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Real estate company

Eben (Ebenezer) Naismith Harvie was born at Mosen-Bellshill in the county of Lanark, Scotland, on July 3, 1883. He emigrated to Vancouver in 1908. Mr. Harvie was municipal engineer of South Vancouver, involved in the design, specifications, and layout for the water distributions system. He also held an engineering position with the Harbour Commission of the North Arm of the Fraser River. He served overseas during WWI, and spent several years following the war in various jobs in London. He returned to Vancouver with his family and was active in construction contracting. Eben Harvie died in 1979.

The Knight Sugar Company was set up in 1901 to act as the umbrella company for the ranching, farming, real estate speculation and sugar beet refining operations of the Knight family, headed by Mormon elder Jesse Knight and run by his sons Raymond and William Knight.

In 1901, Raymond and William Knight purchased 30,000 acres east of Cardston, Alberta for a cattle ranch. Later that year, Jesse Knight purchased 226,000 acres of land in the area as a land speculation to draw Mormon immigrants from Utah. The scheme was founded on Jesse Knight's 12-year contract with the Canadian Northwest Irrigation Company and the Alberta Railway Irrigation Company to develop irrigation infrastructure in the area to make the land suitable for farming. Knight sold his land to Mormon families in 10-acre parcels and built the sugar beet refinery to attract beet farmers.

The refinery never broke even during its operations, and once the 12 year contract with the irrigation companies was over, Knight Sugar sold off the refinery and shipped it to a new site in Utah or Montana.

It is not clear exactly when Knight Sugar Company as a legal entity ceased to exist, though extant records continue until 1918.

Edith Low-Beer was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia Dec. 1, 1904. She came to Vancouver with her husband, Max Low-Beer, 1938 as a political refugee. An avid collector of china and porcelain, she stimulated interest in a public local museum for decorative arts. This idea evolved into the Centennial Museum and Low-Beer chaired the Civic Arts Committee of the Community Arts Council during that period. She died Feb. 11, 1988.