The 1890s

Top left, counter-clockwise: Vancouver Cricket Club; Edward Evans-Blackmore; Vancouver Lacrosse Club; Bob Johnston, rowing.

During the 1890s, the action-packed game of lacrosse ignited on the west coast of Canada. An inter-city rivalry developed between the New Westminster, Vancouver, and Victoria lacrosse teams that still exist a century later.

Along with lacrosse, rugby and cricket were all the rage. Enthusiastic fans watched matches at New Westminster’s Queen’s Park, Vancouver’s Brockton Point, and Victoria’s Beacon Hill. Newly built streetcar lines linked the well-established city of New Westminster to up-and-coming Vancouver. Fans were able to travel easily between the two urban centres.