Castlegar's Spirit Square surrounds its city hall, opened at the same time as was Spirit Square. it is a large open plaza with a fountain, sculptures, flower, shrub and grass plantings, several historical informational signs, benches and picnic tables.
Spirit Square was opened on August 16, 2008 to commemorate British Columbia's 150th anniversary of becoming a British Crown Colony in 1858. 1858 was a time when the vicinity of British Columbia and Washington State were first being settled by miners in search of gold and silver. When it appeared that, because of the preponderance of US citizens already in the area north of the 49th parallel, the area might become part of the US, the British Government declared the area that is now British Columbia a British Crown Colony in order to enforce sovereignty in the area.
Nine years later, when the country of Canada came into being, it was readily obvious that assimilation of the colony of British Columbia into Confederation was in Canada's best interest. Thus, in 1871, British Columbia was made a province of Canada.
This square is just one of many built by communities throughout BC to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Crown Colony of British Columbia.
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