"Islands in the stream, that is what we are."
- Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
YOUR HISTORY by Bryan Ness
Here's a term you don't hear much of around Port Coquitlam anymore: Marshall Island.
There are still a few old-timers who might be able to enlighten you but if you went looking for it today, you would be hard-pressed to find even a trace of its existence.
An island in Port Coquitlam? Where was it and where did it go?
Until the early 1900s, the Coquitlam River had an east tributary that branched off from the main river near Aggie Park on the city's north side. It meandered south through the land that's now home to the Shaughnessy Station shopping centre, under the CP Rail tracks and continued behind what is now city hall and eventually cut westward to meet up again with the main river by Kelly Avenue.
There, a second branch of the river created an island running from around the present-day Gates Park area south to the Red Bridge. This was Marshall Island, which became a favourite location for early sporting events such as football, baseball, horse racing and even leisurely Sunday family picnics. Mental images of women in hoop skirts, men in uncomfortable suits and ties, and young children at play come to mind.
Matt Marshall Sr. and his family of 10 children immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1887 and settled first at Union Bay on Vancouver Island before moving, in 1899, to Westminster Junction, now Port Coquitlam. They arrived at George Black's ranch, which was located near the present-day Red Bridge.
Mr. Black was a colourful character and was fond of horse racing. Early history books from Vancouver, Port Moody and New Westminster also mention this early business entrepreneur. The first football (soccer) games were held on the island in 1901, which began a tradition of the Black and Tan, the name of the Coquitlam Football team called the Ranchers, that dominated the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Mainland Leagues of the day.
From 1909 to 1914, when the First World War interrupted play, the local squad captured the Iroquois Cup, Tisdale Shield, McBride Shield as well as the coveted Packenham Cup, a challenge trophy for the winner of the Fraser Valley League.
A number of players on that team that would later attain prominence in our city's history, including future mayor Charles Davies and city assessor Roy Leigh.
But none was more respected or revered than Matt Marshall Jr., captain of the Black and Tan.
Matt Marshall Jr. was barely a year old when his family arrived in Canada. Born in 1886, Matt grew to be a strapping young lad, to use an expression of the day, well over 6 feet tall and 215 pounds. He played centre back for that local powerhouse team, which found itself involved more often in fisticuffs than football. Matt was always a peacemaker and a sportsman, exclaiming, "Don't fight boys, we're here for the sport, so let's be real sportsmen and play the game."
Matt Jr. was also concerned with his new city's welfare, serving as a PoCo alderman from 1915 to '17 as well as being the timber inspector for the BC Manufacturing Co. in New Westminster. Matt was a devoted family man to his wife Isobella (née Wilson) and four children, Rena, Robert, Allen and Elva.
Tragically, the worldwide Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918 cut short Matt Marshall Jr.'s life at age 31, leaving behind his wife and young family. Such was the respect in which he was held by his peers that, even after his death, when Isobella herself died suddenly in 1925, the BC Football Association held a number of benefit games in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island to raise money to assist their children.
As the city of Port Coquitlam grew through urban development, the old creek bed of the East Coquitlam River dried up and has long-since been filled in. Just like Marshall Island, the legacy of Matt Marshall Jr. is now just a memory that has faded away into our past. If you went looking for it today, you would be hard-pressed to find even a trace of its existence.
Islands in the stream, that is what we are.
Your History is a column in which, once a month, representatives of the Tri-Cities' three heritage groups writes about local history. Bryan Ness is with the Port Coquitlam Heritage Society.
