Photo: When Steveston's streets were paved with...planks

You may have heard of “streets being paved with gold”?

Well, about 114 years ago, the streets of Steveston were paved with none other than planks.

Yes, that’s right. An old image posted on social media by the Friends of the Richmond Archives shows weeds sprouting through said planks on Moncton Street in 1908.

The shot was taken from the intersection of Third Avenue, facing east along Steveston’s “Downtown Core.”

According to the post on Facebook by the group, the photo shows the “tallest building” at the time down the right side of the street as being the London Hotel, which was owned by Jacob Grauer and featured 24 rooms and a 24-seat restaurant.

On the left side are Commercial Hotel and Commercial Restaurant, as well as a livery, as horses were still being the main mode of transport at the time.