1842
- James Douglas surveys area for Fort Victoria - First Nation villages at Cadboro Bay & east side of harbour.

1843
- Fort Victoria established by James Douglas for Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) - 100-yard-square enclosure within boundaries of present Government, Wharf, Broughton & Bastion Streets; first European settlement on Vancouver Island, named for young Queen of England; actually a fiefdom of HBC.

1844
- At request of Hudson's Bay Company, Songhees village relocated across harbour from Fort, along east & south shore of Victoria West.

1848
- Measles & influenza epidemic hits Victoria.

1849
- Vancouver Island now British Colony of Vancouver’s Island.

1851
- Robert Dunsmuir arrives from Scotland as Hudson's Bay Company indentured coal miner; eldest son, James, born on shipboard.
- John Work establishes Hillside Farm.

1852
- Victoria townsite surveyed, first streets laid out - bounded on west by harbour, east by what is now Government St, south by Fort, north by Johnson.

1853
- Governor James Douglas sets aside 10 acres as School Reserve in what is now Fernwood.

1854
- Crimean War - British Royal Navy ships come to Fort Victoria, hospital erected in Esquimalt.
- First census - 282 whites, approximately 2,000 natives from Saanich Peninsula to Sooke Basin.

1855
- Isabella Ross (1490 Fairfield Rd.) becomes colony's first female landowner when she buys 99 acres of land from HBC.

1856
- HBC allows settlers to buy land on instalment plan.
- First election for House of Assembly.
- First District Church (Anglican) consecrated.

1858
- April 25 - first miners here for Fraser River gold rush.
- First Chinese arrive from San Francisco.
- First Sisters of St. Ann arrive in Victoria.
- St. Ann’s Schoolhouse opens with 35 pupils.
- Mainland territory of New Caledonia becomes Crown Colony of British Columbia (BC), Governor James Douglas.
- Victoria Gazette & British Colonist first published.
- First brick building, Victoria Hotel on Government St.
- Waddington Alley is first street paved in wood blocks.
- Baron Lowenberg establishes possibly first real estate business on West Coast - Lowenberg, Harris & Co.

1859
- Queen Victoria cancels Hudson's Bay Company’s Crown grant.
- Victoria Philharmonic Society founded.

1860
- James Douglas declares Victoria a free port.
- Victoria Gas Co is formed.
- Colonial Government Buildings, nicknamed Birdcages, open on south side of Inner Harbour.
- Japanese goods first appear in Victoria shops.
- B.W. Pearse builds Fernwood, colony’s first stone house.

1861
- New Post Office established on Wharf St.
- Residential development east to Cook St.
- First Point Ellice Bridge built.
- 608 permanent residents; 25,000 miners pass through.
- Sir Joseph Trutch's home, Fairfield at 601 Trutch St. built.

1862
- Gold rush to Barkerville & Cariboo begins.
- Victoria has 446 voters, elects 2 to Colonial Government.
- Government bill forbids construction of wooden buildings over 18 feet high or more than one storey within town.
- Town boundary moved east to Douglas St.
- May 16 - Colonial Government passes “An Act to Incorporate the City of Victoria.”
- Business district lit with gas.
- Smallpox epidemic hits Victoria.
- Oct 24 - First library established.
- Nov - HMS Hecate surveys Vancouver Island.

1863
- Feb - Victoria carpenters establish BC’s first trade union, Journeymen Shipwrights Assoc of Victoria & Vancouver Island.
- City Council awards contract for street construction.
- First “free” school in Colony opens in Esquimalt.
- Apr 9 - Cornerstone laid for 1st Presbyterian Church.
- Albion Iron Works founded at Chatham & Discovery Streets.
- Jun 2 - Foundation of Synagogue laid.
- Summer - First use of street numbers.
- James Douglas retires as Governor of both colonies.
- New residential suburbs develop north of Pandora St.

1864
- Telegraph system introduced to Victoria.
- Nov - Demolish last of Hudson's Bay Company Fort stockade & bastions.
- Leech River gold rush near Sooke.
- Ladies committee buys land for hospital at Pandora & Chambers Streets.
- Mechanics Literary Institute reading room opens.

