Book explains city's street names

They are going down that street again, those sleuths at the Canadian Federation of University Women.

The CFUW members in Prince George have made a job out of digging up the stories behind the names of the city's streets. They have published the information before in book form, but new information keeps being found and new streets keep being built. It's a project that evolves with the city itself.

"There's a lot of work involved, a lot of updating," said Donna Brundige, one of those involved in the ongoing efforts to produce the book. The first edition of Street Names of Prince George - Our History since 2005 is set to be released.

"You go to the developer (of new subdivisions) and ask how they came up with the names, but it's not always a simple answer. Like in St. Lawrence Heights the street names are all for saints, but the developer also added in the names of his daughters, but to be consistent he kept the word saint with them even though they are not beatified people.

"Finding the developer isn't always as easy as you'd think," she added. "Getting a conversation with them is less easy than that. Some don't remember, themselves, why they picked the names and sometimes there were a number of people involved in picking names for a new development and they don't all know who suggested which names or why."

What stays consistent, said Brundige, is the thirst to know. The public has voraciously purchased the book each time it comes out, and there is always high anticipation for the next edition. In almost every community there is a contingent of people who are keenly interested in urban development, a contingent interested in local history, a contingent related to those for whom streets are named, a contingent interested in genealogy which dovetails into place names, and students and tourists and former residents who've moved away but kept their affinity for the city. There are many reasons for appreciating a book that compiles all that into an easy-to-use document.

This time, they have added some tribute material to the pioneering families of the city so more context than ever before will also be included in the volume. Some maps have been added. And, like the 2005 edition, there is a digital version available as well (Brundige thanked Jim Caldwell for significant data entry efforts).

"We've found that people like to give the book as gifts to family members, to pioneers for their birthdays or anniversaries, and it's a popular present for people who are new to town," Brundige said.

They've done such an appreciated job with the project over the years that they have won a national CFUW award and a Jeanne Clarke Local History award. It has also put them in a position to spot trends in the naming of local thoroughfares.

"Chinese names, aboriginal names and women's names are quite underrepresented," she said. "We've included some thoughts about the future, in this edition. The names of street are a very clear reflection of who we are and what we think as a community."

She gets caught up in these stories herself, she said, even if she's read it before. She is endlessly interested in the identifications people assign to their surroundings. It was a fascination when Fort George Park's name was restored somewhat to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park in deference to the village that sat there for thousands of years prior to the forced expulsion of our region's aboriginal founders in 1913-16.

"I'm just so pleased," she said. "I loved that that (the renaming) happened. It's the real history of that spot. The presence of a fort can be acknowledged so many other ways, and it plays such a tiny part in a much longer history."

Some places have explanations that aren't as clearly cut as an ancient settlement site. Queensway, for example, was once called Queen's Street and is believed to be named for Queen Mary, according to Brundige's research, while Queen's Crescent is definitely named for the university and forms part of a subdivision name system based on Canadian post-secondary institutions.

As a graduate of a couple of universities (UBC undergraduate degree and SFU master's degree, plus attendance at Royal Jubilee Hospital's nursing school in Victoria), she has a soft spot for that neighbourhood. She is proud to be a member of the CFUW which is only two years away from its centennial in Canada (it had roots in the United States and United Kingdom but formed into a triangle that year). The group does benevolent and advocacy work of various kinds, especially as pertains to boosting education and equalizing conditions for women.

The book will be the special guest star at a launch event on Friday from 2-5 p.m. at Books & Company.