Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge. Formerly an industrial manufacturing area, it was named after Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville.
The area is managed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
History
The peninsula was originally used by the Musqueam and Squamish peoples as a fishing area. A village was established in the area named in the Hunʼqumiʼnum language and in the Squamish language.
The city of Vancouver was called Granville until it was renamed in 1886, but the former name was kept and given to Granville Street, which spanned the small inlet known as False Creek. False Creek in the late 19th century was more than twice today's size, and its tidal flats included a large permanent sandbar over which spanned the original, rickety, wooden Granville Street bridge. This sandbar, which would eventually become Granville Island, was first mapped by Captain George Henry Richards in the British Boundary Commission's naval expedition in 1858–59, and the island today conforms roughly to the size and shape documented at that time. A British Admiralty Chart of 1893 shows the island in greater detail and conforming even more accurately to today's Granville Island.
Shortly after the creation of the original Granville Street bridge in 1889, the first, unofficial, attempt was made to stabilize the sandbar by driving piles around the perimeter in order to create some free real estate. The Federal government put a stop to the work as a menace to navigation, but the piles remain visible in a photo taken in 1891. "Shackers" lived on the island, in town, or in floathouses, and survived by fishing and beachcombing and sold salmon, smelt, and wood door to door or at the public market on Main Street.
During the Second World War, Wright's Canadian Ropes on the island was Canada's biggest manufacturer of heavy-duty wire rope. Their Green Heart product was supplied to forestry and mining industries. A fire in 1953 gutted their Granville Island factory so they moved to south Vancouver in 1956.
In 1972, a federal order-in-council assigned management of the 14-hectare site to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Businesses
Granville Island Public Market
thumb|Stalls in the public market
The Granville Island Public Market was established in 1979 as a place where farmers and other food vendors could sell to consumers. It operates year-round in an enclosed facility where visitors can purchase fresh produce, meat, fish and seafood, cheeses and other products, many locally sourced. There are generally 50 vendors selling a wide range of items, from Mexican, Asian, Greek and deli food to candy and snacks. A large scenic outdoor eating area adjacent to it overlooks downtown Vancouver. The Market attracts both local residents and tourists, and includes a "kids' market" for children.
Other businesses
thumb|Kids Market
thumb|Ocean Concrete
Granville Island Brewing Co. is a beer company founded on Granville Island in 1984, but whose main base of operations was moved to Kelowna, British Columbia sometime later. In 2009 it was purchased by Molson's Brewery and continues to brew small batches of its varieties at the original Granville Island brewing site. It offers beer tasting and brewery tours.
Ocean Concrete is the island's longest-established tenant, since 1917. In 2014, OSGEMEOS (Portuguese for THE TWINS), consisting of brother duo Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, made the concrete silos the site of their ongoing mural project, 'Giants'.
Granville Island is home to several theatre companies, including as the Arts Club Theatre Company, Arts Umbrella, Axis Theatre Company, Boca Del Lupo, Carousel Theatre for Young People, Ruby Slippers Production Company, and the Vancouver Theatre Sports League improv troupe.
Canada's oldest physical hammock shop, the Hamuhk Hangout Place, has operated on Granville Island since 1995.
Gallery
<gallery>
Sawmill at Granville Island Vancouver 1917.jpg|Sawmill at Granville Island in 1917
Vancouver desde la isla Granville, Canadá, 2017-08-14, DD 18-23 PAN.jpg|Vancouver seen from Granville Island
Fresh berries at the Vancouver, BC farmers market.jpg|Fresh berries at the Granville Island Public Market
Granville Island Entrance.JPG|Granville Island entrance
RonBasfordParkHILL.jpg|Hill in center of Ron Basford Park in Granville Island
Granville Island Marina 2018.jpg|Granville Island Marina
Muelle en la isla Granville, Vancouver, Canadá, 2017-08-14, DD 28.jpg|Granville harbour
Granville Island 1922.jpg|Northwest Granville Island in 1922. Many of the buildings shown here are still standing as of 2006.
</gallery>
Notable residents
- Jim Coleman (1911–2001), Canadian sports journalist, writer and press secretary