The History of Kelowna
The S-Ookanhkchinx, the Interior Salish peoples, lived in the Okanagan before the arrival of the first Europeans. They travelled the valley according to the season, hunting and gathering, and fishing for the kokanee that spawned in Mission Creek, and then settled in family communities for the winter. They were small, independent bands who peacefully traded with other Indigenous people living along the lakes and rivers of the Okanagan.
Our recorded history begins with the arrival of the first Europeans, whose explorations brought them to the Okanagan Valley in 1811. There are several milestones that mark the settlement of the area and the creation of Kelowna. Some dates are pivotal to the development of the community and are easily remembered. Others get lost to time.
When no one makes note of a significant community event, or the opening of a major park, or when a new building appears or disappears from the civic centre site, it may not matter in the day-to-day scheme of things.
However, these details do matter when one is telling stories of how and why and in what ways Kelowna has changed. As a result, Sharron J. Simpson has compiled a more exhaustive timeline than might otherwise be indicated. I hope it will be a useful framework for those in the future who will build on to the stories in this volume.
1811 - David Stuart of the Pacific Fur Company arrives in Astoria, now Oregon, and joins David Thompson as he retraces his paddle strokes up the Columbia River. Stuart leaves the explorer at the confluence of the Okanogan River and continues through the Okanagan Valley en route to Fort Cumloops, now Kamloops. He discovers a route connecting the Fraser River to the Columbia River and a port on the Pacific Ocean. This route becomes known as the Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail.
1811 to 1826 - Intermittent use of the Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail.
1826 to 1846 - Regular use of the Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail.
1846 - The international boundary is established at the forty-ninth parallel. The fur brigades are diverted to Fort Langley, BC.
1848 to 1855 - California gold rush. As discoveries diminish, miners gradually move northward to BC, following the promise of gold.
1858 - Gold is discovered at Rock Creek, BC. The BC gold rush begins, including along creeks near what will become Kelowna.
- Mainland BC becomes a British colony.
- Palmer and Miller wagon train passes through the Okanagan, bringing cattle, miners and supplies from the Oregon Territory.
1859 - Father Pandosy establishes Okanagan Mission, which he calls L’Anse au Sable.
1861 - Eli Lequime and family arrive at Father Pandosy’s Mission.
1862 - Cariboo gold rush begins. Miners and cattle travel through the Okanagan en route to the Central Interior.
- Auguste Gillard pre-empts land that will become the Kelowna townsite.
1871 - Fredrick Brent establishes the first grist mill in the valley.
- BC enters Confederation.
1875 - First wagon road is built between Priest’s Landing, near Vernon, and Okanagan Mission.
1883 - Rancher A.B. Knox arrives in Kelowna and ranches on land north and east of what will become the Kelowna townsite.
1885 - Canadian Pacific Railway completes the transcontinental railway.
1888 - Eli Lequime leaves the Okanagan for San Francisco.
1890 - Bernard Lequime buys the future Kelowna townsite property from Auguste Gillard.
- G.G. MacKay buys land in the Mission Valley.
- Lord and Lady Aberdeen buy the Guisachan property, sight unseen, from MacKay.
1891 - Father Pandosy dies.
- Bernard Lequime moves his sawmill and builds a general store on the lakeshore of the future Kelowna townsite.
1892 - City of Vernon is incorporated.
- Benvoulin townsite registered by MacKay.
- Kelowna townsite registered by Bernard Lequime.
- Shuswap and Okanagan Railway completed, linking the CPR mainline at Sicamous through Vernon to Okanagan Landing.
- SS Aberdeen launched, the first of the CPR’s sternwheelers on Okanagan Lake.
- Lake View Hotel built in Kelowna.
1893 - Lord Aberdeen becomes Governor General of Canada.
- First Kelowna post office opens.
1894 - Louis Holman plants the first tobacco in Okanagan Mission.
- Dr. Boyce, the town’s first doctor, arrives in Kelowna.
1895 - The Oblates of Mary Immaculate move their headquarters from Okanagan Mission to Kamloops.
1902 - Father Pandosy’s church at Okanagan Mission closes.
1902 to 1903 - J.H. Rutland arrives from Australia and irrigates and plants new orchards in the area soon called Rutland.
1904 - Bank of Montreal opens in Kelowna.
- Kelowna Clarion, the city’s first newspaper, is established.
- Kelowna Land and Orchard Company forms and buys 6,743 acres from the Lequime family.
- A four-room schoolhouse is built in Kelowna.
1905 - Kelowna is incorporated as a city on May 5, with a population of about six hundred.
- The Palace Hotel opens, later becoming the Royal Anne Hotel.
1906 - First Kelowna Regatta is held.
1907 - SS Okanagan is launched, the second CPR sternwheeler.
1908 - Kelowna hospital opens.
