Russell Law Caulfield Co. Ltd. - Greenwood, BC - 1903
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T0SHEA
N 49° 05.263 W 118° 40.646
11U E 377526 N 5438561
The Russell-Law-Caulfield Co. placed this ad on the front page of the Wednesday, June 10th, 1903 edition of The Anaconda News.
Waymark Code: WMMQ4Q
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 10/23/2014
Views: 1
Anaconda was/is a small town immediately south of Greenwood and was the location of the local copper smelter. Anaconda had hoped to displace Greenwood as the major commercial centre here, but that never happened and Anaconda is now just a couple of streets of houese, with essentially no commercial activity. The Anaconda News was a small paper that ran in competition with The Ledge in Greenwood, unsuccessfully.
Greenwood was just one of dozens of mining towns which sprang up in the boundary country of southern BC in the late 1800s and early 1900s. By 1940 the town was almost dead, as its lifeblood industry, the copper smelter, had closed after copper prices crashed when World War I ended. New life was injected into the city in 1941, as it was chosen to be an internment centre for Japanese residents of the west coast, housing 1,200 internees through the war. Man of these internees chose to remain after the hostilities and formed the core of a new and vibrant Japanese community in the city.
Built in 1902, this building has had an interesting history. It has housed several businesses, acted as a World War II internment centre, housed a community centre, a theatre and a Women's Institute Hall.
Today the building is home to the Greenwood Public Library, a community hall, the Legion and the Kettle River Art Club.
346 South Copper Street
Russell-Law-Caulfield Co.
After Thomas Gulley purchased this building in 1916 for the next eleven years he sold furniture, carpets and linoleum on the main floor while operating a funeral parlor and embalming service in the basement. Thus it became known as the Gulley Block, even though it was built in 1902 as the Russell, Law and Caulfield Dry Goods store.
Like many other buildings in Greenwood, when the smelter closed, the Gulley Block was abandoned and taken over by the City. The floor was cluttered with debris, and the basement funeral parlour had several remnants from its Working days.
In 1942 it became Building No. 3 for Japanese Canadians. Thoroughly cleaned, cubicles were then put in for family rooms and renovations made for a communal kitchen and bathhouse.
After the war and years of internment ended, Mayor W. E. McArthur and the Greenwood Community Association took on the task of turning the Gulley Block into a community centre. In 1957 they began with a theatre on the Copper Street level, which was profitable until television made its debut. At the same time the south side of the building was turned into a library and Women's Institute Hall.
As part of the 1967 Centennial, federal funding allowed renovation upstairs for a community hall, named the Centennial Hall. Downstairs was transformed into the Community Hall. The hall received a new oak floor in 1976.
McArthur Centre is now the hub of community activities and home to the Legion, library and the Kettle River Art Club.
From the Plaque at the Building
