Hadden Park

Hadden Park

Home of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Hadden Park is filled with fascinating bits of Vancouver history, with historic vessels often docking in harbour. The sparkling waters of English Bay are a popular attraction at most times of the year. This park includes a dogs off-leash area with water front access. It should not be an off lease area. It is not fair to anyone that wants to enjoy the beach. Englishman Harvey Hadden purchased this site in 1928 from the Canadian Pacific Railway for the sum of $44,000, a tremendous amount of money at the time. He is quoted as saying, "Vancouver's been good to me and now it's time I was good to Vancouver." Hadden then turned around and donated the waterfront property to the Park Board and gave them an additional $5000 to develop the area. He envisioned a bathing beach, especially for use by women and children. The Maritime Museum opened on June 11, 1959 and it most famous component, the St. Roch Historic Site, a retired RCMP vessel, was officially opened on June 23, 1966. A totem pole to commemorate British Columbia's Centennial was erected on October 15, 1958 standing 100 feet tall and carved by Kwakiutl Chief Mungo Martin from a 600 year old cedar tree.