Victoria Timeline

Year Victoria Empire Buildings
1592 Voyage of Juan de Fuca    
1778 Captain James Cook anchored at Nootka Sound    
1835-7 Captain McNeill (Beaver) explored Victoria, Esquimalt, Sooke; recommended are for harbour Coronation of Queen Victoria; People's Charter is drafted by Chartists  
1839   1st Opium War (1839-42)  
1842 Victoria selected as Hudson Bay fort by James Douglas    
1843 Fort Victoria built    
1844 Songhees village relocated by HBC from east side of harbour across to Vic West area    
1845 First ship from England arrives in Victoria 1st Sikh War (1845-6)  
1847   Engles and Marx publish Communist Manifesto  
1848 1st British man-of-warship (Constance)enters Esquimalt Harbour; Meazles and influenza epidemic Cholera epidemic; 1st Public Health Act passed; 2nd Sikh War (1948-9)  
1849 Vancouver Island became British Crown Colony    
1851 James Douglas appointed governor The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park  
1852 Coal discovered in Nanaimo; First common school opened by James Douglas for Hudson Bay Co.   Helmcken House, by RBCM
1853 First salmon exported from Victoria    
1854 1st census in Victoria Crimean War begins Craigflower School, Admirals Rd. (1855)
1856-7 Disovery of gold in British Columbia Crimean War Ends (1856); Ellen Terry's first appearance of stage  
1858 Fort Victoria becomes provisioning centre for Gold Rush in Fraser River; pop. Increase from 500 to 2000 inhabitants    
1859 Chief Justice M.B. Begbie arrives from England; Fort Victoria becomes a free port Queen Victoria cancelled HBC's Crown Grant: Darwin's Origin of Species The Birdcages" are built - 1st Legislative buildings
1860      
1861   Prince Albert died; Victoria retires from public life  
1862 Victoria incorporated; smallpox epidemic   Dickson, Cambell & Co. (Capital Iron), 1900 Store St.
1863     Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue, 1421 Blanshard; Carr House, 207 Governmnet St.
1864 First use of street numbers    
1865 Royal Naval base established at Esquimalt Diamonds discovered in South Africa  
1865 Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia    
1867 Confederation of Canada (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick); Times Colonist supports suffragettes British North America Act  
1868 Victoria selected as capital city of BC    
1869   Bedford College for women incorporated  
1871 BC joins Confederation; Emily Carr born (207 Government St.)    
1872 Ross Bay Cemetary    
1874-6 Salmon Canning began    
1875 Three women cast votes in civic election; female emancipation rejected in legislature Public Health and Artisans' Dwellings Act passed to clean up slums in London  
1876   Victoria became Empress of India Dominion Customs House, 1002 Wharf St.
1877 First telephone in Victoria    
1878 City Hall Built; Chinese workers strike   City Hall (1978, 1881, 1891), 1 Centennial Square
1881   1st Boer War  
1883 Gold discovered in Kootneys; first electric street lighting in Victoria   Driard Hotel and Victoria Theatre (The Bay Centre), 1150 Douglas at View and Broad St.
1885 Disallownace of the Chinese restriction act   new theatre
1886 Railway completed on Vancouver Island   Bank of British Columbia, 1022 Government at Fort
1887 Canada-China mail subsidy granted (bimonthly mail to China); standard time adopted in Victoria Jubille celebrations  
1888 Gas expolsion at Wellington Colliery; miners strike - Robert Dunsmuir hires Chinese workers; Canada's first incadescent electric light station in Victoria The Jack the Ripper murders occurred in London  
1889 Electric Tramway built British South Africa Co. is chartered Jubilee Hospital
1892     E.A. Morris Tobacconist, 1116 Government
1895   Trial of Oscar Wilde  
1896 Point Ellice Bridge disaster (55 dead when bridge collapsed uder weight of streetcar)    
1897 Klondike Gold Rush Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee  
1898 Fountain Lake constructed (Beacon Hill Park)    
1899   2nd Boer War  
1900   Boxer risings in China  
1901   Death of Queen Victoria; Edward VII (1901-10)  
1903 Chinese Bell (1627; confiscated during Boxer Rebellion) arrives in Victoria Women's Social and Political Union formed by Emmeline Pankhurst  
1904 Portion of James Bay filled to build Causeway and the Empress Anglo-French Entent Cordial formed Victoria Public Library, 794 Yates at Blanshard
1905 British Navy left Esquimalt 1st motor buses in London  
1906   Dreadnought completed  
1907 Victoria changes street names and building numbers Anglo-Russian Entente formed Merchants Bank (Bank of Montreal) 1225 Douglas at Yates
1908 Empress opened   Hatley Park, 2000 Sooke Rd.
1910   George V coronated (1910-36) Chinese Public School, 636 FisgardSt. (1909)
1911 Downtown fire; Songhees agree to move from Vic West to Esquimalt    
1911 Streets paved    
1914 1st contingent left for WWI WWI breaks out Pantages Theatre (McPherson Thatre), 3 Centennial Square
1915 Anti-German riots after sinking of the Lusitania    
1925     Crystal Gardens, 701 Douglas at Belville