Taking the "New" out of New Westminster?
The shock and horror practically leapt off the page as the editor of the Mainland Guardian tackled the suggestion some 135 years ago this week.
It was March 17, 1888 when the New Westminster-based newspaper stood in outrage against the very idea of renaming the city.
The writer in question noted that a few "would-be smart people" were suggesting removing the "New" from the city name, thusly calling it simply "Westminster."
"Such an alteration may be popular with some of our people, but we trust it is not accepted by the majority," he wrote.
"If the name is altered it will certainly create confusion, something akin to that produced by 'Vancouver;' had the work (sic) 'New' been prefixed to the last named town, no one could have objected and it would have created enough distinction to prevent letters and newspapers addressed to Vancouver only, from being sent to Washington Territory or vice versa."
The Mainland Guardian pointed out there were several Westminsters in neighbouring States, notably in California, and that letters would "inevitably be sent to the wrong destination."
"If we adopt the idea of cutting off prefixes, we may as well go the entire length in that respect and leave out the word 'British' in the name of this Province," the newspaper continued. "There seems in this desire for change to be a kind of puerile straining after novelty that is always a characteristic of small minds."
Ouch.
In any case, the newspaper editor won that one. Whether the journalistic outrage had anything to do with it or not, it's clear that, in fact, New Westminster never lost the "New" part of its name.
Here's hoping the Mainland Guardian editor is resting easy knowing that.
New Westminster is a city full of history — and that history includes a variety of community newspapers over its many decades.
In this new weekly series, we're taking a look back at the headlines from some of those newspapers, shining a spotlight each week on a notable news story, person or moment from this week in New West history.
Watch for it online every Thursday.
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