The Oak Bay Encyclopedia ^TM
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

|||||||||||||||||||||||||

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

	R
	Racetrack see Willows Racetrack
	Rattenbury, Francis Mawson 1867–1935
	pioneer Oak Bay landowner and resident (1898) / signatory on 1906 petition to incorporate Oak Bay as a municipality / reeve of Oak Bay (1913) / BC's foremost institutional architect
	RBCM & A | B-09502 F M Rattenbury Click on image to view enlargement
	Architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury is remembered for his landmark buildings throughout British Columbia. But he's also remembered for his brazen lifestyle and tragic death.
	Click on BIOGRAPHY to learn about Francis Mawson Rattenbury's remarkablle life and death
	Reay, Billy
	NHL great changed careers in Oak Bay
	publicity photo Billy Reay Click on image to view enlargement
	After helping the Montreal Canadiens win two Stanley Cups (1946, 1953), NHL star Billy Reay moved to Oak Bay in 1953 to become player/coach of the Victoria Cougars for two years. He then hung up his skates as player in 1955 and started on what would be a lengthy career in coaching. In 1963 he became head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, taking the team to three Stanley Cup finals.
Billy Reay, credited as the first player to raise his stick after scoring a goal, died September 23, 2004 at the age of 86.
	Reeves of Oak Bay
	a listing of reeves during Oak Bay's first fifty years
	1906 W E Oliver 1907 W E Oliver 1908 W E Oliver 1909 William E Henderson 1910 William E Henderson 1911 William E Henderson 1912 W E Oliver 1913 Francis Mawson Rattenbury 1914 W E Oliver 1915 W E Oliver 1916 M P Gordon 1917 M P Gordon 1918 N T Burdick / C E Wilson 1919 C E Wilson 1920 S J Drake 1921 S J Drake 1922 S J Drake 1923 H F Hewlett 1924 H F Hewlett 1925 Herbert Anscomb 1926 Herbert Anscomb 1927 Herbert Anscomb 1928 E C Hayward 1929 E C Hayward 1930 E C Hayward 1931 E C Hayward 1932 E C Hayward 1933 Robert W Mayhew 1934 Robert W Mayhew 1935 Robert W Mayhew 1936 R R Taylor 1937 R R Taylor 1938 R R Taylor 1939 R R Taylor 1940 R R Taylor 1941 W Len Woodhouse 1942 W Len Woodhouse 1943 W Len Woodhouse 1944 W Len Woodhouse 1945 W Len Woodhouse 1946 W M Walker 1947 W M Walker 1948 Robert A B Wootton 1949 Robert A B Wootton 1950 P A Gibbs 1951 P A Gibbs 1952 P A Gibbs 1953 P A Gibbs 1954 Fred E Norris 1955 Fred E Norris 1956 Fred E Norris
	Reliable Grocery 2164 McNeill Avenue (1940–1968 city directories / phone books)
Previous location of K Gent groceries and meats
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Reliable Plumbing & Heating Co 2069 Fort Street (1932–1936 city directories / phone books) 2280 Cadboro Bay Road (1940–1944 city directories / phone book)
	Chas. Ballam, Propr. "A COMPLETE PLUMBING SHOP ON WHEELS" Expert Service, Installations and General Jobbing at Moderate prices Day or Night - See Us 2069 Fort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garden-1641 — ad in 1934 phone book — ad in 1941 phone book Click on image to view enlargement
The 2069 Fort Street address was actually in Oak Bay and would subsequently be recognized as 2069 Cadboro Bay Road.
	Click here to enjoy the recollections of Phil Ballam, who lived at 2069 Fort Street in the early 1930s.