1865
- Governor Kennedy buys Cary Castle for $19,000.
- Esquimalt - chief British Naval Station on west coast.
- Aug - First public school opens on School Reserve.
- Georgina Kennedy lays foundation stone for Angela College (923 Fairfield Rd).
- Ross Bay Villa (1490 Fairfield Rd.) built for Charles Buxton and leased to Frank Roscoe.

1866
- City’s first water pipes laid by the Spring Ridge Water Co.
- Transatlantic telegraph cable from England & San Francisco to Victoria.
- Nov 19 - Vancouver Island & BC united as Crown Colony of BC- mainland New Westminster is capital.

1867
- July 1 - Confederation of Canada: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick first four provinces.
- Colonist comes out in support of women’s suffrage.
- Municipal franchise extended to all property owners.
- Victoria Council’s 1st black member - Mifflin Gibbs.

1868
- Victoria chosen as capital of BC.
- Defenses built against attacks by Americans.

1869
- New James Bay bridge opens.
- First “velocipedes” (early bicycles) in Victoria; Colonist orders six for delivery boys.
- Robert Dunsmuir, with HBC’s “Free Miners Licence,” discovers coal seam near Departure Bay, Nanaimo; claims 1000 acres & begins to develop Wellington Coal.

1870
- Douglas St. gravelled from St John’s Church south.
- Gas introduced into house, public lamp, barracks & jail.

1871
- July 19 - BC enters Confederation as province of Dominion of Canada.
- Canada Census - Victoria’s population is 3,270.
- Cornerstone of new St. Ann’s Academy (835 Humboldt St.) laid.
- Artist Emily Carr born at 207 Government St.
- Sir Joseph Trutch appointed first Lieutenant-Governor of BC.

1872
- Opening of first Provincial Legislative Assembly; passes bill giving more rights to married women.
- New Christ Church Cathedral built.
- Driard Hotel opens, fireplace in each room.
- City buys land at Ross Bay for new Cemetery.
- Ship arrives with smallpox, pest-house opens on Dallas Rd, child Bertha Whitney dies & is buried there.
- George Bell suffers last public hanging in Victoria.
- City boundaries expanded.

1873
- Victoria City Council sets 6 mph speed limit.
- Foundation stone laid for dam at south end of Beaver Lake, to make Elk Lake the City’s major source of water.
- Driard Hotel has water piped in from local wells.
- Marine Hospital built on Songhees land in Vic West.
- Protestant Orphan Asylum Society established.

1874
- Jacob Sehl installs elevator in Government St store.
- Christ Church Cathedral congregation splits between Bishop Hills and Dean Edward Cridge, who founds Reformed Episcopal Church of Our Lord down hill.

1875
- City Council decrees they will employ no Chinamen.
- Three women cast votes in Victoria civic election.
- Dr. S.F. Tolmie proposes to BC Legislature that women should have vote - defeated.
- City begins pumping water from Elk Lake; Spring Ridge Water Works Co. is dissolved.

1876
- St. Joseph’s Hospital opens.
- Victoria’s first High School opens.
- Economic downturn, Douglas lends province $30,000.

1877
- Sir James Douglas dies.
- First “self‑acting water‑closets” installed in Victoria.
- BC government declares first Thanksgiving Day.
- First roller skating rink opens in Victoria.

1878
- R.B. McMicking & Bell Telephone Co. install first two telephones in Victoria, in Colonist & CPR offices.
- Volunteer militia established here.
- BC Government attempts to tax all Chinese in province $60. Chinese go on strike, law declared unconstitutional.
- Dec 11 - First Council meeting in new City Hall.

1879
- Jan 8 - 1 metre of snow covers City.
- April - Union Club forms, Judge Begbie first president.

1880
- Jan 11 - 81 cm snow covers City; 700 sheep reported to be found sleeping under snow at Macaulay Point.
- Jan 21 - General telephone service established.

1881
- Year opens with 60 cm of snow.
- Canada Census - Victoria’s population is 5,925.
- R.B. McMicking offers to light City from nine 60 foot towers for $490 per month.
- Telephone office opens all night, now 100 subscribers.
- Eight telephone fire alarm boxes set up.
- BC Government transfers Beacon Hll Park to City of Victoria.

