FROM GOLF GREEN TO PARK
VanDusen Botanical Garden has left its mark on Vancouver
On the opening day of VanDusen Botanical Garden on Saturday, Aug. 30, 1975, premier Dave Barrett recalled the time when the 22.2-hectare site was part of the private Shaughnessy Golf Club. As a student on the east side Britannia high school, he had a job as a caddy carrying members’ clubs around the course at Oak and 37th Avenue.
Barrett, in the final year of his three years as premier, said his return to the site for the opening was the first time he had been back since he was a teenager.
He went on to say that only a few years before then, people thought that Vancouver had more than enough green space. But he said the creation of the gardens reflected the recognition that park land helps relieve the pressures of urbanization.
“We have to have support and understanding and pressure to see that more and more land and open spaces are used in the style of these beautiful gardens,” he said.
At 2 p.m., Barrett and Vancouver mayor Art Phillips held the official ribbon that was cut by W.J. VanDusen, the 85-year-old forestry executive for whom the garden was named because of a $1-million donation.
Opening-day festivities included music by the Kitsilano Boys Band and tours of the new garden. Ticket prices were $1 for adults and 25 cents for students.
It took years for a botanical garden in the centre of the city to become a reality. The process had been started in 1966 by local and English botanical garden experts.
“I cannot believe,” said H.R. Fletcher, keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, “that those at present in charge of the fortunes and welfare of the great city of Vancouver will be so lacking in foresight and imagination as to let slip this unique opportunity. Such a garden would be quite unique in the Northern Hemisphere.”
But first, the Canadian Pacific Railway had to be convinced to sell its land at what public officials thought was a reasonable price. The CPR had developed a 27.1-hectare golf course to encourage wealthy people to settle in the company’s nearby exclusive community of Shaughnessy.
Initially, the CPR asked $5.2 million for land that by 1966 was no longer being used as a golf course; the city and province were willing to pay $2.5 million. Eventually, after VanDusen’s donation broke the logjam and lots of what The Vancouver Sun called “bitter wrangling,” the CPR agreed to sell for $2.2 million. The company still kept 4.8 hectares to develop for housing.
The curator of the garden was Roy Forster. His design was so groundbreaking he was presented with an Order of Canada for his work.
To create the park, located at an elevation of 121 metres above sea level, Forster oversaw the planting of 12,000 trees, flowers and shrubs representing 3,072 species. During excavation for the landscaping, workers discovered sea shells — evidence that the land had been under the ocean about 12,000 years ago.
Even though the garden had an opening day, it wasn’t yet finished. Forster asked the public for donations such as 20 more $200 red cedar benches and a flat $5,000 to cover the cost of publishing a booklet about the garden.
One of the guests at the opening was Per Nilsson- Ost, a Swedish sculptor who created the bronzecast sculpture in the garden’s southeast corner. The sculpture was paid for by a $50,000 gift from the Swedish community.
Nilsson- Ost said one of the panels combined Swedish and Canadian symbols to represent the “meeting between the two countries and cultures.” The other seven panels depicted Swedish immigrants.