The Best Street in the Country: Ladysmith's First Avenue

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Thursday, March 8th, 2018
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM

The Best Main Street in the Country: Ladysmith's First Avenue

In November 2017, the Canadian Institute of Planners voted Ladysmith's First Avenue the Best Main Street In Canada.

This is not the first time First Avenue has been so honoured. As a result of the revitalization projects that Ladysmith implemented in the '80s it won the distinction as the Best Main Street in Western Canada in 1988.

This evening Ladysmith historian, Robert Johnson, will trace the evolution of First Avenue from dirt road to a community showcase worthy of being named as the Best Street in Canada.

With its importance to the community, Ladysmith's First Avenue is typical of most main streets in the country. Main streets grow and change over time, and so it was with Ladysmith's First Avenue. At first it was a dirt road catering to the needs of horse and donkey carts. It was incorporated as a part of the Nanaimo to Victoria road as a section of the Island Highway. The alignment of the old highway, straight through town, was as much a curse as it was a blessing.

Eventually, the highway was relocated along Esplanade Avenue, diverting through traffic from the town centre. This bypass allowed First Avenue to assume the characteristic role of a main street as the heart and soul of the community, rather than a whistle-stop along the thoroughfare to points north and south.

Ladysmith's main street is flanked by vintage Edwardian buildings, many built circa 1900 with the founding of the town. The same year, James Dunsmuir, after closing his mine in Nanaimo's Wellington district moved many of Wellington's buildings by rail into the new townsite.

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The Nanaimo Historical Society is a non-profit organization. The Society invites guest speakers to our monthly meetings which are open to the public.