door

  5. 5

    4906 Main Street

    Riley Park, 1940

    • W Ross, a conductor at the BC Electric Railway 1940

    Next door in 1940: Mrs N Grainger at 4994. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for four of the six: a conductor, an employee, a machinist and a proprietor.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Riley Park (3) and Strathcona (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

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Alex Ross at 700 Main Street, a machinist. The 1940 name section lists James Ross at 928 Main Street. In 1940 the directory lists Mrs H Ross at 3278 Main Street. The 1940 name section lists Mrs H Ross there as the householder.

The 1940 name section lists Hector Ross at 3294 Main Street, who worked for Restmore, with James Ross, proprietor of Sun Shoe Repair. W Ross is listed at 4906 Main Street in 1940. The 1940 name section lists Walter Ross there as the householder, a conductor at the BC Electric Railway.

Today

928 Main, 3278 Main and 4906 Main still have their buildings from before 1946; the City no longer lists 700 Main and 3294 Main, 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 3278 Main: no archive photo of the 3200 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 136-513. Public domain.

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, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Rosses

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Ross 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.