Vancouver / Names / S / Smith / Oak Street

A family name on Oak Street, Fairview, South Cambie, Shaughnessy, Oakridge and Marpole

The Smiths

In the city directories 1940 · two people at two addresses

The directories print two people named Smith at two addresses in 1940, all on Oak 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 305 other streets too, all listed on the Smith 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 Smiths lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. One address isn't on today's map, so it has no pin. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    7250 Oak Street

    Oakridge, 1940

    • Mrs Charlotte Smith 1940
  2. 2

    8529 Oak Street

    Marpole, 1940

    • W T Smith, a driver 1940

    Next door in 1940: J W Thomas at 8509 and H Dickinson at 8569. The block, door by door

What they did

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

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Marpole and Oakridge. 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 Mrs Charlotte Smith at 7250 Oak Street. W T Smith is listed at 8529 Oak Street in 1940; 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 lists William T Smith there as the householder, a driver.

Today

8529 Oak still has its building from before 1946, dated 1925 by the City's record; the City no longer lists 7250 Oak, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Oak Street at Broadway, looking south past billboards and the Vallejo Court apartments
21 May 1929 Oak Street at Broadway, looking south past billboards and the Vallejo Court apartments. Not at the house at 8529 Oak: no archive photo of the 8500 block is known that we can show. City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 453-1. Public domain.

Every line as printed

All 3 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 Smiths

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Smith 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.

We're opening orders soon. Join the list to be first in line; we expect about $29 a family.

One email, when it's ready. We use your email for nothing else and never share it. Privacy

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.