Okanagan Landing.

How Okanagan Landing took shape

Okanagan Landing, at the north end of Okanagan Lake's Vernon Arm, was the CPR's northern lake port. The Shuswap and Okanagan Railway reached it in 1892, sternwheelers from the Aberdeen of 1893 to the Sicamous were built or serviced here, and the lakeside community voted to join Vernon in 1993.

This shore is syilx land, and Priest's Valley Indian Reserve No. 6 sits at the mouth of Vernon Creek on the east side of the lake, southwest of Vernon. The Landing's modern story starts with the railway. In 1892 the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway, leased to the CPR, was completed from Sicamous to the lake, and this spot became the transfer point between trains and boats. The CPR launched the sternwheeler Aberdeen in 1893, and the shipyard went on to build or service the Okanagan, the Naramata and the Sicamous. In the early 1900s the Landing moved more than 75 tons of freight a week to Kelowna, Penticton and other lake towns. A post office opened on 1 October 1898 as Okanagon Landing, with the spelling fixed in 1905. CPR railway services ended in 1936, the year the Sicamous was retired, though freight and ship repairs carried on into the 1960s.

The community stayed small, with about 150 residents in 1947. Cars and lakeside living changed that. The Okanagan Landing and District Community Association bought the old shipyard land in 1971, and it is now Paddlewheel Park. In 1982 Wes and Kay Whitehead donated the original station, which became the Stationhouse Museum with its model of the Landing in 1914. Population reached about 5,000 by 2000. After a 1986 incorporation vote failed, 58 percent of voters backed joining Vernon in April 1993, drawn by promised sewer and water service and a decade of tax restraint. Today the Landing mixes waterfront homes, modest older houses, condos and townhomes around Paddlewheel Park, Kin Beach, the yacht club and the regional airport.

1. 1892Shuswap and Okanagan Railway from Sicamous completed to the lake, leased to the CPR. Source
2. 1898Okanagon Landing post office opens on 1 October. Source
3. 1936CPR railway services to the Landing end. Source
4. 1982Original station donated to the community association, later the Stationhouse Museum. Source
5. 1993Voters approve annexation to the City of Vernon in April, 58 percent in favour. Source

The homes & their setting

With the population rising from about 150 in 1947 to about 5,000 by 2000, most homes date from the second half of the twentieth century or later. Housing now runs from lakefront homes and lake view family houses to condos, townhomes, duplexes and manufactured homes.

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

• CPR Station House (Stationhouse Museum) — Built around 1892 as the transfer point between railway and lake boats; now a museum. History source
• Paddlewheel Park — Former CPR shipyard where sternwheelers were built and repaired. History source
• Commonage Log School — A log school from about 1900, moved from the Commonage to Paddlewheel Park. History source