1

Portrait of George Grant MacKay
3 February 1891
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Vernon Museum Public Archives #12044

2

Upon his arrival to the Okanagan in 1890, MacKay, along with Forbes G. Vernon (owner of the Coldstream Ranch) became the principal investors in the Okanagan Land and Development Company. This company was responsible for laying out the new townsite of Vernon in 1891, building the Coldstream and Kalamalka Hotels, installing a water system and publishing the Vernon News which was the valley's first newspaper.

3

Advertisement for lots for sale in the town of Vernon by the Okanagan Land and Development Co.
June 1892
Vernon, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives #2005.219
Vernon News, June 1892

4

In 1890 with the completion of the CPR's transcontinental railway, a wave of change was being felt in the Okanagan. With the Shuswap and Okanagan Railroad in the process of being built, a charter had been granted by the provincial legislature to the Vernon and Okanagan Railway to construct a railroad line that would join the Kettle Valley Railroad to the Boundary mining country and on to the United States. With Vernon established, there were rumours that a Vernon and Okanagan Railway would soon be built running through the Mission Valley to Penticton connecting the CPR to the Great Northern Railway in the United States. MacKay, ever the entrepreneur, was most interested. He felt that this could be his next big development opportunity.

By the end of 1890, MacKay had purchased more than 3,000 acres along the railway's most likely route. The land that he bought included: the 480 acre ranch of John McDougall (as their agent, MacKay sold the ranch to the Aberdeen's which became later became known as the Guisachan Ranch); 3,000 acres from Thomas Ellis, 320 acres from Joseph Christien; 320 acres from Alphonse Lefevre; and between 700 - 800 acres from Dan Nicholson (William Pion's original claim) for about $20 per acre.
("Benvoulin Townsite, Original Town Centre", Dorothy Zoellner, 1997)

5

Settlement map of the Mission Valley in 1880
Circa 1965-66
Okanagan Mission Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
"Ogopogo's Vigil", F.M. Buckland, Okanagan Historical Society, Kelowna Branch, 1979 (revised- fourth printing), p. 62
Primrose Upton (drew map for 1966 second printing)

6

In 1891 after purchasing land in the Mission Valley, along the anticipated railway route, MacKay proceeded to survey and subdivide the land into ten to forty acre parcels. MacKay, under the title of the Okanagan Land and Development Company Limited, advertised the lots for sale in the Vernon News as well as in the Vancouver newspapers.

7

Advertisement of fruit farms for sale at Okanagan Mission
9 July 1891
Okanagan Mission, British Columbia

Credits:
Vernon Museum Public Archives
Vernon News, July 9, 1981

8

"Plan of Fruit Farms Adjacent to Benvoulin"
early 1890s
Okanagan Mission, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

9

To encourage the sale of these lots and in anticipation of the area becoming a railroad stop, MacKay planned a new townsite in the fall of 1891. MacKay saw the "possibilities for further development in the Mission Valley where the rich bottom land would support a much larger population, if it produced fruit and vegetables instead of hay and grain. This was made evident by the small orchards with their few trees around a ranch house and the profusion of vegetables in the kitchen garden." ("Ogopogo's Vigil", F.M. Buckland, 1979, p.78)

MacKay named his new townsite, 'Benvoulin'. In Scotland, MacKay had owned a 32 acre property on the Hill of Oban, where he had built a home which he named Benvoulin Lodge (meaning: hill of the mill). In the Okanagan Historical Society (OHS) Report, 1959, volume 23, page 97, Mr. Noel Higgins, from West Summerland confirms that his uncle bought the Scottish property from the MacKay family in the 1890s. "Benvoulin was a fair-sized house and property, situated on the hill overlooking the town of Oban in the Highlands."

The lakefront area where downtown Kelowna is now located was very swampy and low and was not seen as a suitable townsite. The area in Benvoulin however was fairly flat with good soil and seemed perfect for a town centre. The new townsite was laid out about half way between Lequime's store and the Okanagan School, where a newly surveyed road met the Old Mission Trail. It was at the intersection of the wagon roads between the Catholic Mission and Vernon, and the westerly road to Knox's wharf at the base of the mountain (today's intersection of Benvoulin and Byrns Roads).

10

Amended plan of the townsite of Benvoulin
Circa 1892; amended in 1937
Benvoulin, British Columbia

Credits:
Kamloops Land Title Office Archives, Plan 415B

11

Advertisement of lots for sale in the Benvoulin townsite & rooms for rent at the Benvoulin Hotel
June 1892
Benvoulin, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives
Vernon News, June 1892

12

MacKay donated land to the north of the projected town centre for a Presbyterian church (the first in the Mission Valley) in order to encourage the development of his town centre. This became the site of the Bethel Presbyterian Church.

The townsite would grow to include a blacksmith shop, a Chinese laundry, a general store, and a ten-room hotel. There was a post office and a store, stocked with general merchandise, owned by noted Canadian poet, Charles Mair. Mair's first store in the area was built in Kelowna in 1892, followed by the second store located at Benvoulin. Built in 1893, the Benvoulin store was operated by his son, Cecil Mairs. A small Chinese laundry operated by Sing Lee was also in the new Benvoulin townsite. Sing Lee washed shirts for 10 cents each.

Sam T. Elliott, who settled in Benvoulin in 1901, built his blacksmith shop on the north side of Haddo Road (Byrns Road). On the south west corner of Gordon and Byrns Road, Cromwell and Holland (of Vernon) built a two and a half story Elizabethan-style hotel. It had ten rooms and a stable in the back. The hotel was completed in June 1892. It was later bought for $4,000 by Dan Nicholson, who came to the Okanagan in 1876. The hotel, stable, general store and blacksmith shop at Benvoulin served the neighbourhood for some fifteen years before the site of the hamlet was abandoned because of the ever-growing City of Kelowna, which could give better service and values. ("Ogopogo's Vigil", F.M. Buckland, 1979, p.94)

13

Charles Mair's Benvoulin store, later used as the Rutland Methodist Church
Circa 1910-1920
Rutland, British Columbia

Credits:
Okanagan Historical Report #34, p.113
"Chas. Mair, Poet and Pioneer" by Art Gray

14

Charles Mair visiting family in the Benvoulin area
Circa 1921
Benvoulin, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives #3393