Pender Islands Historical Timeline

The South Pender Island Post Office closes on July 7th.

Bert Roe dies at age 75 in October, having spent most of his life at Roesland. Operation of the Roesland Resort passes to David and Florence Davidson. Bert’s wife Irene continues to live in the house that she and Bert built in 1927. Irene dies in 1990 and forgives the balance of the cost of the main part of the property.

The BC Government sets a 10-acre lot-size “freeze” on the Gulf Islands in an effort to preserve the unique rural character of the islands.

The Lynds sell Beautyrest Lodge after 27 years of operation. It is renamed Otter Cove Lodge.

Dr Homer Rogers becomes Pender’s first regular full-time doctor, operating a practice out of his home at the end of MacKinnon Road. His wife, Jean, is a key part of the practice and quickly becomes a leader in community affairs.

Seven Pender Island pioneers each receive a Canadian Centennial Medal, presented by Lieutenant Governor the Honourable George Pearkes, on Sept 3, 1967, at Waterlea.

After Frank Prior’s wife Hilda died in 1963, he began the lengthy transfer of a “pleasant and well-treed tract of land” in her memory to the Provincial Parks Branch. Opened in 1967, Prior Centennial Park and campground become part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in 2003.

Victor and Vivienne Menzies move out of the original Harris home at Hope Bay and into a small house on the same property. This house is barged over from Vancouver and still stands at the corner of Bedwell Harbour Rd and Hooson Rd.

The Hope Bay Community Hall, built in 1910, is demolished. The structure had been purchased for $25 at auction, and the usable lumber re-used to build facilities at the Hope Bay Bible Camp on Hooson Road.

A large, natural depression on North Pender is excavated and dammed to create Buck Lake, a 40-foot-deep reservoir to supply the Magic Lake Estates development.

A front-end loading ferry terminal is built at Otter Bay, stimulating island growth. Clam Bay had been considered as a terminal site but was deemed to be too far from Swartz Bay.

The ferry Mayne Queen is built for service in the Gulf Islands.

Magic Lake Estates begins Phase 2 of sales extending east on Schooner Way and around Pender Lake, now Magic Lake. Prices range from $995 for non-waterfront lots to $4550 for preferred oceanfront lots. Total number of lots subdivided for development eventually reaches 1,200.

The ferry Queen of Nanaimo is built in Victoria to serve the Southern Gulf Islands-Mainland routes, continuing in service until 2017.

In April, Victor and Vivienne Menzies deed their 8-acre property to the Canadian Sunday School Mission to develop the Hope Bay Bible Camp.

Phase 1 of 190 lot sales in Gulf Garden Estates (now Magic Lake Estates) begins in the area of Boat Nook.

Elmer Bowerman donates another acre of land to enlarge the Pender Island Cemetery so it can be connected to the “old“ Government Road, today’s access lane to the cemetery.

A Gulf Islands Patchwork is published in July. Bea Freeman (née Spalding) had started the project in 1958, bringing together the memoirs of settler-era families from the Southern Gulf Islands.

Ralph Smith becomes Postmaster at Hope Bay and Walter F. Cunliffe becomes Postmaster at Port Washington.

The BC Ferry system begins serving Pender Island at the newly-constructed Otter Bay Terminal. The cost is $2/person and $5/automobile to take the ferry from Tsawwassen. Swartz Bay fares are half that, departing from and arriving at Hope Bay.

The B.C. Toll Authority is formed by the BC Government to handle BC Ferry service, later renamed B.C. Ferries Corporation.

Today’s Driftwood Centre starts modestly with the opening of a service station by Paul Estelle.

The establishment of Otter Bay and Port Browning marinas begins.

Pilot and airplane enthusiast Earl Hastings prepares the property south of Liberto Rd for an airstrip. By the early 1990s, a portion of the former airstrip would remain for use as a helipad for medical emergencies.

The fish reduction plant at Shingle Bay is completely destroyed by fire. Remnants of the dock pilings remain at the site to this day.