Silverdale is a semi-rural neighbourhood of the District of Mission, British Columbia, Canada, located about 40 km east of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on the east bank of the

Stave River The Stave River is a tributary of the Fraser, joining it at the boundary between the municipalities of Maple Ridge and Mission, about east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in the Central Fraser Valley region. Blocked since the 1920s by ...

at its confluence with the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

. Noted for its historic

Italian Canadian Italian Canadians or Italo-Canadians (; ) are Canadian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who migrated to Canada as part of the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Canada. Accordin ...

community, its economy was farming, fishing and logging based until the general suburbanization of Fraser Valley life in the 1960s and 1970s. Of its Italian community, notable offspring include

Phil Gaglardi Philip Arthur Gaglardi (January 13, 1913 – September 23, 1995), often known as Flying Phil, was a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He served in the provincial Cabinet from 1952 to 1972. Private and family life Gaglardi ...

, former BC Highways minister, and speed-skater Eden Donatelli. Silverdale is also notable as the site of Canada's first

train robbery Since the invention of locomotives in the early 19th century, trains have often been the target of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables. Train robbery was especially common during the 19th century and is commonly asso ...

, by the "Gentleman Bandit" Billy Miner, and it is there he is supposed to have first used the polite "Hands Up!" in the course of the robbery. The lakeshore residences on the east side of Silvermere Lake are part of Silverdale. Silvermere was created by the

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the marshlands in the area. Silverdale was named after

Silverdale, Staffordshire Silverdale is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is a self contained ward of Newcastle Borough Council returning two Councillors. Historically, the village was d ...

. The name was chosen from a list of British places by J. A. Skinner, an early postmaster.

References

Populated places on the Fraser River Lower Mainland Mission, British Columbia Heritage sites in British Columbia Italian Canadian settlements Logging communities in Canada {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub