Happy birthday, Victoria. It's our sesquicentennial on Thursday - 150 years since the city was incorporated in 1862.
To mark the special day, today's sa国际传媒 has a special 12-page section on the city and highlights of its rich history - everything from police and firefighters to traffic and traffic lights, and from the Johnson Street Bridge to hanging baskets.
Take city hall, for example. It's not as old as the city itself, but it's the earliest surviving municipal hall in British Columbia.
On Aug. 14, 1874, after 12 years of meetings in temporary locations, the mayor and councillors bought two lots on Douglas Street at Pandora Avenue. The cost was $5,000.
Four years later, in 1878, a building - much smaller than today's city hall - went up, and council met there for the first time on Dec. 11, 1878, with flickering gas lights for illumination.
In 1881, the building was expanded, with a small wing on the southwest corner for the fire department. In 1891, a new wing was added on the northeast, and the main entrance was moved to the base of the clock tower.
A crisis hit in 1884, when Mayor Joseph Carey refused to pay an $870.50 legal bill. Sheriff James McMillan entered city hall and seized civic furnishings, equipment and petty cash.
On Dec. 19, 1884, before about 700 potential buyers and curious people, auctioneer George Byrnes offered for sale the councillors' desks and chairs, the corporate seal, the locked safe and its contents, a rock crusher, two horses, a wagon and four dump carts.
David W. Higgins, the former owner of the Daily Colonist, and Joseph Spratt ended the auction by paying the money that was owed, and other prominent citizens reimbursed the two men.
The mayor was ousted in the next election.
The 1940s and 1950s saw proposals for a new city hall, with the old one to be sold for commercial redevelopment.
Then came a renewed commitment to the historic site. A massive redevelopment in the early 1960s included a building expansion, the addition of a parking garage and an extension to the McPherson Playhouse.
Cormorant Street, which was to the north of city hall, was closed to create a community gathering place, Centennial Square, with a fountain as its centrepiece. That fountain was a gift from Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Saanich.
Today, city hall has earned its place as one of the most important landmarks in sa国际传媒 - so classic a building, there is even a theory that it was used as the inspiration for city hall at Disneyland - and the original building is being refurbished.
But there is much more to the story. It's in our special section inside.
