Biography - Drinking Fountain on Granville Street - Circa 1920                               < Back to Gallery 

In 1920 Vancouver grew bigger than Winnipeg, which was the main city of Western Canada. For its next trick, the city’s population turned out in droves to watch Harry Houdini suspend himself from the top of the Sun Tower, he chose that building because it was the office of Vancouver’s main newspaper and was guaranteed to have maximum publicity. In 1922 Vancouver’s famous swimming instructor ‘Joe’ Fortes died of pneumonia.  The city paid for his funeral and thousands of people (many of whom learned to swim with Joe in the lukewarm waters of English Bay) lined Granville and Hastings streets to say goodbye. At the beginning of 1925 the Second Narrows Bridge was built connecting the city to North Vancouver. May 1927, at Alexandra Park, a small drinking fountain, just the right size for kids, was built to commemorate ‘Joe’ Fortes.  The inscription on the fountain read “LITTLE CHILDREN LOVED HIM”.