Town of Port McNeill Regional District of Mount Waddington, British Columbia

Town - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a town municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. NE side of Vancouver Island, SE of Port Hardy, Rupert Land District

Mapped Location

Town of Port McNeill: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Town of Port McNeill

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Town of Port McNeill

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Town of Port McNeill Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Town of Port McNeill

References to Town of Port McNeill that document the origin of its place name

Port McNeill (Post Office & Landing) adopted 6 May 1947. Incorporated as a Village Municipality 18 February 1966. Re-incorporated as a Town Municipality 17 April 1982. Port McNeill (Town) confirmed 19 November 1984. Boundary extension per Order in Council 159, 25 March 2010, now including portions of Sec 16, 21 & 28 to the west of the original municipal footprint.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Port McNeill Post Office was opened 1 May 1938, situated on L24, Tp2; closed 1939 then re-opened in 1944. See also the municipality's own website.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Named in association with the adjacent water feature, in turn named in 1837 by officers of the Hudsons Bay Company, after Captain William Henry McNeill (1801-1875). See extensive biographical information in Walbran's "British Columbia Coast Names". Also McNeill Bay.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

".....a native of Boston, Massachusetts, Captain McNeill was first on this coast in 1825 with the trading vessel Convoy. In the summer of 1832 the Hudson's Bay Company, desperately in need of an extra ship for its coastal trade, sent Chief Factor Duncan Finlayson to Honolulu where he bought McNeill's brig Llama, and hired McNeill and his two mates to navigate. McNeill never became a British subject but served the Hudson's Bay Company faithfully for the rest of his active life."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997  |  Province of British Columbia

Port McNeill has laid claim to the title "the first town incorporated in Canada since patriation of the Constitution" - - - three hours after HM Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the Constitution, Port McNeill was incorporated as a town (Ottawa file 203-2).

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Regional District of Mount Waddington

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-01