Here now is an image and quote from the museum’s award-winning book Watershed Moments – A Pictorial History of Courtenay and District. Enjoy!

Photo credit: Races, fair days and parades all passed through the original city centre near the Courtenay Hotel. CDM P55-230a. Page 59.

Photo caption: “Courtenay’s town centre on the east side of the river began with people like William Lewis, who saw the proximity of Green’s Slough and the navigable head of Courtenay River as being advantageous to business. Lewis bought this central plot of land in1881 from Charles Green.” Page 63.