Street/Place Names

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

Click on any letter, above, to visit specific section of Street/Place Names

courtesy Royal BC Museum and Archives | B-00028 .. . .

Dalhousie Street (1920)
Note new Willows School behind Uplands streetcar
and old farmhouse that served as first school

	D
	Dalhousie Street
	Origin uncertain, possibly after the Earl of Dalhousie.
	So named in 1921 after consolidating Thistle Street (Willows Road to Cadboro Bay Road), Margaret Street (Cadboro Bay Road to Musgrave Street) and Seaview Avenue (Musgrave Street to Willows Beach)
	Deal Road
	Origin uncertain, possibly after the borough of Deal in Kent, England, reputed to have been the landing place of Caesar in 55 B.C.
	Original name of road leading into the South Foreland (Cattle Point area). Subsequently called Sonora Place from the 1930s until the scenic loop was created in 1961.
	Deal Street
	Origin uncertain, possibly after the borough of Deal in Kent, England, reputed to have been the landing place of Caesar in 55 B.C.
	Deans Cross Road
	Named after Saanich pioneer Geordie Deans.
	Early name for Lansdowne Road. Geordie Deans had a farm 1 at Lansdowne Road and Richmond Avenue from the mid 1800s. Deans Cross Road connected his farm to Cadboro Bay Road 2
1 The barn of Geordie Deans' old farm Sunnybrae survived as the home/studio of renowned artist Peggy Walton Packard. 2 Dean Avenue in Saanich, between (and parallel to) Foul Bay Road and Richmond Avenue, is named after Geordie Deans, but is incorrectly spelled.
	see Dean Heights
	Denison Road
	Named after Frank Napier Denison, Dominion Government Meteorologist at the time the observatory was constructed on Gonzales Hill.
	Originally called Highland Drive, renamed in 1921
	Devon Road
	Named after Devon, England.
	Dewdney Avenue
	Probably after Edgar Dewdney, one of Oak Bay's earliest settlers and fifth Lieutenant-Governor of British Coumbia.
	Originally called Alexander Avenue, renamed in 1921
	see Edgar Dewdney
	Dorset Road
	Named after Dorset, England.
	Originally called Meadow Road (east of Dunlevy), renamed in 1928
	Dover Road
	Named after Dover, England.
	Downes Road
	Named after Gordon Downes, Principal (1923–29), Oak Bay High School
	Downes Road is one of the very few streets in Oak Bay to have disappeared. (If indeed it ever existed. According to old maps, it once ran alongside Bowker Creek, on the north side, between Hampshire Road and the high school)
	Dryfe Street
	Origin unknown, possibly after an early settler
	Originally about half its current length during the days of the Willows fairground, Dryfe Street was extended north to newly-created Woodhouse Road when the fairground was subdivided in the early 1950s. Consequently, different house styles are evident on Dryfe Street, with the older houses in the southerly half
Dryfe Street, in Lot 28, abuts Lot 61 and runs alongside the boundary of the former Willows fairground. (This old boundary line is further recalled by the lane running south from Neil Street.)
	Click on TUTORIAL for Street Map Tutorial with viewing options
	Information welcomed
	Dufferin Avenue
	Origin uncertain, possibly after Lord Dufferin, Governor General of Canada, 1872–1878.
	Originally called Scott Avenue, renamed in 1921
	Durham Road
	Origin uncertain, probably after the English city.
	Former name of Wales Road prior to c 1940
	Dundrum Road
	Origin uncertain, probably Dundrum, Ireland
	Named by the Hudson's Bay Company
	Dunlevy Street
	Dunlevy Street, south 1940 Dunlevy Street, north 1940 Click on image to view enlargement
	Named after Peter C Dunlevy, an early settler prior to 1906. .
	Originally called Fourth Street, renamed in 1921

PLACE NAMES

	Dean Heights
	Named after Saanich pioneer Geordie Deans.
	Early name for the Lansdowne slope, upon which Geordie and Annie Deans built their farm, "Sunnybrae," in 1858 at today's Lansdowne and Richmond.
Tomley's Market at Foul Bay Road and Neil Street was originally called Dean Heights Food Market.
	Discovery Island
	HMS Discovery
	Named after Captain George Vancouver's ship HMS Discovery which, with its armed tender HMS Chatham, charted local waters in 1792, 1793 and 1794.
	Probably named by Captain Kellet, of HMS Herald, who surveyed local waters in 1846
	SONGHEES NAME The Songhees who lived on this island were called the Skingeenis. The island was used by native peoples to escape the smallpox epidemic in 1862

The History of Oak Bay Website
A CENTENNIAL LEGACY PROJECT