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


S

St. Christopher's School
2629 Currie Road (...1934–1970... phone books)

St. Columba Presbyterian Church
Former name of Oak Bay United Church prior to national amalgamation of Presbyterians and Methodists in 1925 to form the United Church of Canada. see Oak Bay United Church
Born into a privileged Irish clan, Columcille (c 521-597) became a monk and founded a number of monasteries in Ireland. About 563 he left Ireland with twelve followers to establish a monastery on the island of Iona (Argyll) to be among the heathen Picts and subsequently converted Bude, king of the Picts. He was canonised as Saint Columba.

St. George and the Dragon Hotel
Conceived by renowned architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury, this is the grandiose Oak Bay hotel/pub that never was.
In 1927 a zoning bylaw was implemented in Oak Bay that defined areas for commercial development. In June of this year, WC Merston applied for, and was issued, a permit for the development of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel on Beach Drive.
Rattenbury, always an opportunist (and with a 4-acre waterfront property on Beach Drive) applied for a development permit in September to build the St. George and the Dragon Hotel on his property, but his application missed the zoning deadline.
After nearly three years of heated public debate, the municipal council allowed a portion of Rattenbury's property to be zoned for his hotel/pub development. But, in 1930, a very troubled Rattenbury fled Victoria to live in England with his new, young wife. A permit extension was requested and granted in 1932, but still no development.
In three short years Rattenbury would meet his untimely death — called "the murder of the century" by the British tabloids — and the St. George and the Dragon Hotel was pursued no further.
In 1935, the year of his death, Rattenbury's Beach Drive property was sold to Major Ian Simpson for the new location of Glenlyon School.

St. Mary's Anglican Church
1701 Elgin Road
Oak Bay's first church, built in 1911
St. Mary the Virgin Parish was originally served from Christ Church Cathedral. The first parish church was dedicated in 1911, and the congregation was self-supporting by 1914
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

St. Michael's Private School
2176 Windsor Road
Oak Bay's first private school for boys opens in 1914
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

St. Patrick's Catholic Church
2060 Haultain Street
Modern, De Castri-designed Catholic Church opens in 1960
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

St. Philip's Anglican Church
2928 Eastdowne Road
The Anglican Church branches out in 1955
In 1953 three lots were purchased on the northwest corner of Eastdowne Road and Neil Street — on the former Willows fairgrounds — for the construction of St. Philip's Church.
Serving originally as a daughter church of the Parish of St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Oak Bay, it was initially called the Carnarvon Church Hall. The Church was dedicated on January 19, 1955 and, in 1960, St. Philip's became a self-supporting parish.
The building was consecrated on St. Philip's Day, May 1st, 1976.
Kids of the early 1950s will have memories of catching frogs and tadpoles in this corner of the former exhibition grounds. see Frog Ponds

Saanichton Market
1509 Wilmot Place (1948 phone book)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Safeway #84 (Oak Bay branch)
2253 Oak Bay Avenue (...1941... phone book)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Saunders and Hitchman service station
2554 Cadboro Bay Road (1947–1954... phone books)
2040 Cadboro Bay Road (...1956–1970... phone books)
CHEVRON PRODUCTS
COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR SERVICE
2040 Cadboro Bay . . . . . . 2-4594
— ad in 1957 phone book
2554 Cadboro Bay Road was subsequent location of Willows B-A Service
2040 Cadboroa Bay Road was former location of Norton Service & Engineering Works. Saunders and Hitchman enlarged this facility by incorporating the two adjacent lots to the west, which were acquired by the Imperial Oil Company in 1929.
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Sealand of the Pacific
Profile under development
see Undersea Garden

"Secret Patrol"
1936 movie produced by film studio in Oak Bay
see Willows Park Studio
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

"Secrets of Chinatown"
1935 movie produced by film studio in Oak Bay
see Willows Park Studio
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

"Senators," Victoria
1911–1913
Victoria Senators hosted Canada's first hockey game played on artificial ice in 1912 in Oak Bay arena
The Victoria Senators hosted the inaugural game of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association at Oak Bay's Patrick Arena on January 2, 1912. This was the first hockey game played on artificial ice in Canada.
The Victoria team would subsequently be called the Aristocrats (1913–1915), Canaries (1916) and Aristocrats again (1918–1921) before distinguishing itself by winning the Stanley Cup in 1925 as the Cougars (1922–1926).
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Sequoia Tree

Click on image to see enlargement
The large Sequoia (Redwood) tree that stands on the grounds of Oak Bay High was planted by Alexis Casanave in 1862. The grounds of both schools were originally the dairy farm of Casanave. A plaque at the foot of the tree pays tribute to this pioneer Oak Bay settler.
"When I was growing up in Montreal in the 1960s my mother used to tell me about a redwood tree that was planted by my great-grandfather. She told me that the tree was over one-hundred years old. I always wanted to visit that tree and I finally made it to the grounds of Oak Bay High School in 1987. Now that the internet age is here, I am so happy to have found more information about the tree and the dairy farm of Alexis Casanave at your website."
— Constance Squire, great, great granddaughter of Alexis Casanave
see Alexis Casanave
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Service Stations
Oak Bay's first service station, Oak Bay Garage, was built by a Victoria car dealer in 1913 — against the wishes of Oak Bay Council. Over the years, six service stations* have located within the municipality but Council has systematically re-zoned and phased them out with the single exception of Totem Super Service (now O'Keeffe's Automotive Service) which has been designated a heritage site.
Oak Bay Garage (...1918–1957... phone books)
Arena Service Station (...1930–1947... phone books)
Uplands Garage & Motor Co (...1930–1957... phone books)
Totem Super Service (...1934–1957... phone books)
Norton Service Station (...1947... phone book)
Saunders & Hitchman (...1947–1957...phone books)
Cranmore Service (...1957...phone book)
Willows B-A Service (...1957... phone book)
*Although eight service stations are listed above, the last two, namely Cranmore Service and Willows BA Service, were existing facilities that were renamed.

