Downtown New Westminster has had as many ups and downs as the water levels of the Fraser River.
These days, the tide - of business, development and investment - has risen again.
Early on, third-term Mayor Wayne Wright ran on a campaign to maximize the potential of the waterfront neighbourhood. Wright jumped into politics in 2002, after being on the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Area, because of what he saw as a lack of regard for the neighbourhood from the council of the day.
And it would be tough to say he hasn't kept his promise to revitalize the area. Some criticize the enormous amount of taxpayer dollars that have gone toward downtown, but for Wright these are worthy investments.
Major projects under Wright's tenure include the waterfront Westminster Pier Park and the $90-million Anvil Centre/ Merchant Square, a community centre and office tower with a distinctly New Westminster name.
Wright says all of the development will bring more consumers into the downtown.
"Those 500 people that come to work in the business park . where do you think they're going to eat? Where do you think they are going to shop?" Wright asks.
Another addition to the neighbourhood, a new elementary school - Ãcole Qayqayt Elementary - being built on the former Saint Mary's Hospital site, and the neighbourhood continues to welcome more Gastown-inspired development.
The neighbourhood's other selling feature is its many heritage buildings.
New Westminster grew up around the riverfront after the Royal Engineers came from England in 1859 to establish the capital of the colony of British Columbia.
The site was chosen for its scenic appeal and strategic location.
By the end of the 1860s, the city had lost its capital status to Victoria and the gold rush ended, but the neighbourhood carried on. In the 1880s, the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway line helped the area blossom again. Streetcars, electric lights and paving eventually came as well.
The city faced a devastating setback with the Great Fire of 1898, which swept through the downtown, destroying buildings and homes.
But another resurrection came during the post-war era, when Columbia Street was christened the Golden Mile.
Downtown boomed during the post-war years. The Lower Mainland's population grew, and in New Westminster, new subdivisions, like the one in Massey Heights, brought growing families and downtown shoppers.
But the Golden Mile began to wane with the opening of new amenities at Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue in Uptown New West and the development of express roadways to Vancouver. Malls also started popping up all over the Lower Mainland and pulled away shoppers.
But other development moved forward during those lean years.
In the 1980s, Douglas College settled in its current location, the new SkyTrain line - built in 1986 - "started" at Columbia Street and Eighth Avenue and the bars, theatres and nightclubs buzzed.
But all of the action also brought trouble, and the neighbourhood became a magnet for drug dealers and crime, garnering a reputation as a rough part of town. Still, condo development continued and the neighbourhood did have a critical attraction - its proximity to transit.
Today, it's the strategic location - the same rational that compelled settlers to make their home here more than 150 years ago - that is inspiring people to come back to live, invest and find a home downtown.