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Rippingale, Mrs Annie confectioner 947 Monterey Avenue (...1923–1925 city directories)
Subsequent location of Handy Store
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Robbie's Coffee Shop 2053 Cadboro Bay Road (...1959 phone book)
Former location of Willows Confectionery Subsequent location of Londonderry Ice Creamery
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Robertshaw Specialty Pies 2865 Foul Bay Road (1965–1970... phone books)
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Robin's Corner Shop 2000 Oak Bay Avenue (1936–1937 city directories)
Previous location of Jones' Corner Shop Subsequent location of Henderson's Corner Store
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Rock Quarries Oak Bay Archives | 1994-001-023 Gonzales Hill Quarry c 1910 Click on image to view enlargement
	After Oak Bay incorporated as a municipality in 1906, one of its top priorities was to build streets to open development. Its first major roadwork acquisition, in 1908, was the purchase of a rock crushing unit to produce gravel for street beds in prep for paving.
	Several rock quarries were established in the municipality. The largest of these was on Gonzales Hill where "the Cut" developed into King George Terrace. There were also quarries at rock outcroppings on Kings Road and Burdick Avenue.
	Roller Rink c1948—1953
	an old concrete slab on the former Willows Fairgrounds served as a community roller rink in the late 1940s and early 1950s
	Roller Skates
	After the exhibition buildings were gone by the late 1940s, a concrete slab remained about where Haultain meets Eastdowne. It was the foundation of the Industrial building. As this foundation didn’t impede planned roadwork, it sat on the landscape for several years and became a community roller rink from the late 1940s through the early 1950s.
	see frog ponds
	Click on MEMORABILIA to view recollections of the old roller rink
	Rosary Florist, The 2548 Windsor Road (1950–1954 phone books)
	WEDDING SPECIALISTS Floral Arrangements – Funeral Designs Free Delivery 2548 Windsor . . . . . . . . . 2-4152 — ad in 1954 phone book
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Rose Bowl Coffee Bar 1951–1964 2881 Foul Bay Road (1951–1955 phone books) 2867 Foul Bay Road (1956–1964 phone books)
	ROSE BOWL COFFEE BAR .Ice Cream – Milk Shakes – Confections .Open 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. .2867 FOUL BAY ROAD — text from ad in 1960 OBHS Oak Leaves yearbook
	The Rose Bowl Coffee Bar started in 1951 at 2881 Foul Bay Road where Dean Heights Confectionery began in 1950. In 1956 the Rose Bowl relocated to 2867 Foul Bay Road, in a new building next door, where it stayed until closing in 1964. The coffee bar ran the length of the north wall and shelving for confections ran along the south wall with islands for goods in the middle. I remember a post office at the back during the 1950s and a great neon sign in the front window. — Gary Wilcox, neighbourhood kid and OBHS class of 1960 * * * courtesy Roberta MacLaren Rose Bowl Coffe Bar 1957 Click on image to view enlargement My family owned this cafe/store in the late 1950s. My grandparents, Ivy and Gilbert Gardiner, ran the store and my parents, Vera and Charlie Friedrich, assisted. We all lived upstairs in the same building. My first memories are selling candies there. . . . — Roberta MacLaren, granddaughter of owners
	Former location of Dean Heights Confectionery
	Subsequent location of Isobel's Kitchen (1965) and from 1967, Buttons-N-Bows
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Ross, Charles 1794–1844
	HBC chief factor who supervised the building of Fort Victoria in 1843 / husband of Isabella Ross
	Charles Ross was born in 1794 in Scotland. In 1818, at age 24, he signed on with the Hudson's Bay Company and sailed for York Factory on Hudson's Bay. For the next 26 years Ross was promoted through the ranks while working at various Company posts throughout western Canada, all the while concealing his failing health. In 1843 he supervised the building of Fort Victoria. He died the following year.
	Click on BIOGRAPHY to learn more about Charles Ross and Isabella Ross
	see Isabella Ross
	Ross, Isabella 1807–1885
	wife of Charles Ross / one of Oak Bay's five original landowners / BC's first woman landowner
	RBCM & A | F-01281 Isabella Ross Click on image to view enlargement
	Isabella (Merilia) Ross was the Métis/Ojibway wife of Charles Ross, the HBC chief factor who supervised the construction of Fort Victoria in 1843. When Charles suddenly died in 1844, Isabella received nothing from his estate so, in 1846, moved with her children to Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound1 where she farmed for the next seven years. In 1853 she returned to Victoria2 and purchased land, Ross Farm,3 that included the future Ross Bay Cemetery and Harling Point.
