Nanaimo Museum

The Vancouver Island Regional Library(VIRL) is the fourth-largest library system in British Columbia. It serves more than 430,000 people on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) and the Central Coast (Bella Coola) through 39 branch libraries and a books-by-mail service. Administrative offices are located in Nanaimo. Vancouver Island Regional Library opened its doors in 1936 as the Vancouver Island Union Library; it was the second regional library in North America.

Nanaimo ( nə-NY-moh) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating from the shoreline like the spokes of a wagon wheel, and to its relatively central location on Vancouver Island. Nanaimo is the headquarters of the Regional District of Nanaimo. Nanaimo is served by the Island Highway along the east coast, the BC Ferries system, and its regional airport. It is also on the dormant Island Rail Corridor.

The Port Theatre is a venue for performing arts, located in Nanaimo, British Columbia. It was built by the Port Theatre Society and the City of Nanaimo, and was officially opened in September 1998.The building is located on the waterfront, and houses an 800-seat theatre, several galleries, and offices.The venue is home to the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, and hosts concerts with local, regional, and international artists.The Port Theatre won the 2005 Sterling Award for Business Excellence in Arts/Culture/Entertainment from the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, and 2004 the Presenter Organization of the Year by the Canadian Arts Presenting Association.

The Nanaimo Bastion is a historical octagon-shaped blockhouse located at 98 Front Street in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company, which then held a royal lease on all of what was then the Colony of Vancouver Island, built it between 1853 and 1855 to defend its coal mining operations in Nanaimo. It has been called "Nanaimo's premier landmark", because of its shape and its high visibility from both land and sea.The Bastion was constructed using the pièce-sur-pièce (post-and-plank) method. This entailed laying timbers across each other horizontally, with tenons cut into the ends. These tenons would then be inserted into vertical posts. This method was used partially due to the expensive cost of nails; by using the pièce-sur-pièce method, very few nails were needed. The logs were squared using only basic hand tools: a crosscut saw, broadaxe, adze, auger and pit saw. The wooden structure sat on a masonry foundation and was three stories tall. It is the only remaining freestanding tower structure built by the Hudson's Bay Company.In 1891, the Bastion faced demolition threats. The city, recognising the historic value of the building, paid a sum of $175 for the building and moved it across the street from its original location (this would be the parking lot of the modern day Dorchester Hotel). It was moved a second time in 1979, when the roads were being widened. On December 12, 1985, the city of Nanaimo designated it a local heritage site. During the summer of 2010, the Bastion was torn apart to renew rotting boards and add stabilizing steel beams. The director of the event said that they were "making a historic movement". The Bastion is managed by the Nanaimo Museum and is open to visitors during the summer (May Long to Labour Day) from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (hours subject to change). It functions as a tourist information center on behalf of Tourism Nanaimo, and holds exhibits on the history of the building. The Nanaimo Museum also hosts a daily cannon firing at noon during the summer months, just a few feet away from the Bastion.The Bastion is the main image on HMCS Nanaimo's ships crest. HMCS Nanaimo is a Kingston-class Coastal Defence vessel that has been serving in the Royal Canadian Navy since 1997.

Port Place Shopping Centre is a hybrid indoor/outdoor shopping mall located in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. It previously had a total retail floor area of 145,000 square feet prior to partial demolition of the mall space, which reduced its floor space to approximately 134,478 square feet prior to the addition of new retail and office space.

Nanaimo is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.

Nanaimo was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1979. This riding was created as Nanaimo riding in 1903 from parts of Vancouver and Victoria ridings. Its legal description when it was created was: "The electoral district of Nanaimo, comprising the provincial electoral districts of Cowichan, Esquimalt, Nanaimo City, Newcastle, Saanich and The Islands." Nanaimo electoral district was renamed Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands in 1962.

Christian Science Society, also called the Christian Science Society Building, is an historic single storey style Christian Science church edifice located at 20 Chapel Street in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. It was built between 1900 and 1910 as a single-family house and was known as the McDonald Property. In 1932 it was converted to church use by being placed on a concrete foundation and having its exterior stuccoed while the interior was gutted and remodeled for its new use. Citing the building as a "good example of early adaptive re-use" and '"very good example of Classical Period Revival architecture", albeit "a very modest rendition of the style", the city designated it a local heritage site on October 7, 2002.Christian Science Society is still an active congregation listed in the Christian Science Journal.

Nanaimo Harbour Water Aerodrome (IATA: ZNA, TC LID: CAC8) is a seaplane base (SPB) serving the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Nanaimo Harbour, right downtown. It is registered as an aerodrome, formerly classified as an airport, and an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle general aviation aircraft only, with no more than 15 passengers.

Nanaimo station is a former railway station in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. The station was a stop on the Via Rail Dayliner service, which closed indefinitely in 2011. The station is located at 336 Prideaux Street, Nanaimo.

Nanaimo Harbour, also known as the Port of Nanaimo, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The city of Nanaimo runs along the west side of the harbour. Three islands, Newcastle, Protection, and Gabriola, along with Duke Point, form the eastern edge. The Port of Nanaimo includes the Inner Harbour, Nanaimo River estuary, Departure Bay, the waters on the east side of Newcastle and Protection Islands, and Northumberland Channel. The port is under the management of the Nanaimo Port Authority.

The Nanaimo mine explosion occurred on May 3, 1887, in Nanaimo, British Columbia killing 150 miners. Only seven miners survived and the mine burned for one full day. The explosion started deep underground in the Number One Coal Mine after explosives were laid improperly. Although many miners died instantly, others were trapped by the explosion and the fires that followed. Most miners did not die from the primary explosions or the fires, but many actually died from choking on poisonous gas hours after the initial explosions. These men wrote farewell messages in the dust of their shovels. Nearly 150 children lost their fathers and 46 women became widows. Most of the men were settlers from Cornwall, Wales and Yorkshire. A plaque at the foot of Milton Street commemorates the event. Although past documents put the death toll at 148, researchers have since revised the number to 150, including 53 Chinese workers. Chinese workers were listed in the government inquest and annual report of the Minister of Mines as "Chinamen, names unknown", followed by a tag number. B.C. employers did not have to report the deaths of Chinese employees until 1897. Some accounts suggest that 48 of the 53 miners had the surname of Mah — records may have been destroyed when Nanaimo's Chinatown burned to the ground in 1960. The monument on Milton Street lists the names of white miners, but only the tally number for Chinese miners, who were blamed by many white Nanaimoites for the disaster, claiming they could not read signs or instructions.Operated by the Vancouver Coal Company, the Number One mine opened in 1884 at the foot of Milton Street in Nanaimo. Its shafts and tunnels extended under the Nanaimo Harbour to Protection Island, Newcastle Island, and the Nanaimo River. After the explosion, the mine re-opened and produced 18 million tons of coal before permanently closing in 1938.