FORT VANCOUVER NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

The city of Vancouver was born in 1824 with the construction of Fort Vancouver by the Hudson's Bay Company, which was enriched by the fur trade with Canada, setting up more than 200 trading posts in the backcountry and on the coast. John McLoughlin was the superintendent of the fort that was the epicentre of the fur trade along the Pacific coast, trading with the Mexican Alta California and all the way to Russian Alaska. In this Oregon Country, with its still unclear borders and dispute between the United States and Great Britain, the British company suspected as early as 1843 that this territory would pass into the hands of the United States. That is why it built Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island (now Canada) to relocate its Pacific regional headquarters. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty definitively established the boundary between the two countries, not at the Columbia River, but at the 49° north parallel, as was already the case east of the Rockies. The Hudson's Bay Company continued to operate in Fort Vancouver, but gradually ceased operations there in favour of its trading posts in British Columbia (Fort Victoria in particular).

Fort Vancouver has been partially restored and includes John McLoughlin's house (superintendent of the fort from 1825 to 1845), fur warehouses, bakery and blacksmith's shop. It should be noted that a village was set up outside the fort's palisades: it was occupied by French Canadians, local Amerindians, Iroquois, Europeans and even Hawaiians.

Next to the fort is Officers' Row, which includes 21 houses built between 1850 and 1906. Their architecture is a mixture of Second Empire, Victorian and colonial styles. They were occupied by officers stationed at the fort, including the famous Generals Grant and Marshall. Today, you can visit them to appreciate the volumes and comfort of the time. Information at the Visitor Center.

The West & East Barracks are the Victorian homes where the soldiers lived. We discover the Red Cross military hospital there.