Downtown Vernon.

How Downtown Vernon took shape

Downtown Vernon is the city's original commercial core, laid out as the Centreville townsite in 1885 in what settlers called Priest's Valley. Its main street, 30th Avenue, was Barnard Avenue until numbered streets arrived in 1947. Heritage buildings, murals begun in 1998 and Polson Park, gifted in 1908, shape it today.

The low ground where Vernon Creek runs toward Swan and Okanagan lakes was syilx land long before a town. Early settlers knew the valley as Priest's Valley, after an Oblate outstation, and as Forge Valley, after Price Ellison's roadside blacksmith shop. J. Tronson and Charles Brewer laid out a townsite called Centreville. The post office took the name Vernon in 1887, and the city incorporated on 30 December 1892, the year the railway reached the lake. The main street was Barnard Avenue. R. Megaw's brick block.

Faded lettering for the Land and Agricultural Company of Canada still shows on one old wall. The Vernon Courthouse followed in 1914. In 1908 Samuel Polson gave the city about 25 acres, and part became Polson Park while the rest went to Vernon Jubilee Hospital. After the post office complained about confusing addresses, council switched to numbered streets in 1947, even though 56 percent of voters wanted to keep the names. Barnard Avenue became 30th Avenue. From 1998 a heritage mural program managed by Michelle Loughery began covering downtown walls with scenes from the valley's past, from ranching cowboys to the First World War internment camp. Today the core mixes heritage storefronts with walk up apartments and newer condos. The City is removing concrete channels from Vernon Creek in Polson Park to improve drainage and reduce flooding, and a wider Polson Park revitalization plan is in its early phases.

1. 1885E.J. Tronson and Charles Brewer lay out the Centreville townsite. Source
2. 1887Priest Valley post office renamed Vernon. Source
3. 1892Vernon incorporated as a city on 30 December. Source

The homes & their setting

Some of Vernon's oldest commercial buildings, from the 1890s to the 1910s, sit among midcentury walk up apartments, early 1900s character houses at the edges, infill townhomes and newer condo buildings. Condos are strata; houses are mostly freehold.

Building age, tenure, amenities and permitted uses vary by address. Explore the actual property documents with Elaine and the appropriate specialists.

Places with a story

• Vernon Courthouse — Built in 1914 and listed on the City's heritage register. History source
• Vernon News Building — An 1893 building from the city's first years, on the heritage register. History source
• Polson Park — Created from Samuel Polson's 1908 land gift, with Vernon Creek running through it. History source
• Heritage murals — Large painted scenes of local history, part of a program started in 1998. History source