City of Terrace Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, British Columbia

City - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a city municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. Surrounding Skeena River between Hazelton and Prince Rupert, Range 5 Coast Land District

Mapped Location

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

 

Information

General information on City of Terrace

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

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

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

Name Description
City of Terrace Official

 

Origin Notes and History of City of Terrace

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

Incorporated as a Village Municipality 31 December 1927 by Letters Patent. Terrace (Railway Station) identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer. Form of name changed to Terrace (Village) 4 November 1948 on 103NE, in keeping with incorporated status. Re-incorporated as a District Municipality 1 January 1960; confirmed 9 September 1964 on 103I-J. Re-incorporated as a City Municipality 22 January 1987 by Letters Patent. Boundary extension 30 March 1999.

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

Unnamed on Fr. Morice's 1907 map; labelled "Littleton" on 1912 Map of Northern Interior of British Columbia, and on BC Lands' map 1A, 1912. Terrace Post Office was opened 1 January 1912. Labelled "Terrace" on BC Lands' map 3M, 1916.

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

First called "Eby" in recognition of a man & his wife who built a store at the landing. "Littleton" was suggested as the name [of the post office], but when it was discovered that there was already a Littleton elsewhere in Canada, "Terrace" was chosen as the name. (R.G. Large, The Skeena - River of Destiny, Mitchell Press, Vancouver, 1957) [see also the municipality's own website.]

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

"....brielfy named "Littleton" after George Little who in 1905 was one of the first pre-emptors. Little had offered the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (now part of the C.N.R.) a free right of way across his land if its station here were named after him. Unfortunately the Post Office department refused to accept "Littleton", there already being a Littleton in New Brunswick. Mr. Little then contemplated the terraces rising above the Skeena at this point, and renamed the town "Terrace"."

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

 

A Selected Bibliography of City of Terrace, Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, British Columbia

A compilation of essential readings detailing the history, geography, and culture of the region.

The history of Terrace by Nadine Asante

Title Cover Image

The history of Terrace examines the pioneer settlement, timber-driven economy, and critical transportation development situated within the broad, flat river benches of northwestern British Columbia's Skeena River valley. Asante details how the region's imposing mountainous macro-geography—specifically the steep, heavily timbered slopes of the Coast Mountains, the powerful, navigable currents of the Skeena River, and the rare, fertile alluvial terraces that gave the town its name—strictly dictated the margins of early homesteading, large-scale logging operations, and transcontinental railway routing. By mapping the transformation of this critical riverine chokepoint from indigenous Tsimshian trading corridors into a bustling, rail-connected timber hub highly dependent on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and riverboat transit, the narrative highlights how this specific valley geography anchored a profoundly transit- and resource-dependent economy. Ultimately, this civic record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense mountain barriers, vital hydrological lifelines, and unique flatland benches of this Pacific Northwest interior fundamentally shaped the highly rugged, transit-bound character of early Terrace.

243 pages illustrations 22 cm

Non-circulating [ 1 ]
History · 1st Edition · Terrace Public Library Association, Terrace, B.C., 1972
Related Catalog Items: City of Terrace · Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine

 


 

Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-10-01