View Royal

View Royal's history is closely linked to the entire region. The Esquimalt First Nation, a Coast Salish indigenous peoples, have occupied View Royal since time immemorial. It began when early inhabitants of today's Esquimalt Harbour crossed an isthmus, now Portage Park, to harvest seafood in Portage Inlet.

European settlement began in the 1850s by Kenneth Mackenzie who established a farm known as Craigflower Manor.Craigflower Manor and Schoolhouse, B.C. Ministry of Tourism and Culture website [http://www.tca.gov.bc.ca/heritage/historic_sites/craigflower.htm retrieved 21-09-10] In the mid-19th century, Dr. John Helmcken, Vancouver Island's first doctor and later speaker of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, paid the Hudson's Bay Company $5 per acre for hundreds of acres of land between Esquimalt Harbour and what is now Victoria General Hospital. The land was cleared for Victoria's growth. In 1912, the Island Investment Company bought {{convert|80|acres|ha}} of land below Four Mile Hill, fronting the harbour, from Dr. Helmcken’s son James. They marketed lots as “View Royal” because of their "royal view", which gave the town its name.

View Royal remained unorganized for over half a century. By the 1950s, things had begun to change. In 1959, a group of residents in the Shoreline Drive area circulated a petition urging annexation by Esquimalt. Several studies and referendums came and went, but View Royal continued with its unorganized status. In 1966, the Capital Regional District emerged, bringing with it regional approaches for such service deliveries as sewage collection. Then a Price Waterhouse study presented three options: status quo, union with Esquimalt, or incorporation as a town. The town’s incorporation became official on December 5, 1988.

Many historic sites still exist in View Royal, including:

• Four Mile Pub & Six Mile Pub: two historic "road houses" or pubs that have existed for approximately 150 years.
• Craigflower Manor & Schoolhouse: one of Canada's National Historic Sites. Completed in 1856, the Manor site was one of four original farms set up by the Hudson's Bay Company as part of their obligations in settling Vancouver Island. The site housed the McKenzie family in the Manor as well as twenty other dwellings, a sawmill, a flour mill, a blacksmith's shop, a brick kiln, a slaughterhouse, and a general store. The Craigflower Schoolhouse, the companion adjacent site to the Manor, is located across a municipal border. The two properties are located at the intersection of Admirals Road, Craigflower Road, and Island Highway.{{Cite web|url=http://www.viewroyal.ca/EN/main/discover/archives-heritage.html|title=Archives & Heritage}}

Several changes have gone on in View Royal in recent years, including the completion of the Island Highway Improvement Project in 2011, which included new cycle lanes, sidewalks, turning lanes, and planted medians.[http://www.viewroyal.ca Annual Report - Year Ended 2011] Beginning in 2013, the Town of View Royal and District of Saanich replaced the 80-year-old Craigflower Bridge and approach roads,[https://web.archive.org/web/20141021121419/http://craigflowerbridge.com/ Craigflower Bridge Replacement Project] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021121419/http://www.craigflowerbridge.com |date=October 21, 2014 }} and construction began on the new Public Safety Building, completed in fall 2014.[http://www.viewroyalfire.com New Public Safety Building]

View Royal is divided into eight neighbourhoods based on topography, transportation corridors, natural environment, and the age of housing stock. These neighbourhoods are Atkins, Burnside, Craigflower, Harbour, Helmcken, Hospital, Thetis, and Wilfert.

View Royal has 70 municipal parks and {{convert|25|km|mi}} of trails.[http://www.viewroyal.ca Annual Report - Year Ended 2013] View Royal's shoreline includes sandy beaches with small caves, large driftwood, and rocks, which are home to starfish, crabs, seals, and other marine life.

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, View Royal had a population of 11,575 living in 4,915 of its 5,175 total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:11575-10408}}|10408|1}} from its 2016 population of 10,408. With a land area of {{cvt|14.33|km2}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|11575|14.33|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.

In 2011, there were almost 4,140 housing units in the town with a median population age of 44.1 years, which compares to the CRD at 44.8.{{Cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=5917047&Geo2=CD&Code2=5917&Data=Count&SearchText=view%20royal&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=59&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1|title = 2011 Census Profile|date = 8 February 2012}}

{{Historical populations

|title = {{Nowrap|Historical census populations –}} View Royal

|align = none

|cols = 2

|percentages =

|footnote =

|source = Statistics Canada

| 1986 |4963

| 1991 |5925

| 1996 |6441

| 2001 |7271

| 2006 |8768

| 2011 |9381

| 2016 |10408

| 2021 |11575

}}

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in View Royal included:

• Irreligion (6,535 persons or 58.0%)
• Christianity (3,890 persons or 34.5%)
• Islam (195 persons or 1.7%)
• Hinduism (185 persons or 1.6%)
• Sikhism (170 persons or 1.5%)
• Buddhism (90 persons or 0.8%)
• Judaism (40 persons or 0.4%)
• Other (165 persons or 1.5%)

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{Official website|http://www.viewroyal.ca}}

{{Geographic location

| Centre = View Royal

| N = Highlands

| E = Saanich

| SE = New Songhees 1A / Esquimalt

| S = Esquimalt Harbour / Esquimalt IR

| SW = Colwood

| W = Langford

}}

{{Navboxes|list =

{{VancouverIslandCommunities}}

{{CapitalRegionalDistrictBC}}

{{VictoriaNeighbourhoods}}

{{Subdivisions of British Columbia||town=yes}}

}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Populated places on the British Columbia Coast

Category:Towns in British Columbia

Category:Populated places in the Capital Regional District

Category:Greater Victoria