	She homesteaded the farm with family members until about 1880, but it was difficult, and parcels of land were sold off to pay various debts.
	She spent her latter years cared for at St Ann's Convent, where she passed away in 1885.4
	Isabella Ross was the first registered female landowner in British Columbia and, with her Harling Point property, one of Oak Bay's five original landowners.5
	Isabella Ross is remembered by Ross Bay and Ross Bay Cemetery.
1 In 1846 the Oregon Treaty determined the Canada/USA border west of the Rockies. Washington Territory was created in 1853 and became a state in 1889. 2 In 1852 land around Fort Victoria was surveyd by Joseph Pemberton and made available for sale to HBC employees. Governor James Douglas, in deference to the loyal service of deceased HBC chief factor Charles Ross, inteceded on behalf of Isabella Ross to assist her in acquiring land despite the fact that she was a woman and non-white. She became the first registered female landowner in British Coumbia. It's possible she was the first non-white, woman landowner in Canada, and perhaps beyond. 3 Often referred to as Fowl Bay Farm as she considered her waterfront property to be situated on Fowl Bay, rather than Foul Bay. Both names appeared in literature of the time, which was confusing until the bay was officially renamed Gonzales Bay in 1924, afterwhich the bay was known by three names. 4 Isabella Ross is remembered by Ross Bay Cemetery, Ross Street, in Victoria (where her home was located) and Merilia Passage, near Bella Bella, British Columbia. 5 She was, in fact, one of Oak Bay's FOUR original landowners, as Joseph Pemberton, as of 1853, had yet to purchase his vast holdings in south Oak Bay. In 1863 Isabella sold the Oak Bay portion of her land (Harling Point) to her daughter Flora.
	Click on BIOGRAPHY to learn more about Charles Ross and Isabella Ross
	see Charles Ross
	Ross, Jennie
	see Princess Chikhmatoff
	Royal Cleaners 2217 Oak Bay Avenue (1932–1935 city directories)
Previous location of Chas Harrison groceries and meats Subsequent location of Small's Bakery
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Royal Victoria Yacht Club Uplands (...1918–1934... phone books) 3475 Ripon Road (...1947–1957... phone books)
	relocated from Victoria's inner harbour to The Uplands in 1912
	RVYC
	The Royal Victoria Yacht Club began in 1892 as the Victoria Yacht Club, located in Victoria's inner harbour.
	In 1911, assent was given by King George V to use the word "Royal" in the name of the club.
	In 1912, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club relocated to The Uplands.
	Roye Photography 2186 Oak Bay Avenue (1949–1950 phone books)
	This was one of several photography businesses operating out of this space prior to its usage as a banquet hall for the Goblin Coffee Shop in the early 1950s and subsequent conversion to a night club — the Club Tango — in 1954.
	see Photo Centre (Pacific Coast) Ltd, Victoria Clinical and Color Laboratory, Camera Studies Club
Formerly the space of Gibson Studios and Hill-Tout Studios
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Rudyard Kipling, The apartment block 1962 — 1420 Beach Drive
	Built in 1962 on the grounds of former Oak Bay Hotel / The Old Charming Inn. Renowned English writer/poet, Rudyard Kipling, once stayed at the Oak Bay Hotel and immortalized it in a poem.
	see Rudyard Kipling, The Old Charming Inn, Oak Bay Hotel
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Rupert Wright grocer 2202 Cadboro Bay Road (...1913–1915...)
	Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed
	Ryland Huntley Radiolounge (1948–1965 phone books) Ryland Huntley Recordlounge (1966–1968 phone books) Ryland Huntley Record Lounge (1969–1974?) 2180 Oak Bay Avenue
	a stylish Art Deco environment that showcased the very latest radios, hi-fi equipment and records
	Oak Bay Archives | 2012-001-002 Showroom 1948 Click on image to view enlargement
	Click on MEMORABILIA to view photographs, artifacts and recollections of Ryland Huntley Radiolounge

Please click here if you have photos, artifacts or
recollections on a topic, or can suggest a new Encyclopedia topic