Shoal Bay Grocery
469 Monterey Avenue (...1941–1956... phone books)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Shore Road
see Street/Place Names section

Shrapnel, Edward Scrope
Oak Bay artist and grandson of Henry Shrapnel, English artillery officer and inventor of the exploding shell
.
Biographical material welcomed

Skelton, T J nursery
1828 Lulie Street (...1944–1946... phone books)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Skylarks
The joyous trill of the skylark over Oak Bay meadows is sadly missed by those who remember
Profile under development featuring a virtual Oak Bay meadow with the songs of skylarks

Snug, The
1175 Beach Drive
Oak Bay's traditional watering hole since 1927
The pub at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel derived its name from the old English custom of having one room, the snug, reserved for patrons not wishing to be seen in the public bar — the local Bobbie on his rounds for a quiet pint, the Vicar for his evening sherry, and other notables for their clandestine visits.
The term snug has been used since the 1800s in both Britain and America to describe a variety of clandestine activites.

Songhees
Oak Bay's original landowners lived on local beaches for millennia
RBCM(G-04273)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

"Special Inspector"
1938 movie produced by film studio in Oak Bay introducing starlet Rita Hayworth
see Willows Park Studio
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

"Stampede"

Click on image to see enlargement
1936 movie produced by film studio in Oak Bay
see Willows Park Studio
Stampede starred Charles Starrett who, after signing with Columbia Pictures in 1935 and honing his skills in Oak Bay (Secret Patrol and Stampede, both in 1936), would go on to greater fame in the 1940s and 1950s as cowboy superhero, the Durango Kid.
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Stanley Cup
In 1925 the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in Oak Bay
see Victoria Cougars

Stoddart, David optometrist
2203 Oak Bay Avenue (...1954–1957... phone books)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Streetcar Lines
Oak Bay
Willows
Uplands

Suckling, Frank
1584 Yale Street
One of Oak Bay's first two police constables
"I'd like to add this photo to your site. It's a 1915 photo of 1584 Yale Street, Oak Bay. Owners were Frank & Mary Ann Suckling who came from England in 1910. Frank Suckling was an Oak Bay Police Constable, 1912-1932.1
I am researching the Suckling family and would appreciate anything you come across on this family."
— Christine Recker, Queensland, Australia
recker@austarnet.com.au
1 When the original municipal hall was built at Hampshire Road and Oak Bay Avenue in 1912 it also housed the Oak Bay police department. Frank Suckling was one of the first two constables on the municipal payroll. John Syme was the other constable and WH Handley was appointed the first Chief of Police. Suckling retired from the Oak Bay police force in 1932.
Stories and photos of early settlers and residents are an important part of this website. Until an appropriate "early settlers/residents" section is developed, all such submissions will be included in this Encyclopedia section.

Sunbeam Gifts
2225 Oak Bay Avenue (1949–1952 phone books)
Former location of Andre's gift shop (1948 phone book)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Sunbeam Tea Room
2225 Oak Bay Avenue (...1944–1947 phone books)
Subsequent location of Andre's gift shop (1948 phone book)
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Sunbeam Dairy Company
2065 Milton Street (...1918... phone book)
In 1921 the Sunbeam Dairy property on Milton Street was purchased by the Municipality for use as a municipal works yard and stables. The Sunbeam Dairy sign remained standing at the entrance to the works yard for another two years before it was replaced with municipal signage
"Reading about the farms around Oak Bay brought to mind the rocky area above the empty field between the school and St. Mary's church.
Lynn Ramsay, Sylvia Newell, Pat Windjack and lots of other kids played all kinds of pirate games up there, and we stopped to have lunch on a large rock with the original name of "Table Rock", then headed for the Public Works yard on Milton.
We spent hours jumping into the gravel pits from the wooden structure above it until we were kicked out by some authority figure or other. It has become a senior citizen complex now. But as children, we were so free, and so innocent of the things that taint children's lives today.
— Laurel (Page) Johnson, OBHS class of 1960
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Super-Valu
2510 Estevan Avenue (1951–1961 phone books)
Subsequent location of Cambridge Super Market
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Superior Food Stores
2252 Oak Bay Avenue (1949 phone book)
This was the Oak Bay outlet in a chain of Superior Food Stores with outlets in Victoria and Esquimalt. This Oak Bay operation lasted one year.
Former location of Oak Bay Grocery
Subsequent location of McBratney's Fne Foods
Photos, artifacts and recollections welcomed

Superior Television
2573 Cadboro Bay Road (...1957–1959... phone books)
SALES & SERVICE
ALL MAKES REPAIRED
QUALIFIED TECHNICIANS
2573 Cadboro Bay . . . . . . EV 5-4195
— ad in 1959 phone book
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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