Manholes Have Meaning

 Take note of the various manhole covers gracing our streets and sidewalks. Many of these covers bear the stately inscriptions of their founders: Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd. of Kilmarnock, Scotland, or Ham Baker & Co. Ltd. of London, England. During the construction of Oak Bay's streets at the turn of the century, these covers were imported here for next to nothing, because they could be used as ballast for stabilizing empty ships.

 Into the early 1900's, before sewers were installed, Oak Bay streets were a sea of mud in wet weather and dusty when the weather was dry. Only a handful of residents had installed septic tanks,
the effluent from which ran mostly into roadside ditches - if there was a road.

 Things were improved in 1906 when a number of Oak Bay residents and landowners formed the Oak Bay Improvement Association, with the intention of improving the area's roads and other public works.