1909 - City pays thirty thousand dollars for the land that becomes City Park.
- First Kelowna High School opens.
1911 - Kelowna Volunteer Fire Brigade is officially formed.
- Cornerstone laid for St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church.
- Cornerstone laid for the second Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Sutherland Avenue.
1912 - Maternity wing added to Kelowna hospital.
1913 - Kelowna Public School, now Central School, opens on Richter Street.
1914 - SS Sicamous launched, the last and grandest CPR sternwheeler.
1922 - Glenmore incorporated as a municipality.
1925 - Canadian National Railway arrives in Kelowna.
1926 - Countess Bubna builds the Eldorado Arms Hotel.
- Air charter service becomes available from Rutland airfield.
1927 - MV Kelowna-Westbank begins scheduled ferry service between Kelowna and Westbank.
1929 - Original Kelowna Junior High School built on Richter Street.
1930 - Oil wells drilled at Mission and Canyon Creeks in Okanagan Mission.
- Stanley M. Simpson purchases Manhattan Beach property and builds a sawmill, veneer plant and box factory.
1931 - Kelowna’s first commercial radio station, CKOV, begins broadcasting.
- First Regatta queen contest.
1933 - Domestic Winery and By-products becomes Calona Wines.
1937 - New art deco Kelowna Post Office is built.
1939 - Kelowna Senior High School built.
- MV Pendozi ferry launched.
- Dr. Boyce sells the 190-acre Okanagan Mountain Park to Kelowna for one dollar.
1940 - New fireproof wing added to Kelowna Hospital.
1945 - Kelowna Yacht Club established.
1946 - Kelowna purchases Ellison Field for an airport.
- BC Fruit Processors launch juice plant using the brand Sun-Rype.
- Ratepayers approve purchase of Simpson and Kelowna Saw Mill property for civic centre use.
1947 - MV Lequime becomes the second Okanagan Lake ferry.
1948 - Province inundated by floods, including the Okanagan Valley.
- Kelowna Memorial Arena dedicated.
1949 - Hope-Princeton Highway opens.
1950 - MV Lloyd-Jones launched, the third and last Okanagan Lake ferry.
1951 - New Kelowna City Hall opens.
1952 - W.A.C. Bennett becomes premier of BC.
1955 - Kelowna celebrates fiftieth anniversary.
- Jubilee Bowl opens in City Park.
- New provincial courthouse opens.
1957 - CHBC-TV goes on air.
1958 - Okanagan Lake Bridge opens.
- Kelowna Packers become first Western hockey team to play behind the Iron Curtain.
1959 - Capri Mall opens.
1962 - Kelowna Community Theatre opens.
1963 - BC Vocational School opens at KLO Road.
1967 - Mission Hill Winery opens.
1968 - Okanagan College begins classes.
1969 - Kelowna Aquatic Club destroyed by fire.
1971 - Art deco post office demolished and replaced by federal building.
- BC Vocational School and Okanagan College amalgamate.
1973 - Okanagan Mission, Rutland and Glenmore amalgamated into greater Kelowna.
- Agricultural Land Reserve legislation passed.
1975 - W.R. Bennett elected premier of BC.
1977 - Spirit of Sail sculpture installed.
- Kelowna Art Gallery created.
1978 - Construction begins on new Okanagan College KLO campus buildings.
1980 - Uniacke Winery founded, later CedarCreek Estate Winery.
1981 - Bennett Clock installed.
1986 - Coquihalla Highway opens.
- First Kelowna Regatta riot.
1987 - Second Regatta riot. Kelowna International Regatta cancelled.
1988 - Laurel Packinghouse restored as first heritage building.
1989 - Okanagan College begins conferring UBC and UVic degrees.
1990 - Okanagan College purchases new site near airport.
1991 - Coquihalla Connector opens.
1993 - Rhapsody sculpture added to Waterfront Park fountain.
1994 - New BC Supreme Court building opens.
1995 - Waterfront Park officially opens.
- Okanagan College becomes Okanagan University College.
1996 - Kelowna Art Gallery opens in Cultural District.
- Downtown library branch opens.
- First phase of Mission Creek Greenway announced.
1999 - Prospera Place opens.
- Laurel Packinghouse designated National Historic Site.
- BC Cancer Agency for the South Interior opens.
2001 - Original BC Courthouse torn down.
2002 - Rotary Centre for the Arts opens.
2003 - Okanagan Mountain Fire burns south of Kelowna.
- North campus becomes UBC Okanagan.
2005 - Kelowna marks its hundredth anniversary.
- UBCO officially opens.
- Second phase of Mission Creek Greenway opens.
2008 - W.R. Bennett Bridge opens.
2010 - Grizzly bear statue unveiled at Stuart Park.
Source: “The Kelowna Story: An Okanagan History” by Sharron J. Simpson