1883
- Aug 20 - Robert Dunsmuir signs with Federal Government to build Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway (E&N) for subsidy of $750,000, & land grant of 2,000,000 acres (1/5 Vancouver Island), including all coal under & all timber on top.
- July -Victoria carpenters establish 1st union local, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners.
- Dec - First electric streetlighting in City.

1884
- Head tax of $50 imposed on Chinese immigrants.
- June - City takes over electric light plant.
- July - House numbers make first appearance.

1885
- R.P. Rithet becomes Mayor.
- Victoria School District has 732 pupils & 17 teachers.
- Tenders called for new jail.
- Nov -Last spike of transcontinental railroad is driven; first freight from Eastern Canada arrives in Vancouver.
- Alexander and Margaret Vye (1785 Carrick) establish Richmond Farm on Richmond Rd.

1886
- Local census: 8,452 Whites, 2,978 Chinese, 101 Indians.
- Dr. George Milne appointed first City Health Officer.
- David Spencer opens dry goods store “The Arcade.”
- Victoria Electric Illumination Co incorporates.
- The City of Vancouver is incorporated.

1887
- Vancouver, not Victoria as hoped & expected, becomes terminus of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).
- Celebrations of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
- Lights turned on at Canada’s first incandescent electric light station, here in Victoria.

1888
- 76 cm snow covers City.
- March 29 - E&N first train, Nanaimo to Victoria.
- First railway bridge built across harbour to Store St.
- National Electric Tramway & Lighting Co. (NET&L) signs agreement with City to operate streetcars.
- First public lavatory erected in Bastion Square, men only.
- Letter carriers & letter boxes first appear.
- Survey begun for Victoria to Sidney railway (V&S).

1889
- Foundations laid for Royal Jubilee Hospital at Richmond & Fort to mark Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
- City now has 79 street lamps & 315 telephones.

1890
- Feb - Electric streetcar service - 3rd system in Canada.
- Sewer system begun.
- City boundaries expanded to include Victoria West.
- Corrig College, boy’s private school, opens at Niagara & Douglas.
- Fairfield neighbourhood included in City's boundaries.
- Royal Jubilee Hospital (1900 Fort St.) opens.

1891
- Canada Census - Victoria population of 16,841 served by 55 hotels & taverns.
- Mayor Grant starts City Hall clock.
- Transit system extended to Oak Bay.
- Capt John Irving starts daily ferry service Victoria to New Westminster.
- Public Market opens on Cormorant St.

1892
- Local smallpox epidemic, Port of Victoria shut, local economic depression begins.
- City starts permit systems for water & sewer hookups.

1893
- 1.7 m snow covers City.
- World-wide trade depression; City hires unemployed to work on local improvements at $2.00 / 10 hour day.
- Council allocates $1,000 for signposts & street names.
- Thomas Plimley opens first bicycle shop.
- Postmen start using bicycles.
- Arion Male Voice Choir founded as Arion Club of Victoria.

1894
- NET&L in receivership, reincorporated as Victoria Electric Railway & Lighting Co.

1895
- Daily Colonist notes first “motor carriages”.

1896
- 73 cm snow covers City.
- May 26: Point Ellice Bridge collapses under weight of loaded streetcar; 55 people die.

1897
- First Chinese public school in Canada, 636 Fisgard St.
- Fort St. is paved with wooden paving blocks.
- Consolidated Railway Act joins Victoria & Lower Mainland gas & electric co’s - BC Electric Railway (BCER).
- West Coast’s first hydroelectric generating plant built at Goldstream to service Victoria.

1898
- Chinese in Canada disenfranchised.
- Feb - opening ceremonies BC’s Parliament Buildings.

1899
- 80 cm snow covers City.

1900
- Federal Government raises Chinese-immigrant head tax to $100.
- Permanent concrete sidewalks laid on Yates St.
- Telephone service extended to Saanichton & Sidney.
- Building permits for year total $363,580.
- BCER line extends from Victoria to Esquimalt.

