The Oak Bay EncyclopediaTM
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


R

Racetrack
see Willows Racetrack

Rattenbury, Francis Mawson
1867–1935
Reeve of Oak Bay (1913) and BC's foremost institutional architect
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 the BIOGRAPHY button to learn about Francis Mawson Rattenbury's remarkablle life and death

Reay, Billy
NHL great changed careers in Oak Bay

Click on image to see 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 (...1942–1957... phone books)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Reliable Plumbing & Heating Co
2069 Fort Street (...1934... phone book)
2280 Cadboro Bay Road (...1941 phone book)
2296 Cadboro Bay Road (1942... 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
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 from about 1931–1934.
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Reliable Plumbing Shop
2296 Cadboro Bay Road (...1944... phone book)
2657 Douglas Street (...1946... phone book)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Robbie's Coffee Shop
2053 Cadboro Bay Road (...1959... phone book)
Former location of Cull's Willows Confectionery and Willows Confectionery
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Roller Rink
An old concrete slab on the former Willows fairgrounds served as a community roller rink in the late 1940s and early 1950s
There was a large concrete slab slightly southwest of where Haultain and Eastdowne intersect today. It was the foundation of the Women's building on the former Willows fairgrounds. The building burned to the ground in 1948. The surviving slab foundation served admirably as a roller rink for about five years from 1948 to 1953.
Click on the MEMORABILIA button to view or contribute photographs, artifacts or recollections of the old roller rink

Rosary Florist
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
2881 Foul Bay Road (1951–1954... phone books)
2867 Foul Bay Road (...1956–1964 phone books)
Rose Bowl Coffee Bar operated from 1951 until 1964. The store was originally called Dean Heights Confectionery when it opened in 1950.

Click on image to see 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 (1957)
Former location of Dean Heights Confectionery
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Ross, Charles
1794–1844
HBC chief factor who supervised the building of Fort Victoria in 1843, and 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.
Charles Ross is remembered by Ross Bay and Ross Bay Cemetery
see Isabella Ross

Ross, Isabella
1807–1885
Wife of Charles Ross, one of Oak Bay's five original landowners, and BC's first woman landowner
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
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 the BIOGRAPHY button to learn more about Charles Ross and Isabella Ross.

Royal Cleaners
2217 Oak Bay Avenue (...1934... phone book)
Subsequent location of Oak Bay Delicatessen. (...1947–1957... phone books)
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
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

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 conversion to a night club — the Club Tango — in 1954.
see Photo Centre (Pacific Coast) Ltd, Victoria Clinical and Color Laboratory, Camera Studios Club
Formerly the space of Gibson Studios and Hill-Tout Studios
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Ryland Huntley Radiolounge
2180 Oak Bay Avenue (1948–1970... phone books)
An innovative dealer that sold, and also rented, sound equipment and records
M.Sc., A.I.C
VICTOR, COLUMBIA & LONDON RECORDS
Classical & Popular, In a Delightful Modern Store
"Radiolounge" 2180 Oak Bay . . . G arden--5412
— ad in 1949 phone book
M.Sc., A.I.C
Specializing in Long-Play Records of All Makes
Classical & Popular (Also 78 and 45 R.P.M.)
2180 Oak Bay Avenue . . . . . . . . . 4-5412
— ad in 1957 phone book
M.Sc., A.I.C - TAPE RECORDERS FOR RENTAL AND
SALE - RCA VICTOR, AMPRO AND CRESCENT
LONG PLAY RECORDS FOR RENTAL AND SALE
2180 Oak Bay Avenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-5412
— ad in 1957 phone book

"A block of stores was built on the old blackberry pit at the corner of Oak Bay Avenue and Wilmot in 1946, next to the Oak Bay Theatre. The main portion was occupied by Ryland Huntley's Radiolounge for many years. He sold radios and phonographs along with a large assortment of records. He had two listening booths where you could play a sample record."
— Richard Goodall, OBHS class of 1960
* * *
"On the corner of Oak Bay Avenue and Wilmot Place in the '50s. You could listen to music in, I think, little booths in the store."
— Erica Fowles
* * *
"I started to dabble with the guitar and write a bit of music about 1960. My first experience with a tape recorder was a rental from Ryland Huntley Radiolounge. I wasn't aware of any other place in town where a seventeen-year-old kid could rent a tape recorder. It was a pretty big deal at the time.
I remember being a little apprehensive because I had never been to this store before, so they didn't know me. I remember going in, requesting the loan of a tape recorder, and them looking me over. They asked a few questions, but it wasn't a done deal until I brilliantly remembered that I was a server (altar boy) at St Philip's Church. That clinched the deal and I got my first taste of recording — something I continue to dabble with to this very day."
— Gary Wilcox, OBHS class of 1960
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed



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The Oak Bay Encyclopedia™
Contents copyright © 2004-2012 Gary Wilcox Studios Incorporated.
Selected material may be used for research and non-commercial projects with proper credit given.
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