PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHERS SET UP SHOP ON HASTINGS
On Dec. 2, 1889, the Vancouver World carried a small ad for the grand opening of a new store at 227 Hastings, Bailey & Neelands.
“Views of Vancouver and British Columbia in endless variety,” it stated. “Booklets for Vancouver with views of city and surrounding at prices from 10 cents upwards. Twelve views of Vancouver and B.C. mounted and bound in book form, for $1.50, just the thing to send east.
“Also, a splendid assortment of Fancy Goods, Toilet Cases, Albums, Photo Frames, Plush and Leather Goods, Etc.”
Charles S. Bailey and Hamilton George Neelands would only be partners for a year before Neelands moved to Nelson. But 128 years later, those “views of Vancouver and British Columbia in endless variety” are among the most cherished images of the early city and province.
The photographers shot buildings, people and events, landscapes, cityscapes and industries.
If you search Bailey and Neelands on the Vancouver Archives website, for example, you will find a photo of a sailing ship at anchor near the Moodyville Milling Company Mills, when North Vancouver was basically a few buildings in front of the forest.
Bailey and Neelands also took a shot of the old bridge on Westminster (Main) Street that linked the downtown peninsula to Mt. Pleasant, and an 1890 view of the Gastown waterfront when the tallest structures in the city were church spires.
Most of the photos were probably by Bailey, who arrived in Vancouver in 1887 and left for Kamloops in 1895. Although he only photographed the city and province for a few years, he left behind an incredible photographic legacy — the Vancouver Archives has about 700 of his photos, the Vancouver Public Library has 336, and the B.C. Archives have 252.
“The one key thing is that he went back to the same location several times,” said David Mattison, the premier historic photo expert in the province.
“So he was able to show over the course of a few years how rapidly the city was growing. One of his favourite spots, for example, was the top of the original Hotel Vancouver, looking out towards Burrard Inlet. Through the three or four photos that he took over time, you can see the growth of the city.”
Most of Bailey’s photos are from Bailey Bros., a firm Charles formed with his brother William in 1890. William handled the business side of the family company, which operated a couple of stores at 138 and 160 West Cordova between 1890 and 1900. Charles moved to Kamloops after he was married in 1895 and started a branch store there as well.
You can spend hours discovering wonderful vintage photos by Bailey and other early photographers like Philip Timms and Stuart Thomson on the Vancouver Archives website, which allows you to download photos in highresolution.
Some of the photos come from the old glass plate negatives, which give amazing detail. But many of the coolest shots are old prints that have a lovely sepia-tone colour.
There is a stunning Bailey photo of hundreds of dead fish from “the evening catch” at the Phoenix Cannery in Richmond. Over the years, the colour of the print has changed to a sepia that has a hint of purple, which makes the fish glisten like they are fresh out of the water.
The cannery shot is from 1890. A year later, Bailey took a fantastic photo of the construction crew that was building the B.C. Sugar Refinery on the waterfront. They were a hairy bunch, most sporting moustaches and a few with beards. But they all dressed up in their Sunday best for the photo, almost all in suits and bowler hats.
Sadly, in the 1890s, Charles Bailey developed “consumption,” which we now call tuberculosis.
“He moved to Kamloops because he had tuberculosis,” said Mattison, who has an unpublished manuscript on Bailey. “He thought the drier climate would help ease his symptoms, perhaps even cure him.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t work, and Bailey died on Nov. 29, 1896. He was only 27.
After he left Vancouver, H.G. Neelands opened up a photo studio with his brother James on Baker Street in Nelson. In 1899, he was elected Nelson’s mayor. After dabbling in mining, he became a customs officer in Osoyoos. He died in November 1935 in Seattle.