Identity area
Type of entity
Family
Authorized form of name
Oppenheimer family
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Oppenheimer brothers, Godfrey, Charles, David (1834-1897) and Isaac (d. 1922), were born in Frankfurt, moving to Victoria, B.C., ca. 1858. They then moved to Yale and established a firm that outfitted and supplied miners and mining camps. In 1862 Charles joined Moberly and Lewis to build a section of the Cariboo road. By 1863, the Oppenheimers had returned to Victoria. In 1885 David and Isaac moved to Vancouver and played a part in the incorporation of the city. They also established the first wholesale grocery operation on the mainland of B.C., in a warehouse located on the Southeast corner of Powell St. and Columbia Ave. Both were elected aldermen for Ward Five in the City's second Council; in 1888 David was elected mayor and Isaac re-elected an alderman. David was re-elected three times, resigning in 1891. In 1889, the brothers formed a company with Ben Douglas, J.R. Webster and H.V. Edmonds that secured a provincial charter to build an electric railway, a work which was completed in 1892.