Quesnel Downtown Association - 25 Years - Quesnel, BC
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 52° 58.723 W 122° 29.795
10U E 533801 N 5870021
The first of many to be completed, Quesnel's Spirit Square was officially opened by then Premier Gordon Campbell on June 24, 2008.
Waymark Code: WM10Y9C
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 07/10/2019
Views: 2
Quesnel's Spirit Square was opened on June 30th, 2008 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of British Columbia's becoming a British Crown Colony in 1858. 1858 was a time when many vicinities in 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 on August 2, 1858 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 was the very first of many to be built in communities all over BC to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Crown Colony of British Columbia.
At St. Laurent Avenue and Reid Street, Spirit Square is a small plaza with a roofed pavilion over a raised stage, beside which is an open area with flower and shrub beds placed behind a row of wooden benches set in concrete supports.
Under the pavilion's roof is this four shelf wooden little library.
In 2016 the Quesnel Downtown Association celebrated their 25th anniversary. The installation of this Little Library was one of the projects undertaken by the association to commemorate this milestone.