1901
- Jan 22 - Queen Victoria dies; King Edward VII ascends British throne.
- Telephone service extended to Duncan & Nanaimo.
- Canada Census: Vancouver’s 26,196 population passes Victoria’s 20,919.

1902
- Andrew Carnegie gives $50,000 for new library building.
- First gas‑powered automobile bought by Dr E.C. Hart, an Oldsmobile costing $900.
- First motorcycle appears in Victoria.
- Mount Baker Hotel in Oak Bay burns to ground.

1903
- City’s first water meters installed.
- April - first Tally Hos run by Victoria Transfer Co.
- First steam‑driven automobile bought by Bert Todd.

1904
- BC motor vehicle licence plates now compulsory.
- Dec - first telephone call Victoria to Vancouver.
- BCER begins selling gas appliances.

1905
- May 1 - CPR buys E&N from James Dunsmuir.
- Automobile Club formed - approximately 20 cars, 10 motorcycles.
- Hutchinson Bros first automobile livery (taxi service).
- BCER opens Gorge Park, given to Esquimalt in 1955.

1906
- Saanich & Oak Bay incorporated as municipalities.
- BCER hires first female employee.
- 1852 James Douglas home on Government St demolished.

1907
- Victoria buildings renumbered, street names changed.
- Northcott becomes City Building Inspector, sets up modern system of building permits & plans.
- Great building boom begins - 349 new buildings.
- July 23 - Great Fire destroys Chinatown between Chatham & Herald, Store to Government, runs to Quadra between Green & North Park.

1908
- Feds outlaw opium manufacture ‑ 6 Victoria firms.
- Oct 3 - New 4-storey St. Joseph's Hospital (850 Humboldt St.) building opens.

1909
- Cook St. streetcar line begins service.

1910
- May - Royal Canadian Navy established.
- Mayor A.J. Morley plans cluster lights in Downtown.
- October - Downtown Fire destroys Spencer’s & Five Sisters Block, etc; City extends View St to Government.
- Building permits for year total $2,373,045.
- Sir James Douglas School (401 Moss St.) built.

1911
- 4200 telephones now in City.
- Songhees Natives give up Reserve lands in Vic West, move to Esquimalt Reserve.
- Lester & Frank Patrick build artificial ice rink.
- Carpenters paid $4.50 per day.
- Road to Mill Bay passable, christened Malahat Drive.
- April - First auto show is held.
- Jordan River hydroelectric plant begins Victoria service.
- City begins to build seawall to stop graves from washing out to sea at Ross Bay cemetery, Dallas Rd continued.
- Clearing begins on Uplands area in Oak Bay.
- Building permits for year total $4,026,315.
- Canada Census - Victoria’s population is 31,660.

1912
- Victoria Police buy motor patrol wagon.
- May - contruction begins on Victoria’s first skyscraper for BC Permanent Loan Co, northeast corner Douglas & Johnson, architect H.S. Griffiths (demolished)
- Esquimalt incorporated as municipality.
- Sept - coal mines shut; Vancouver Island’s “Big Strike” begins.
- Dec - St John’s Iron Church demolished.
- Building permits for year total $8,060,170.
- Bank Street School (1625 Bank St.) opens.

1913
- April - BC liquor law prohibits certain days / hours.
- Victoria Fire Department (VFD) is motorized.
- BC Electric Railway (BCER) begins service to North Saanich
- Work begins on Saanich to Patricia Bay railway
- British shipbuilder Alfred Yarrow buys Esquimalt yards of BC Marine Railway Co.
- Province‑wide depression starts, real estate collapses.
- Building permits for year total less than $4,000,000.
- July & Aug - miners’ strike riots in Cumberland, South Wellington, Ladysmith, Extension & Nanaimo.
- Aug - Canada’s first fatal air crash, during Victoria Summer Carnival - American John Bryant crashes onto roof in Chinatown.
- Panama Canal opens, greatly improves access to European settlers & goods.
- Dec 29 - The Royal Theatre (805 Broughton St.) opens.

