Vancouver’s first market hall was a brick building on Westminster Avenue (today’s Main Street) between Hastings and Pender. A two-storey turret anchored the centre of the grand brick building, with two smaller turrets on either side. Beside the market was a large open shed where farmers sold their livestock at auction. The building was remodelled in 1897 and became the new city hall, leaving Vancouver without a public market.
Feeling the loss, farmers and the general public lobbied to build another market at a new location, complete with its own wharf that would allow a small steamer to deliver farmers and their goods from communities up the Fraser River. Despite community support and an endorsement from the board of trade, the city passed up the preferred site between Westminster and Gore Avenue, but okayed construction on cheaper land just south of False Creek.
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