WHEN SAMUEL POLSON arrived in the Okanagan at the turn of the 20th Century, he immediately wired his family, "Get ready to move. I have found the Garden of Eden."
The son of Red River settlers, Polson was born in the Winnipeg area about 1840. His father, who ran a grist mill, was killed by a native. As a young man, Polson carried the mail from Winnipeg to Brandon and Rapid City, a distance of 150 miles for the round trip. He used snowshoes in winter and rode horseback in summer. About this time, he met Elizabeth Sibbald from Rapid City and the couple soon married. They had five children.
Always a religious man, Polson attended Manitoba college until he was ordained as a Methodist minister. In his mid-30s at the time, Polson built three mission churches in Winnipeg. He later entered the real estate and insurance business and it was while on a trip to Vancouver that he stopped off in the Okanagan and sent for his family.
Polson purchased and subdivided five large ranches in the area, including the BX, Ellison and Tronson estates.
In 1908 Polson donated about 25 acres to the City of Vernon, part of which the city promised to use in perpetuity as a park. The remainder became the site of Vernon Jubilee Hospital. After becoming mayor of Enderby for many years, he also donated land for similar purposes to the City of Enderby.
When he died in 1931 he was a poor man, considered by some to have given too much, but with his gifts of land he manifested his love for the Valley in a way that gave joy and respite to generations of adults and children,
Elizabeth Polson passed away in 1956, aged 97.
Born in Vernon, Terry Hurst has had a life-long passion for her hometown’s history. She is author of Vernon and District Pioneer Routes, the stories behind the area’s street names, published by the Vernon Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society in 1996. Watch for future columns recounting the origins of road and street names in the BX, Coldstream and Okanagan Landing.