1914
- Jan - 60 wives & mothers of Vancouver Island miners plead with Premier Richard McBride for jailed 1913 strike rioters.
- BC Anti-Tuberculosis Society builds sanatorium at Tranquille, near Kamloops, BC.
- Victoria hires first police woman.
- Aug 4 - Britain declares war on Germany; Canada, as member of British Empire, is automatically in WWI.
- 4th Victoria High School at 1260 Grant St, Fernwood.
- Aug 20 - miners accept colliery terms; end of Vancouver Island’s Big Strike.
- Meterological Observatory (302 Denison Rd.) opens.
- Margaret Jenkins School (1824 Fairfield Rd.) opens.
- Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) establishes a Meeting House at 1831 Fern.

1915
- After sinking of Lusitania by Germany, Anti‑German riots break out, many businesses damaged & looted.
- Jitneys (independent taxis) compete with BCER.
- Streetcar fares raised a penny to 6 cents; first increase in BCER history.
- William Bowser becomes Premier of BC until 1916.

1916
- Feb - Snowfall paralyzes city ‑ army helps clear downtown; Daily Times estimates 1.5M tons of snow fell on City.
- Provincial referendum establishes womens’ suffrage & approves prohibition of alcohol.
- Houses of Parliament in Ottawa destroyed by fire.

1917
- Jan 1 - BC Compensation Act - collieries, logging companies, etc., must provide widows’ pensions.
- Women voters register for provincial vote.
- Federal Government establishes “temporary income tax”.
- Oct 1 - Prohibition of alcohol in BC goes into effect.
- “Workman’s Compensation Board” established.

1918
- Canada Registration Board created - men & women over 16 to register for war effort.
- Oct & Nov - Spanish Influenza epidemic forces closure of public places; kills more people worldwide than WWI.
- Nov 11 - Armistice Day, end of World War One WWI.
- Dec 7 - 7-8 magnitude earthquake on west coast of Vancouver Island.

1919
- Robert J. Porter elected Mayor of Victoria to 1921.
- Edward, Prince of Wales, visits Victoria.
- Nov - Victoria’s General Sir Arthur Currie, Commander in Chief of Canadian Forces at end of WWI, sells Victory Loans on Vancouver Island.

1920
- June - James Dunsmuir dies.
- Women vote for first time in provincial election.

1921
- June 15 - Prohibition ends in BC.
- Government Liquor Vendors set up.
- New fire insurance maps for Victoria drawn up.
- Soldier’s Settlement houses - Victoria uses Federal Government’s Better Housing Act funds to build 54 houses for returned soldiers.
- Canada Census - Victoria’s population is 38,727.

1922
- Jan 1 - Rule of the Road change on Vancouver Island; vehicles to be driven on right side of road, like rest of province (helps date photographs of street scenes).
- Oct 2 - Johnson Street Bridge southern span formally opened to traffic.
- BC Government bans Orientals from pulp & paper mills.

1923
- Oriental Exclusion Act, introduced in Federal Government by Comox-Alberni MP A.W. Neill, prohibits Chinese & Japanese from underground work, excludes all Orientals except consuls, merchants & students from entering Canada - only 23 enter Canada from 1923-47.
- Nov - Victoria & Saanich open new intermunicipal cemetery, Royal Oak Burial Park.

1924
- Present Johnson Street Bridge opens.
- Interurban railway from Victoria to Saanich is closed.

1925
- J. Carl Pendray elected Mayor of Victoria to 1928.
- Presbyterian, Methodist & Congregational Churches amalgamate as The United Church of Canada.

1926
- Oct 26 - Seattle mail plane crashes after takeoff from Lansdowne Field into Sen. Robert Green’s house at 502 Rupert.
- Fairfield United Church (1303 Fairfield Rd) built.

1927
- July 1 - Canada’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
- Old Age Pension Act instituted - any British subject in Canada, 70 years or older; resident in Canada 20 years; if doesn’t have income of $365 a year; is not an Indian.
- Victoria’s first zoning bylaw implemented, hoped to be “the final means of perpetuating town planning principles in the City” VDC 26.11.1927.
- BCER installs electric heaters on streetcars.
- BCER creates Victoria’s Home Service division to promote use of home appliances.
- Clover Point rifle range becomes City park area.

