Vancouver / Names / S / Simpson / West Hastings Street

A family name on West Hastings Street, Downtown

The Simpsons

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Simpson at two addresses in 1940, all on West Hastings Street. 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 119 other streets too, all listed on the Simpson 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 Simpsons 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

    207 West Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • A E Simpson, a log broker 1940

    Next door in 1940: Clothes Shops Natl at 217. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    411 West Hastings Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • A G Simpson, in show cards 1940

    Next door in 1940: Shores Ltd at 409 and Mode-O-Day Dresses Ltd at 413. The block, door by door

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 A E Simpson, a log broker, at 207 West Hastings Street. A G Simpson, in show cards, is listed at 411 West Hastings Street in 1940.

Today

207 West Hastings and 411 West Hastings still have their buildings from before 1946.

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 207 West Hastings: no archive photo of the 200 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 Simpsons

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Simpson 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 S. Want a name removed? Tell us.