The Story of Dunbar

This home-grown history of a Vancouver neighbourhood speaks to the need people still have, in a time of infinite possibilities, to connect deeply with the place they call home. The Story of Dunbar is a celebration of community roots and a sense of place. The documentation of Dunbar's history, complete with archival photos from private collections, will resonate with those who live in neighbourhoods with stories waiting to be told. The Story of Dunbar draws on interviews with more than 350 local residents, including both recent arrivals and descendants of pioneers. Their personal accounts are woven together with information from diaries and other records in the City of Vancouver Archives and carefully chosen published sources to form twelve chapters that explore different aspects of community life. The Musqueam First Nation, the early settlers, the arts, churches and schools, how people shopped and how they got around, where they lived and relaxed are all described. Read about how this "streetcar suburb" developed from forest and farmland, how it was impacted by world events, and what made it both typical and unique. This is a story of the past century -- from the settlement of the West to the development of a modern world-class city -- brought to life through the experiences of people living in the neighbourhood of Dunbar. It is a reminder that history occurs in the streets of quiet out-of-the-way neighbourhoods as surely as on battlefields and in corporate boardrooms.

Peggy Schofield was born in the United States. She and her Nova Scotia-born husband Wilf Schofield arrived in Vancouver in 1960, settling in Dunbar in 1965 to raise three daughters. After many years of involvement in the arts, the Dunbar business district an the Dunbar Residents' Association, Peggy became interested in local history when the City of Vancouver led a "visioning" process to find out what the community wanted for its future. It occurred to her that knowledge of local history was the best foundation for decisions about the future. She made a commitment to the "Documenting Dunbar" project and subsequently, despite a serious illness, served as the volunteer coordinator until her death in January 2005. Afterward, the committee pulled together to complete the project in her memory. Contributing writers, all local residents, are Pam Chambers, Vivien Clarke, Shelagh Lindsey, Beryl March, Angus McIntyre, Larry Moore, Margaret Campbell Moore, Peggy Schofield, Helen Spiegelman and Joan Tyldesley.