Fortune Drive was named for William Fortune who was a Yorkshire man whom joined the Overlanders in 1862.
He worked for the Hudson Bay Company upon his arrival in Kamloops and ran a mule team between Yale and the Cariboo.
Even some of the houses along Kamloops roads were named for their historical significance, such as:
- The Fort House at 300 Fortune Drive was built on part of the Hudson’s Bay Company lands that surrounded the fur-trading fort located there from 1843 to 1862. A. W. Haines operated a dairy farm here about 1912 and had a good herd of Holsteins. Arthur Hatton owned it in 1946. An elementary school nearby now bears his name. The Fort House has since been converted into small apartments which are now rented out
- The Wilson House, was the residence of The Wilson House, constructed circa 1909-1910, is valued for its connection with William Stewart Wilson (1903-1994), a local farmer, businessman and politician who was an esteemed member of the Kamloops community. In 1929, Wilson and his wife Winnifred moved to Kamloops to farm just east of the Experimental Farm. In 1934 he opened Wilson Motors, one of the first commercial businesses in North Kamloops. Wilson later became an important political figure in the community and the province, serving as President of the British Columbia Auto Dealers Association and Vice President of the Canadian Auto Dealers Association. In 1946 he was elected First Commissioner for the Village of North Kamloops, a position equivalent to that of Mayor, and in 1947 he was elected Chairman of North Kamloops. William and Winnifred Wilson occupied the house until 1950, after which it was briefly used as a church manse before members of the Wilson family took up residence again.The Wilson House is further valued for its association with its first owner, Frank Edward Baines (1888-1958), who was a local farmer and uncle of William Stewart Wilson. Frank and Mary Baines occupied the house between 1909 and 1920.
The house is also valued for its traditional farmhouse form, influenced by the Gothic Revival style, with symmetrical massing, a central entry, a central gable wall dormer and Carpenter ornamentation.
Furthermore, the Wilson House is symbolic of the development of North Kamloops from a patchwork of farms into a community. Before 1909, the North Shore was primarily a rural farming area of orchards and fields. In 1909, a British-based company named B.C. Fruitlands was incorporated and obtained over 9,000 acres on the North Shore. By 1920, the company owned over 22,000 acres and had installed an extensive irrigation system that supplied water to all of North Kamloops. After the irrigation system was installed, the company promoted programs to attract settlers to the area. The Village of North Kamloops was incorporated in 1946. At this time Wilson Street, which was named in honour of the family, was surveyed and subdivided, leaving the Wilson House situated in the middle of the street. The house was moved back and turned around to face the new street. In October of 2003, the Wilson House was moved again, to 115 Tranquille Road, and is now the home of the Kamloops North Shore Business Improvement Association
taken from the Historicplaces.ca website
Recent Comments