All about Kerrisdale-Marpole
Kerrisdale is an unique community made up of mostly Caucasian and Asian residents including wealthy professionals, elderly residents and students renting out apartments and basements. Kerrisdale is mostly made up of wealthy residents but does include various low income apartments in the northern section of the neighborhood. The southern section of Kerrisdale is known as the “Southlands”, due to it’s location in Vancouver. The Southlands is well known for it’s horse stables and could be described as rural feel as most of the area is large grassland and is located on the edge of the Fraser River.
History of Kerrisdale-Marpole
Kerrisdale’s received it’s name in 1905 when R.H. Sterling, manager of the British Columbia Electric Railway, asked Mrs. William McKinnion to name the train stop on Wilson Road (now formally named West 41st Ave). Mrs. McKinnion chose to call the train stop “Kerry’s Dale”, named after “Kerrydale”, her family home in Gairloch, Scotland. The word Kerrydale symbolized “little seat of the fairies” and was quickly changed to Kerrisdale afterwards. Kerrisdale was part of the Point Grey Municipality when the area was amalgamated in January, 1, 1929. At this point in time, many of the streets and intersections which are still used today, were developed during the late 1929-early 1930’s. Many landmarks were built during this time which included the Shannon Mews, Allan Brown Estate, Ryerson Church and the Point Grey Secondary School.
The Kerrisdale area up to the mid 1980’s was home to mostly British- Caucasian residents. At this point in time, Kerrisdale was experiencing a large influx of immigrants from Hong Kong. These immigrants developed and constructed large, modern houses. Therefore, today Kerrisdale is a mix of old and new homes with a wide mix of unique architecture.
In January 2000, the area in Kerrisdale, known as the “Arbutus Corridor”, which was a 10km corridor splitting the Kerrisdale area. The Arbutus Corridor was previously used for the railway line run by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many residents of the area had called for the corridor to be developed into a light transit route for multi-use including the Skytrain and a paved bike lane. However, the area still remains abandoned today and is waiting to be used for transportation purposes.
Geography of Kerrisdale-Marpole
Kerrisdale has a shopping district running along West 41st Street. Most people consider the areas boundaries to be along West 33rd Ave to the north, Granville Street to the east, West 57th Ave to the south and along Blenheim Street to the east. Many refer to the northern section as “Kerrisdale-Marpole", as the unofficial area resides in the Marpole area.