Low Level Road
During 1927 and 1928, a low-level waterfront road and rail line was constructed right through the former Moodyville site. To accomplish this, the entire slope on which much of the town had stood was removed. This development obliterated the last traces of the former mill town. The waterfront transportation route was an extension of the new rail-and-road route to the north shore created by the Second Narrows Bridge, which was finished in 1925 and was the first span crossing Burrard Inlet. The bridge was built to alleviate overburdened car ferries and to provide easier access to the scenic “playground” of the north shore. Moodyville’s former waterfront turned into an industrial zone mostly taken up by shingle mills, lumber yards and grain elevators. In the late 1950s, even Knob Hill was subdivided and sold as the Ridgeway Place residential development.
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WHAT
A new waterfront road-and-rail route opened up bulk-shipping potential on the north shore, especially from the former Moodyville site.
WHERE
The terrain along the waterfront was flattened to build an easy access road. At the time, cars did not have the power to easily negotiate steep hills.
WHEN
Grain from the western prairies was increasingly exported via Vancouver in the 1920s. It was now able to reach the deep-water port facilities of the north shore, where the first elevator opened in 1928.
WHO
The City of North Vancouver built the low-level road. Since the population of Moodyville had disappeared, it was a logical place to construct an industrial site.
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