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James Bay is a high density neighbourhood of
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...
, Canada. It is the oldest residential neighbourhood on the West coast of North America that is north of
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. James Bay occupies the south side of the Inner Harbour close to downtown. Access to the neighbourhood is along Belleville Street, Government Street, Douglas Street and Dallas Road.


History

The original inhabitants of James Bay were the Swenghwung people who were part of the
Lekwungen The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria ...
people of the
Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...
and whose descendants today are known as the
Songhees The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria a ...
First Nation. Even after the Indigenous inhabitants allegedly sold the land to the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
, remains of fortifications at Holland Point and of burial grounds at Laurel Point remained.John Adams
"James Bay Neighbourhood History"
Victoria Heritage Foundation. retrieved 11-11-10
The neighbourhood takes its name from the shallow inlet James Bay that forms part of Victoria's Inner Harbour, named for James Douglas. Settled early after the establishment of Fort Victoria in 1843, much of the present day neighbourhood was originally part of Ogden's Fields Farms, subsequently known as Dutnall's Farm and then Beckley Farm. Residential development of James Bay began in 1859 when Governor Douglas decided to construct the colonial administration offices for the
Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia ...
across the harbour from Fort Victoria. Known as the ''Birdcages'' because of their somewhat fanciful design, the Birdcages were replaced in 1898 by
Francis Mawson Rattenbury Francis Mawson Rattenbury (11 October 1867 – 28 March 1935) was a British architect although most of his career was spent in British Columbia, Canada, where he designed the province's legislative building among other public commissions. Divorc ...
's Parliament Buildings, which still serve as the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. Between the construction of the Birdcages in 1859 and the completion of the Parliament Buildings in 1897, a considerable amount of residential development took place in James Bay. The family home of James and Amelia Douglas stood on the location of the present
Royal British Columbia Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...
, behind which is located the house of
John Sebastian Helmcken John Sebastian Helmcken (June 5, 1824 – September 1, 1920) was a British Columbia physician who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation. He was also the founding president of the British Columbia Medica ...
, the colony's first doctor, speaker of the Assembly, and son-in-law of the governor. The Victorian Italianate childhood home of Canadian artist
Emily Carr Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...
, built in 1863, stands on Government Street, formerly known as Carr Street, in an area of numerous mainly modest wooden homes that date to the later decades of the nineteenth century. Grander homes in James Bay include the Pendray residence on Belleville Street, built in the Queen Anne style in 1897 for William and Amelia Pendray who originally made a fortune in the
Cariboo Gold Rush The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly Rive ...
and later opened a soap factory at Laurel Point. and ''Pinehurst'', another Queen Anne style residence built in 1890 on Battery Street for William James MacAulay, a retired American lumber baron and banker. The architect of ''Pinehurst'' and of many other residences in James Bay was Thomas Hooper, whose own modest residence stands at 243 Kingston Street. One of the largest estates in James Bay was ''Armadale'' built in 1877 for William Macdonald on . After its demolition in 1944, part of the grounds became Macdonald Park. In addition to government offices, the James Bay area was also home to a number of industries, including Sehl's furniture factory at Laurel Point, Pendray's Soap Factory, and later Bapco Paint. Marine-oriented industries have included Laing's shipyard (where Fisherman's Wharf is located today) in the 1860s as well as a shipping terminal, flour mill, chemical plant and warehouses along the water between Laurel Point and Ogden Point. At the Inner Harbour the Canadian Pacific Railway had a steamship terminal, designed by Rattenbury and Percy James, built in 1924 in a Greek temple style and occupied since 1969 by the Royal London Wax Museum. The Canadian Government maintained immigration facilities in the late nineteenth century, replaced with the Dominion Immigration Building, a brick building at Dallas Road and Ontario Street, in 1908. This building has been demolished. In 1900 the wooden bridge across the tidal flats of James Bay was replaced with a stone causeway, allowing the mud flats to be filled in and the Empress Hotel to be constructed in 1908 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The construction of South Park Elementary School in 1914 largely marked the close of the building boom in James Bay until the 1960s, when demolition of many of the older buildings made room for the construction of a number of apartment blocks, some, like Orchard House on Michigan Street as high as twenty stories. The threatened destruction of further older homes gave rise to a grassroots heritage preservation effort.


James Bay today

Fisherman's Wharf remains an active marina, and the outer harbour today is further ringed by a heliport, coast guard facilities and cruise ship terminal at Ogden Point. A commercial area, named “James Bay Village”, is centred on the intersection of Menzies and Simcoe Streets. The Inner Harbour area continues to be dominated by the Legislature Buildings and ancillary government offices along Superior Street, but is also the hub of Victoria's tourist industry with the Royal British Columbia Museum and the adjacent Empress Hotel serving as focal points for visitors to the city.


Climate

Victoria has a
Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(Csb), with mild rainy winters and cool dry summers. The weather in the City of Victoria may vary greatly from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. For instance, James Bay which is surrounded on three sides by the ocean, is typically 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5 to 10 °F) cooler in summer than more inland areas of Victoria. In winter, James Bay is typically a few degrees warmer than other parts of Victoria. It therefore receives significantly less snow than other parts of Greater Victoria. Current weather temperatures are reported by the
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...
School-based weather station located at James Bay elementary school on Oswego Street.


Places of interest


Parks

City parks in the James Bay neighbourhood include: *
Beacon Hill Park Beacon Hill Park is a 75 ha (200 acre) park located along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, British Columbia. The park is popular both with tourists and locals, and contains a number of amenities including woodland and shoreline trail ...
*Fisherman's Wharf Park including Fisherman's Wharf (fishing vessels, fresh fish, fish and chips, etc.) *Holland Point Park, ocean side of Dallas Road below the foot of Government St. (between Lewis St. and Paddon Ave.) *Irving Park *Laurel Point Park *MacDonald Park *South Park


Historic buildings and attractions

The James Bay neighbourhood has many historical landmarks and a number of tourist attractions: * British Columbia Legislature Buildings, Belleville St. between Government St. and Menzies St. *
Emily Carr Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...
House *
Helmcken House Helmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852, a surgeon with the Hudson's Bay Company. It is one of the oldest houses in ...
, pioneer doctor's residence, 638 Elliott St. (immediately east of the Royal British Columbia Museum) *Mile '0' of the
Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...
, Douglas Street at Dallas Road *Orchard House (Michigan Street), currently the tallest building in Greater Victoria *
Ogden Point Ogden Point is a deep water port facility located in the southwestern corner of the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its advantageous geographic location on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, close to m ...
: cruise ship terminal and
HeliJet Helijet International is a helicopter airline and charter service based in Richmond, British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mou ...
terminal *
Royal British Columbia Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...
, Belleville St. between Government St. and Douglas St. (just east of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings) *United States ferries terminal: Coho Ferry, Victoria Clipper, etc.


Other points of land

*Clover Point, processed waste water and storm water outfall ocean side of Dallas Road between Moss St. and Bushby St. *Finlayson Point, ocean side of Dallas Road due south of Beacon Hill Park lookout *Horseshoe Bay, a small sandy cove immediately to the west of Finlayson Point *Victoria Point, a small point of land ocean side of Dallas Road below the foot of Douglas St.


References


External links


James Bay Neighbourhood AssociationJames Bay Athletic Association
{{coord , 48.419, N, 123.382, W, display=title Neighbourhoods in Victoria, British Columbia