Justin Leigh, BCom 
The founder, and first real estate developer of Mount Pleasant, Vancouver BC was Henry Valentine Edmonds, aptly named, as he was born on Feb. 14, 1837 in Dublin, Ireland.
A sheriff in New Westminster in 1880 he became mayor of the city in 1883. He also founded Howe Sound Silver Mining and the Fraser River Beet Sugar company. A supporter of the Interurban project which ran between Vancouver and New Westminster, he lost all of his wealth when it eventually went bankrupt.
A bridge had been built in 1872 that connected the township of Granville (present day Gastown) to the wilderness of Mount Pleasant. Over the years, the unstable bridge over False Creek allowed the many pioneers to begin building a new community. The Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, Vancouver’s first ‘suburban’ real estate development, was well underway by 1888, largely thanks to Henry Valentine Edmonds. When it became obvious the residents couldn’t keep saying they lived “across the creek” from Granville to their friends, Mrs. Edmonds decided to give their new community a name. Honouring her birthplace in Ireland, she named it Mount Pleasant.
If you’d like to know more about real estate, in today’s vibrant Mount Pleasant community, give us a call and we’ll go for coffee!
Photo Courtesy: Vancouver Archives
