History of Burnaby 本拿比历史

At incorporation, the municipality’s citizens unanimously chose to name it after the legislator, speaker, Freemason and explorer Robert Burnaby, who had been private secretary to Colonel Richard Moody, the first land commissioner for the Colony of British Columbia, in the mid-19th century. In 1859 Burnaby had surveyed the freshwater lake near what is now the city’s geographical centre. Moody chose to name it Burnaby Lake.

In the first 30 to 40 years after its incorporation, the growth of Burnaby was influenced by its location between the expanding urban centres of Vancouver and New Westminster. It first served as a rural agricultural area supplying nearby markets. Later, it served as an important transportation corridor between Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Interior, and continues to do so.

As Vancouver expanded and became a metropolis, Burnaby was one of the first-tier bedroom-community suburbs of Vancouver itself, along with the city and district of North Vancouver, and Richmond. During the suburbanization of Burnaby, “Mid-Century Vernacular” homes were built by the hundreds to cope with population increase, and these houses are still very common in the city. Burnaby has shifted in character over time from rural to suburban to urban.

欧洲裔移民于1850年抵达现本那比一带，往后年间发展缓慢。温哥华于1886年设市后，来往温市和二埠的交通日渐繁忙，卑诗电力铁路公司因此于1891年兴建一条市际电车綫连接两地，而电车綫沿途的土地则划成多块地皮出售。为了确保地主所缴交的地税可为于该区提供可靠的市政服务，区内居民向省政府申请成立地方行政架构，而本那比区亦于1892年9月24日正式成立。名称纪念了于1859年探索现本那比湖一带的罗伯特·本拿比。本那比起初只是一个郊外农业地区，为邻近的市区提供农产品，后来成为连贯温哥华、菲沙河谷和卑诗省内陆重要的运输走廊，并且与北温市和列治文一起成为温哥华的第一环卫星城市。

20世纪经济大萧条期间，本拿比长官威廉·普里查德（William Pritchard）动用地方政府储备和贷款来进行一系列刺激就业措施，以舒缓区内的失业问题[3]。然而，此举却令本拿比政府的财务更为拮据，财政濒临破产，逼使省政府于1932年委任专员来接管本拿比的地方政府事务，至1943年为止。

随著大温地区在二战后陆续扩张，本拿比也迅速成长。架空列车的博览线于1985年开通，刺激了铁道镇站一带的商住发展。为配合其百周年纪念，本拿比于1992年正式改设市。