Recent History

1859	Father Pandosy establishes a Catholic Mission on what is now Benvoulin Road, beginning the first European settlement in the Okanagan Valley.
1892	Wm. Crawford begins sawmill operations on what was then known as Sawmill Creek.
1898	Bellevue Hotel originally built as a family house and orchard by Gifford R. Thomson at the intersection of Collett Road and Bellevue Road
1904 - 1910	Thomson House bought by JH Baillee and converted into a hotel to service the Okanagan Mission. The Ritz Café, owned also by JH Baillee (the remaining house still located on the Surtees Property) was operated by “two ‘ladies’ who catered to all appetites.”
1911	Completion of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, next door to the Ritz Café, on land donated by JH Baillee.
1910 -1920	Boom time for Bellevue Hotel coincides with construction of the Kettle Valley Railway. Tents were erected behind the hotel. A powder house for storing dynamite used in construction of the Railway was built on the hill, on the south side of Sawmill Creek. The Ritz Café was purchased by Allen V. Surtees, who married Ishbel Marjoribanks, niece of Lady Aberdeen. The house was expanded and a double walled dairy barn was constructed to house a herd of cattle brought from Jersey Island. The dairy farm was known as “Greenways.” Sternwheelers landed at the CPR dock at the foot of Collett Road. A stage coach ran between Okanagan Mission and downtown Kelowna departing daily at 10 a.m. sharp & returning at 3 p.m.
1917	Two room school house built west of the Hotel.
1954	The Bellevue Hotel was demolished.
1960’s	The Surtees barn was adapted as artists’ / potters’ studios. Following this, the barn housed an antique shop.