| The inception of one of West Vancouver’s
most distinctive communities was in 1898 with the arrival of an Englishman named Francis
William Caulfeild. On a tour with his daughter that year, Caulfeild was struck by
the rugged beauty of Skunk Cove (now, Caulfeild Cove). A year later, he bought this
large section of wooded land between Cypress Creek and Point Atkinson from the previous
owner, John Balfour Ker. The development he had in mind included the preservation of
the natural surroundings. Influenced by his roots, Caulfeild designed his newly
acquired land to mirror the charm and culture of his native England, particularly his home
of Clovelly in Cornwall. Rejecting the uncompromising North American street grid, he
laid out winding roads to fit the natural contours of the land with names like
Piccadilly and Cloverly Walk that continue to survive today. Another development occurring around the same time was a land development that has evolved into present-day Gleneagles Golf Course. Acquiring 223 acres through a Crown Grant of land for a sum of $319.00 in 1900, Peter Larson, who already owned two North Vancouver hotels, began clearing a portion of land for farming. Located near the present-day Larson Bay Park site, the farm was rather self-sufficient, even by today's standards, equipped with a barn, a chicken house, a blacksmith, a vegetable garden, an orchard, among other things.. Also emerging as an influential figure around the turn of the century was John Lawson,
who was to become the area’s first permanent white settler. This title should
not be confused with Navvy Jack's title as the first white settler. One of Lawson's first tasks was the creation of a local church service attended by Presbyterian theological students held in the dining room of his house. This endeavour took place at about the same time as his initiative to start a local school service. For this project Mary Reid was employed as a teacher. She lived in Hollyburn House, and during the formative days following the school's inauguration, four of her eight students were Lawson's children; by the end of the first year, however, registration had climbed to 21. The first classes were conducted in 1911 in a tent which collapsed during a heavy snow storm in 1912. By 1913, a two-room school, named Hollyburn School, was built at Duchess Avenue and 13th Street. Not unlike Navvy Jack, Lawson realized the urgency of a ferry service to Vancouver. With his brother-in-law, William C. Thompson, Lawson started a ferry service, known as the West Vancouver Launch Service (John Lawson & Associates) in 1906, with sailings from the foot of 17th Street in West Vancouver to the Columbia Street dock in Gastown, Vancouver. In 1909, the service was renamed the West Vancouver Transportation Company, later to be joined by John Sinclair and Robert McPherson. On May 14, 1912, the newly incorporated Municipality of West Vancouver bought the fleet, and once again the company was renamed -- this time to the West Vancouver Ferry Company Limited. By 1913, a new wharf and a ferry building were built at the bottom of 14th Street -- the site known today as Ambleside Landing with the renovated Ferry Building Gallery. Lawson was Hollyburn's postmaster, and in 1914, he became West Vancouver's second Reeve (Mayor) after Charles Nelson. In 1918, lying about his age of 53 years, Lawson enlisted to serve overseas with the 15th Battalion to be with his only son, Duncan, who was tragically killed in action. Thompson's impact on this community has earned him the title "Father of West Vancouver." Another leading pioneer of West Vancouver was Colonel Albert Whyte, who along with Sir Charles Tupper, operated the West Shore and Northern Land Company Limited. They had acquired land in the vicinity of Horseshoe Bay and opened Whyte Cliff townsite there. In 1914, Whyte used his influence with PGE to have the company name its station Whytecliff, with a spelling shift to a single word. Starting in 1909, a large part of the acquired land had been subdivided and sold off to private parties. While some of the owners had access to their land by boat, further development could not flourish without accessibility, either by boat or other means of transportation. Again, the issue of transportation surfaced as a pressing matter for the early settlers of West Vancouver.
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The latter lost the opportunity to become the first permanent
white settler after he moved up north in pursuit of gold. In 1907, Lawson literally
took over where Navvy Jack left off by moving into the entrepreneurial settler’s old
house on Argyle Avenue, after purchasing the land from James Cooper Keith, the owner at
that time and after whom Keith Road was named. Being a land developer, Lawson's
clear intention was to divide up and sell off parcels of his property. However,
before this real estate venture was to proceed, he understood that his own land not only
had to be prepared, but accomplishments on behalf of the community were just as crucial.
