IN THE BEGINNING the peninsula now called Granville Island was originally sandbar and a fishing area used by the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) First Nations Peoples. After the construction of the original Granville Street Bridge in 1889, the land was stabilized using pilings, then a 14 hectare (35 acre) island was created using material dredged from the surrounding waters of False Creek.

A NEW ISLAND which came to be known as Granville Island, was connected to the mainland by a road and rail bridge at its south end. Initially Granville Island was an industrial area with sawmills, shipyards, metal works, foundries and slaughterhouses, among other enterprises, all in wood-framed and corrugated-steel factories, many of which are still standing.

During the Great Depression "Shackers" occupied the island, many living in adjacent houseboats. They were a self-sufficient lot, selling wood and fish in the Vancouver public market, then on Main Street.

IN THE SEVENTIES the industrial businesses on Granville Island were in decline. In 1977 a federal order-in-council assigned management of Granville Island to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). CMHC has continued to manage the Island to the present day.

At the northwest end of Coal Harbour, north of Georgia Street and across from Stanley Park, there was a community of shipyards, marine ways, metalwork and mechanical repair facilities, artists' studios, floating homes and live aboard boats. The floating homes were located in or near Kanish Marina, just to the west of the shipyards.

In 1977 the foreshore lessee of the area occupied by the shipyards and by Kanish decided to build a big new marina, exclusively for recreational boats. The plan quite explicitly excluded floating homes and live aboard boats. Facing eviction, 11 floating home households and two live aboard boaters came together to form Sea Village Marina Ltd., with the goal of finding a new location in the City of Vancouver in which to build a residential marina.

A COMMUNITY WAS BORN after much discussion, controversy and hard work. Sea Villagers with the crucial support of city planner John Coates, obtained the approval of Vancouver City Council to move Sea Village's floating home and live-aboard households to Granville Island. In the same time frame, Sea Village won approvals from the Granville Island Trust and CMHC senior management to build its new marina on a water lot at the east end of Granville Island.

In the summer and fall of 1979, Sea Village Ltd. built its new marina at Granville Island. Sea Village now has 14 approved residences. Thirteen are floating homes and one is a live aboard boat.

In a strictly legal sense, Sea Village is a corporation but to its residents it is, first and foremost, a neighbourhood. We are singles, couples, parents and children. The adults here are or have been employed in health care, telecommunications, construction, film, finance, consulting, sales and marketing and as artists. They include a tradesman, a professional Santa Clause, a Paddling Hall of Fame member, a contractor, two former toy company owners, a film director, and a Nobel Peace prize recipient.

IN THE 45 YEARS SINCE ITS INCEPTION Granville Island has become the second most visited attraction in Canada. In many ways, it operates as the perfect 15 minute city: The Island boasts a wonderful fresh food market; many other attractions including Arts Umbrella, an award winning arts education centre for children and young people, culinary and dance schools, artists' and artisans' workshops, galleries and stores, a hotel, restaurants, theatres, a boatyard, boat rentals, whale watching tours, a kids' water park and a playground.

Sea Village, a part of the Granville Island project from the time of project's opening, has always been and continues to be a much admired contributor to the charm, the interest and the diversity of Granville Island.