City of Revelstoke Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, British Columbia

City - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a city municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. At the confluence of Illecillewaet and Columbia Rivers, E of Shuswap Lake, Kootenay Land District

Mapped Location

City of Revelstoke: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on City of Revelstoke

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Revelstoke

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

Name Description
City of Revelstoke Official

 

Origin Notes and History of City of Revelstoke

References to City of Revelstoke that document the origin of its place name

City of Revelstoke incorporated 1 March 1899. Confirmed in the 17th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1921. Substantial expansion (537 hectares) per Order in Council 774, 22 November 2007 - the boundary now extending southward beyond the Mount Mackenzie ski hill base area.

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

"After the first Lord Revelstoke, head of the British banking firm of Baring Brothers, whose taking over of $15,000,000 of the first bond issue of the Canadian Pacific Railway was an important event in its financial history; name first applied to CPR Railway Station."

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
17th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1921 (supplement to the Annual Report of the Dept of the Interior, 1922, Ottawa)  |  Province of British Columbia

Farwell Post Office was opened here 1 February 1886, named after the railway contractor; Post Office name changed to Revelstoke 1 June 1886. See also the municipality's own website.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.  |  Province of British Columbia

"The locality was first known as "The Eddy" because of a large swirl in the river which had eroded the right bank of the Columbia here. Marcus Smith referred to The Eddy in 1872. When a route was surveyed westward for the CPR, the place became known as "Second Crossing" since the railway, cutting across the Big Bend of the Columbia, crossed the river first near Donald and then a second time here. In 1880 the original townsite was surveyed by A.S.Farwell, and for the next six years the settlement here was known as "Farwell". Farwell, having acquired the land where he expected the CPR to run its right of way, tried to make the railway pay an inflated price for it. The latter responded by laying out a new townsite on higher land to the east of Farwell's townsite, and placed its station there. The CPR, in no mood to immortalize Farwell, named its station "Revelstoke," in honour of the 1st Baron Revelstoke, head of the British banking house of Baring Brothers. This firm had bought $15,000,000 of a CPR bond issue and so had averted the last financial crisis during the building of the transcontinental line."

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

The traditional name for this site is Ktunwakan mituk Mic/qaqas, pronounced ktoon-wa-kan me-took me ts-qa-qas. [meaning/significance not provided] (April 2006 advice from Janice Alpine, Ktunaxa Language Program)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
included with note  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Columbia-Shuswap Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-27