Rogers Court is no more. Long live Museum Muse.
City of North Vancouver council voted unanimously Monday (Dec. 6) to rename the 90-metre pathway connecting Carrie Cates Court with West Esplanade, just west of Lonsdale Avenue, in honour of the opening of MONOVA: Museum of North Vancouver.
Museum Muse came about partly from staff and partly from the city’s Civic Naming Committee. Although you might think someone messed up and misspelled “mews,” it’s a deliberate play on words “invoking a feeling of playfulness, amusement and inspiration,” said Coun. Don Bell, council’s member on the naming committee.
“I'm just thrilled to see this and have the wayfinding to the museum made as clear as possible,” he said.
City staff researched who the eponymous Rogers was but didn’t come up with any definitive answers. Their best theory was that it may have been in recognition of Benjamin Tingley Rogers, the wealthy Vancouver sugar magnate who founded B.C. Rogers Refining Co. The City of Vancouver put up the land, water licence and a financial grant of the historic factory, which still operates in East Vancouver, on the condition that he not hire any Chinese labourers. Rogers died in 1918. In any case, Rogers still has nearby Rogers Avenue and Rogers Plaza all named for him.
Council members welcomed the change.
“Renaming this revitalized space to better reflect our community’s values and the fantastic new museum in Lower Lonsdale is just one more way of supporting our growing arts and culture precinct,” said Mayor Linda Buchanan in a statement released on Dec. 7.
The museum opened to the public on Dec. 4, drawing in 1,000 visitors on its first day.
