K. False Creek Flats/ Firehall #1

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

This area was the site of mud flats and the first city dump. During the Great Depression, hundreds of unemployed, homeless men lived here in lean-to shacks or “unemployed jungles.” As the warmest place in Canada, Vancouver attracted many unemployed. Every freight train brought shipments of “human misery.” As many as 250 men could be found riding below the rail cars in what was called “riding the rods.” The First United Church distributed food to the men in the “jungles” and offered them warm meals at the soup kitchen at their church ( see site F).\

Reclamation of False Creek began in 1936. Firehall #1 now stands over the former dump. Nearby the Strathcona Community Gardens benefit from the heavily composted soil created by early dumping.