The Oak Bay Encyclopedia

T . H . E . . E . A . R . L . Y . . Y . E . A . R . S

A listing of noteworthy
people, places and things from
Oak Bay's early years.

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Click on any letter, above, to visit specific section of encyclopedia

Dalhousie Street
see Street/Place Names section

Darling, Mrs Dollie Hairdresser
2239 Oak Bay Avenue (1934 phone book)

Click on image to see enlargement

Mrs Dollie Darling was proprietor of this Oak Bay hairdressing salon in the 1930s but relocated outside the municipality in the 1940s.

This Oak Bay address continued as a hairdressing salon through the 1940s and 1950s under new ownership, but was renamed Oak Bay Beauty Salon.


	The 1918 phone book lists 2239 Oak Bay Avenue as the residence of Arthur Dyde Lindsay. Major W Tayler was listed as the resident in the 1930, 1934 and 1947 phone books.

see Oak Bay Beauty Salon

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Davenport Pharmacy
2012 Oak Bay Avenue (1947,1957 phone books)

Successor to Charles Hudson
Prescriptions Accurately Dispensed
Prompt Delivery Service
2012 Oak Bay Avenue . . . . . . Empire-9731

— 1947 Yellow Pages ad


	Former location of Chas Hudson, Druggist. (1930, 1934 phone books)

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Deal Street
see Street/Place Names section

Dean Heights Beauty Salon
2877 Foul Bay Road (1957 phone book)

Current site of Dean Heights Hair Studio

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Dean Heights Food Market
2897 Foul Bay Road (1957 phone book)

"Originally owned and operated by Mr. Haylett in the early 1950s and sold to Mr Ed Lewis in the mid 1950s and subsequently called Lewis Low Cost."

— Gary Wilcox, OBHS class of 1960

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Del'c Hairdressing
2261 Oak Bay Avenue (1957 phone book)

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Denison Road
see Street/Place Names section

Devon Road
see Street/Place Names section

Dewdney, Edgar
1835-1916

Fifth Lieutenant-Governor of B.C. and early Oak Bay settler

Twenty-three-year-old Edgar Dewdney arrived in B.C. in 1859 seeking work as a Civil engineer. In 1860 he won the contract to build "a good mule road from Hope to Similkameen" to enable the Douglas government to control the new gold mines. Although the Royal Engineers (Sappers) oversaw the construction of the route, it became known as the Dewdney Trail.

Dewdney later served as both a member of the Legislative Council and as a Member of Parliament. In 1881 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the North West Territory, serving through the Riel Rebellion. He was federal Minister of the Interior, 1888-92, and became the fifth Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, 1892-1897.

Dewdney became one of Oak Bay's earliest settlers when he purchased property and built his home at 2840 Cadboro Bay Road. This historic home was demolished in 1938.


	Edgar Dewdney is remembered by Dewdney, B.C., the Dewdney Trail and, in Oak Bay, Dewdney Avenue, renamed from Alexander Avenue in 1921.

Dewdney Avenue
see Street/Place Names section

Dinsmore's Grocery (Estevan Meat Market)
2509 Estevan Avenue (1947 phone book)


	Former location of Kirkham's grocery (1934 phone book). see Estevan Meat Market

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Discovery Island
see Street/Place Names section

Dogwood Book Shop
2224 Oak Bay Avenue (1957 phone book)

LENDING LIBRARY
GIFTS AND GREETING CARDS
BOOKS & STATIONERY
2224 Oak Bay . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4552

— ad in 1957 phone book

"This was the site of Bett's Book Shop until the late 1940s. By the late 1950s, Dogwood Book Shop evolved into the Dogwood Gift Shop. It eventually relocated to 2180 Oak Bay Avenue at Wilmot Place, the former site of Ryland Huntley Radiolounge."

— Richard Goodall, OBHS class of 1960

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Dog Tags

In 1911 the municipality passed bylaws to control dogs and bicyclists in Oak Bay. Any dog tag stories out there?

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Dogwood Gift Shop
2224 Oak Bay Avenue

see Dogwood Book Shop

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Doheny's Grocery
947 Monterey Avenue (1947 phone book)


	Subsequent location of Campbell's Grocery. (1957 phone book)

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Douglas Treaties

Oak Bay is purchased from the aboriginals

The Douglas Treaties consisted of fourteen land treaties negotiated by James Douglas (HBC chief factor and governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island) between 1850–1854 to extinguish aboriginal land claims near Hudson's Bay Company forts on Vancouver Island. These included treaties with the Che-ko-nein and Chilcowitch, which ceded Oak Bay to the HBC for the price of a few blankets.

Dorset Road
see Street/Place Names section

Dover Road
see Street/Place Names section

Downes, Gordon
Second principal of Oak Bay High School (1923–1929)

Biographical material welcomed

Mrs Drake's Bakery
2249 Oak Bay Avenue (1930, 1934 phone books)

This was one of seven Mrs Drake's Bakery franchises operating throughout Greater Victoria during the 1930s.


	Subsequent location of Oak Bay Bakery. (1947, 1957 phone books)

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Drake, S. J.
Reeve of Oak Bay (1920-22)

Biographical material welcomed

Driving Park, Victoria

Horse racing began in Oak Bay during the 1880s when the BC Jockey Club purchased a parcel of land on the former Tod property for a race course. The track — the Victoria Driving Park — was soon called The Willows or Willows Park after facilities expanded in 1891 to accommodate the annual Willows Fair.


	Urban development forced both horse racing and the annual fair from Beacon Hill Park during the 1880s. Horse racing was the first to relocate, probably in the mid-1880s. Oak Bay landowner John Tod died in 1882, leaving most of his property to his daughter Mary and son-in-law John Bowker. Bowker sold the property and is said to have helped prepare the land for a race course.

Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Dryfe Street
see Street/Place Names section

Dufferin Avenue
see Street/Place Names section

Dundrum Road
see Street/Place Names section

Dunlevy Street
see Street/Place Names section

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