1928
- BC’s first all-electric home opens at Linden & Oscar in Fairfield; 15,000 people attend open-house week.
- Old City Jail at rear of City Hall is demolished.

1929
- Jan - BC Power Corporation incorporated.
- BC Water Act creates Provincial Water Board.
- BC Government builds concrete Benvenuto Rd from West Saanich Rd to Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island’s main tourist attraction.
- Oct 29 - New York Stock Market crashes.
- Great Depression begins.
- Sept 28 - Christ Church Cathedral ( 908-12 Vancouver St.) is consecrated, building incomplete.

1931
- Federal Government outlaws Communist Party.
- Canada Census - Victoria now 39,082.

1932
- City of Victoria pays $374,621 relief to unemployed.

1934
- BC Government cancels annual sale on lands in tax arrears; farmers can work out 1 year’s arrears on public works.

1935
- Federal Government Dominion Housing Act lends funds for housing through financial institutions & other governments; creates Economic Council of Canada to advise on housing conditions.
- Jan 21 - 3 day rainfall begins, 5.9 inches floods city.

1936
- Federal Government’s Home Improvemt Loan & Guarantee Act - small loans up to $2000 at 3.25% for upgrading homes.

1937
- Hanging flower baskets on light standards introduced for 75th anniversary of Victoria’s civic incorporation.

1938
- Federal Government rewrites National Housing Act (NHA) - loans up to 90% of purchase price.
- Union Oil tanker founders on rocks off Mile 0 at James Bay; tug Salvage King goes to her assistance.

1939
- Sept 3 - Britain & France declare war on Germany.
- Sept 10 - Canada declares war on Germany - WWII.

1941
- April - Federal Government income tax revived as “temporary war-time measure”; income tax never rescinded.
- Right to strike removed for duration of war.
- Dec 7 - Japan bombs Pearl Harbour, USA in WWII; war in Pacific begins.
- Dec 8 - Japanese troops attack Hong Kong; later intern many Canadians, including Victoria citizens.
- Canada Census - Victoria’s population is 44,068.

1942
- Japanese submarine torpedoes freighter SS Fort Camosun, built at Victoria Machinery Depot, at mouth of Strait of Juan de Fuca, & shells Estevan Point Lighthouse.
- West Coast Japanese Canadians sent to internment camps in BC interior.
- Federal Government creates crown corporation, Wartime Housing Ltd, to build “Victory Houses.”
- BC Government awards R.F. Castle $17,355 contract to build underground bomb-proof vaults to house valuable documents & provide emergency headquarters for essential service personnel.

1943
- Federal Government passes Regulations Respecting Trading with the Enemy; confiscates property & belongings of Japanese Canadians.

1944
- June 6 - D-Day in Europe; Allies enter France.
- Building materials all put into war effort.

1945
- May 7 - VE-Day - end of European conflict.
- Aug 14 - VJ-Day - Japan surrenders, end WWII.
- WWII Veterans’ housing program begun.

1946
- Jan 1 - Federal Government creates Central Mortgage & Housing Corp (CMHC).
- June 23 - Worst earthquake in recent Vancouver Island history, 7.8 magnitude, epicentre near Courtenay/Cumberland, chimneys topple on Chapman St in Victoria.
- Beginning of the Baby Boom.
- Princess Peggy and Prince Nicholas Abkhazi buy land for Abkhazi Gardens (1964 Fairfield Rd).

1947
- Feb - Leduc oil fields in Alberta produce; beginning of the end for Vancouver Island coal.
- Chinese Canadians re-franchised, most citizenship rights.
- Post-war housing shortage leads to the conversion of many large homes to boarding houses.
- June - Tennis Courts open on Herald St behind Chinese Public School for & by Chinese community.

1948
- Electric streetcar system is abandoned.

1949
- 50 cm of snow blankets City.
- February - Heavy rain, melting snow, & frozen ground cause extensive flooding in parts of City.
- 7.8 magnitude earthquake, epicentre on Puget Sound.

1950
- Korean War begins, severe metal shortages (ie: hot water tanks, furnaces, hardware).

1951
- Federal Government through National Housing Act (NHA) doubles down payments required for houses & reduces amount available for loans.
- National House Builders Association promotes home bomb shelters for Cold War.
- Canada Census - Victoria now 51,331.

