0.   3 Aug 2011:   Gibby's Field to receive plaque as one of Vancouver's 125 Places That Matter

3 Aug 2011:   The Vancouver Heritage Foundation informed the Gibby's Field Subcommittee that Gibby's Field had been selected to receive a plaque as one of Vancouver's 125 Places That Matter. Gibby's Field will be commemorated, together with 124 other Vancouver sites, "by installing a plaque. The plaque and the project website, linked to the plaque through Smartphone technology, will explain the history and value of the site."

Two other Kensington-Cedar Cottage sites will also receive plaques: The view from Kensington Park (which Gibson Creek ran through) and the Lakeview disaster (located at Cedar Cottage Community Garden, Hull Street and Victoria Drive).

See also:   Nov 2011:    “Gibby’s Field to Receive One of 125 Places That Matter Plaques” by Dan Fass.   Published in KCC (Kensington–Cedar Cottage) Neighbour, November 2011, Issue 15 (special historical issue), page 17 (7.8 MB download).

1.   Publication of Three Documents (April 2010, January 2010, November 2009)

The following documents about Gibson Creek and Gibby’s Field were published in late 2009/early 2010:

13 April 2010:    “Map of schools, colleges, and the China Creek watershed” (in PDF). Three pages (1.31 MB download).

3 January 2010:    History article (in HTML or PDF) “Gibby’s Field, Moses Gibson, and Gibson Creek, Revised.” Two pages.

November 2009:    History booklet (in PDF) “Historical Walking Tour of Gibson Creek Through Kensington–Cedar Cottage.” 32 pages (1.25 MB download).

The history booklet contains a self-guided tour of Gibson Creek and China Creek past King Edward Village, Gibby’s Field, and Vancouver Community College, to where China Creek used to empty into False Creek.   Before reading the booklet, it is a good idea to first read a brochure from the False Creek Watershed Society called “False Creek’s Watershed: Then & Now” (available as a PDF here).   The brochure helps put the booklet in context — in effect, the booklet is a study of the eastern end of the map in the brochure.

2.   Location of Gibby’s Field

Gibby’s Field lies in a dip on the 1400 block of East 18th Avenue in the neighbourhood of Cedar Cottage in Vancouver. Gibby’s Field is just down the hill from Tyee Elementary School, in a residential area. It’s on three city lots on East 18th: 1454, 1458, and 1462. The streets to the east and west of Gibby’s Field are Dumfries Street and Knight Street. See maps of Gibby’s Field, Cedar Cottage, and Vancouver on the Location web page.

3.   Gibby’s Field Is Owned by the City and Has Never Been Developed

Remarkably, the City of Vancouver owns Gibby's Field in the form of three city lots. Even more remarkably, these city lots have never been developed! If you go by the lots, you will see that they look like a pasture and contain a stream bed that follows the same path as an old creek, Gibson Creek. See the Gibby’s Field photographs below and other photographs of Gibby’s Field.

Gibby’s Field from south-east (panoramic photo)

A higher resolution version of this photograph with annotation and without annotation.

4.   History

4.1.   Moses Gibson (1850–1937)

“Gibby’s Field” takes its name from its former owner, who was called “Old Man Gibby” by the neighbourhood children. Old Man Gibby’s real name was Moses Gibson. He was born in 1850 and lived in Cedar Cottage from 1893 until his death in 1937 at the age of 87. The lots are known to this day as “Gibby’s Field” by local people.

Moses Gibson used to be a major property owner in Cedar Cottage. He was also a prominent local citizen. He was an early trustee of the first school in the Kensington–Cedar Cottage area which began in 1892, D.L. 301 School. He was a city councillor in 1893, for South Vancouver.

And he ran a dairy farm for many years, helped especially by one of his ten children. His farm house and home was on East 20th Avenue, just east of Knight. East 20th Avenue used to be known as Gibson Road until 1910.

4.2.   Gibson Creek and Davy Creek

Gibson Creek was named after him. Gibson Creek used to flow down the hill from Kensington Community Centre down the hill, through Kingcrest Park and under King Edward Village at Kingsway and Knight. Gibson Creek met another major local creek, which was known as Davy Creek, and then flowed across Gibby’s Field. The combined creek then flowed down across Clark Park before joining China Creek, which flowed into the east end of False Creek.

4.3.   Local People Remember Moses Gibson and the Creeks

There are people living in Kensington–Cedar Cottage today who remember Gibby’s Field when the creek used to flow through it, and even remember Moses Gibson! Some residents remember that Gibby’s Field was a magnet for children for miles around in the 1920s, and more recently. Children used to treat Gibby’s Field like a local park. They would gather there to have picnics by the creek, to fish in the creek, and to pick crab apples and hard pears from a nearby orchard. But you had to watch out because some of the boys used to have fruit fights and you had to watch out for Moses Gibson’s dairy cows who used to graze there.

Learn more about the history of the Gibby’s Field.

Gibby’s Field from west

A higher resolution version of this photograph.

5.   Gibby’s Field Group (2000–2001)

In 2000–2001, a group of local citizens, who called themselves the Gibby’s Field Group, got wind that the City of Vancouver was planning to develop the three City lots. They raised awareness about the historical and ecological value of Gibby’s Field and succeeded in getting a moratorium placed on development of the lots.

Learn more about the work of the Gibby’s Field Group.

6.   Gibby’s Field Subcommittee (2006–)

In 2006, a second group of citizens rediscovered Gibby’s Field. This group is known as the Gibby’s Field Subcommittee and is affiliated with the False Creek Watershed Society and the Kensington–Cedar Cottage CityPlan Committee. The Gibby’s Field Subcommittee is raising awareness about Gibby’s Field. The subcommittee seeks to:

Turn Gibby’s Field into a viable community green space.

Learn more about the work of the Gibby’s Field Subcommittee and photographs of Gibby’s Field events organized by the subcommittee.

Gibby’s Field stream bed from north-west

A higher resolution version of this photograph.

7.   More information

If interested, you can obtain more information about Gibby’s Field by visiting the Documents and Related Links pages on this website, and contacting the Gibby’s Field Subcommittee.

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Last updated: 3-Dec-2011