rainy night in Duncan

The Duncan railway station

"The community is named after William Chalmers Duncan (born 1836 in Sarnia, Ontario). He arrived in Victoria in May 1862, then in August of that year he was one of the party of a hundred settlers which Governor Douglas took to Cowichan Bay."

"Duncan's farm was named Alderlea, and this was the first name of the adjacent settlement. In August 1886, the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway was opened. No stop had been scheduled at Alderlea for the inaugural train bearing Sir John A. Macdonald and Robert Dunsmuir. However, at Duncan's Crossing, the level crossing nearest Alderlea, a crowd of 2,000 had assembled around a decorated arch and the train came to an unplanned halt, quite literally putting it on the map."

"The Duncan railway station was originally established as Duncan's Crossing, named after William Chalmers Duncan, who farmed in the region, that original farm land later become the city of Duncan, in 1939." (Wikipedia)

"The Cowichan Valley Museum is housed in one of Duncan's most charming heritage buildings, the 1912 Duncan Train Station." (Cowichan Valley Museum)