Friday 1 May 2015

Quick History: Streetcar Route #3 & The Corner Store


There is something comforting about driving up MacKay Avenue towards Pemberton Heights.

Perhaps the trees and the creekside offer instant stillness and the hint of countryside give a sense of seclusion from the busy streets that are now endemic to the North Shore.  The Corner Stone (formerly The Corner Store) offers a last stop for milk, a meeting place, or an after school candy run. It has quietly weathered the tests of time and provided a hub for the people that live here.

“ We are lucky to have a community that supports this store,” says Tracey Cochrane, current owner of The Corner Stone.

The Corner Store has survived over a century’s worth of development, depression, war, boom and bust by creating a community hub that hangs on in our modern day.

“In many ways, the term the ‘Corner Stone’, we chose that name because it was more fitting in many ways. We really have become the corner stone in the  neighbourhood,” says Cochrane. “From lattes and cold beer to penny candy and three course meals, we have it all.”

Part of the store’s longevity and success can be contributed to being located at a stop on the Route #3 Streetcar that travelled from Esplanade to the Capilano River. The car travelled west to 20th Avenue where via a 450-foot wide and staggering 98-foot high wooden train trestle crossed Mackay Creek.

The western extension of the #3 line originally opened in 1912 and ran until it was condemned and closed in 1943. Just 4 years later in 1947, North Vancouver closed all remaining Streetcar lines.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Pemberton Heights please visit
www.northvanmuseum.ca.

Photo above was taken in 1910 during construction of the western line. This photo is roughly at Mackay Avenue and 22nd. (Courtesy of the North Vancouver Museum & Archives)

The Corner Store Then & now



The names of the two men in the picture have been lost to time, but according to the handwritten note on the back of the photo, the boy drinking a coke in front of the Corner Store in 1942 is Gordon Hines. Several local families have owned the store over the years including the Palmers, the Johnsons as well as current owner Tracey Cochrane.

(Photo above courtesy of Tracey Cochrane)


Map of the north shore streetcar lines


Illustration of streetcar lines in overlay on modern map of North Vancouver.
(Photo of Trestle (far right) courtesy of North Vancouver Museum & Archives)

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