1954
- New NHA - end of Federal loans, now loan-insurance system; banks can do mortgage loans for houses (previously it was only life insurance companies); down-payments lowered; amortization period extended to 25 years.

1956
- Census - Victoria’s population is 54,584.
- Marilyn Bell first woman & first Canadian to swim Juan De Fuca Strait, Port Angeles to Victoria.

1958
- Centennial of Colony of British Columbia.
- City hires first Planner, architect Rod Clack.

1959
- City rejects Vancouver developers’ bid to demolish City Hall, begins development of Centennial Square.

1960
- Fire destroys Nanaimo’s Chinatown.

1961
- Canada Census - Victoria now 54,941.

1963
- City begins restoration/redevelopment of Bastion Sq.

1965
- City begins using Mud Bay on south shore of Victoria West as garbage dump; gradually filled in.

1966
- Census - Victoria now 57,453.

1967
- Chinese Canadians at last given full citizenship rights.
- July 1st - Canada’s Centennial.

1968
- University of Victoria begins 4-year inventory of City’s heritage buildings.

1969
- Summer - City builds large retaining wall around Gonzales (Foul) Bay to prevent further erosion following a major storm the previous year.

1971
- BC’s Centennial as province of Canada.
- Canada Census - Victoria now 61,760.
- City report on downtown heritage structures.

1973
- City appoints first Heritage Advisory Committee.
- Greater Victoria citizens form Hallmark Society, volunteer group dedicated to preserving heritage.

1974
- City designates first 3 heritage houses & a number of commercial buildings on Wharf St.

1975
- Fairfield Community Association established.

1976
- Mayor Mike Young & City Council place 5 month demo/alteration freeze on 77 endangered heritage houses.
- Census - Victoria’s population is 62,552.

1977
- City begins funding restoration & maintenance of designated heritage houses with property tax rebates.
- City designates 53 houses as heritage.
- Hallmark Society begins 2-year inventory of City’s heritage buildings.

1979
- City Planning Department publishes first edition of This Old House.
- VIA Rail passenger service Victoria to Courtenay.

1981
- Canada Census - Victoria now 63,800.

1982
- City finds heritage residential funding program direct to private owners not legal under Municipal Act.

1983
- City establishes Victoria Heritage Foundation (VHF) to disburse grants to owners of designated heritage houses.
- 10-year BC Parliament Buildings restoration completed.

1985
- Gretchen Brewin Victoria’s first female Mayor, 1985-90.

1986
- City hires first full-time Heritage Planner, Steve Barber.

1988
- Sept - Federal Government Japanese Canadians Redress Agreement.
- City begins in-depth Downtown Heritage Management Plan & Inventory.

1989
- City establishes Victoria Civic Heritage Trust (VCHT) to fund restoration of downtown designated heritage buildings.

1991
- Canada Census - Victoria now 67,380.

1993
- BC Government passes new Heritage legislation.

1996
- VHF, Saanich Heritage Foundation present their first old house restoration workshop for homeowners.
- Census - Victoria now 73,504.
- Dec 28/29 - 124 cm snow blankets City - “Blizzard of ’96” insurance claims $120 M - largest ever for BC.

1997
- VHF’s funding program expands to include any designated house in City, including commercial uses.
- VHF, Heritage Society of BC & Vancouver Heritage Foundation together begin production of series of Do-It-Yourself brochures for owners of old houses.

1998
- City endorses Tree Protection Program for native Garry oaks, dogwoods & arbutus trees.
- City passes Property Tax Incentive bylaw to promote residential conversion of downtown heritage buildings.

1999
- VHF’s education committee develops new James Bay Heritage Walking Tour brochure.

2000
- VHF staff and volunteers begin cataloguing residential building plans stored in City Hall attic.

2001
- Canada Census - Victoria now 74,125. Victoria is 14th largest Canadian city.

2002
- 300th house is designated heritage by Victoria City Council, at request of homeowners.

2006
- Canada Census - Victoria now 78,057

2007
- VHF’s House Grants Program receives record 62 applications for funding heritage designated houses.