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Gold and silver were discovered in the area in 1867. The subsequent discovery of silver at Toad Mountain in 1886 led to a rapid expansion of the town's population, resulting in incorporation in 1897.[5]
To support the growing community, two railways were constructed to pass through Nelson. The town was structured as a transportation and distribution hub. Due to its proximity to major transportation corridors, Nelson became a supply center for local mining activities and the region's primary transportation and distribution center soon afterwards.[6]
Nelson was named in 1888 after Hugh Nelson, who was the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia at the time.[7] A dock for steamboats was built in 1892.[8]
Early 20th century
Nelson, 1900
Francis Rattenbury, one of BC's eminent architects, had designed the provincial Parliament Buildings and become the western division architect for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Rattenbury designed Nelson's courthouse and other chateau-style civic buildings made of granite, which stand today. By the 1900s, Nelson boasted several hotels, a Hudson's Bay Company store, and an electric streetcar system. Local forestry and mining industries also contributed to the town's economy.[citation needed][9]
The town built its own hydroelectric generating system.[10] English immigrants planted lakeside orchards, and Doukhobors from Russia, sponsored by Tolstoy and the Quakers, and tilled the valley benchlands. The Doukhobor museum is located nearby, close to the neighboring town of Castlegar.
From 1917 to 1920, Nelson used Single Transferable Vote (STV), a form of proportional representation, to elect its councillors. Councillors were elected in one at-large district. Each voter casts just a single vote using a ranked transferable ballot.[citation needed]
During the Vietnam War, many U.S. draft evaders settled in Nelson and the surrounding area. This influx of liberal young people, most of whom had high levels of education, significantly changed the area's cultural and political demographics.[citation needed] The town took on the nickname "Resisterville." This is chronicled in the 2014 book Resisterville by Kathleen Rodgers. Those U.S. resisters started organized several intentional communities in the Nelson area—Harmony's Gate; The Reds and the Blues; and New Family.[11] As a successor to those intentional communities, in 1996, the Middle Road Community commune was founded in Nelson.[12]
Nelson's mountainous geography kept growth confined to the narrow valley bottom, except for specific hillside structures such as the local high school and the former Notre Dame University College (NDU) campus. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when more prosperous cities were demolishing and rebuilding their downtowns to the design of the time, Nelson merchants 'modernized' their buildings with aluminum siding.[citation needed]
Baker Street
In the early 1980s, Nelson suffered a devastating economic downturn when the local Kootenay Forest Products sawmill was closed. Downtown merchants were already suffering from the opening of a large, regional shopping center, the Chahko Mika Mall, on Nelson's central waterfront. At the time, Victoria and Vancouver were experimenting with historical restorations of their oldest areas, with minimal success.[citation needed] To save downtown and Baker Street from blight, Nelson quickly followed suit, stripping aluminum facades and restoring buildings. Local designer Bob Inwood, one of Nelson's many American immigrants, played a significant role as a consultant.
By 1985, Baker Street was completely transformed. Affirmation of the street's success came in 1986 when Steve Martin chose to produce his feature film, Roxanne, primarily in Nelson, using the local fire hall as a primary set and many historic locations for others. A walk down Baker Street through the Historic District is now one of Nelson's promoted visitor activities.[13]
Geography
Climate
Nelson has a humid continental climate (KöppenDfb) with four distinct seasons. Winters are cold and snowy, while summers are warm and drier, with cool temperatures during the night.[citation needed]
Climate data for South Slocan (~20km West of Nelson)
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Nelson had a population of 11,198 living in 4,948 of its 5,314 total private dwellings, an increase of 5.1% from its 2016 population of 10,572. With a land area of 11.93km2 (4.61sqmi), it had a population density of 938.6/km2 (2,431.1/sqmi) in 2021.[15]
Nelson's poverty rate has been ascertained to be more than twice the provincial and national averages.[16]
Ethnicity
Panethnic groups in the City of Nelson (2001−2021)
Nelson’s economy has traditionally been shaped by forestry and other extractive industries. Although these sectors play a smaller role than they once did, they remain part of the local economic base. Nelson also functions as an administrative center for the Kootenays, with regional offices of both provincial and federal government located in the city. Tourism has grown in importance and is now a key contributor to the local economy.[22]
The city has a long-standing arts and crafts community, which is reflected in the retail sector through shops selling locally made goods.[23]
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Nelson and the surrounding region were widely reported as centers of illegal marijuana production. In 2010, The Guardian noted that wealth generated through marijuana cultivation contributed to the city’s shift from a forestry-based economy toward one associated with arts, culture, and outdoor recreation, and that the effects of the global economic downturn were less visible locally at that time.[24]
Nelson has a notable concentration of retailers specializing in natural and organic foods.[25] The Kootenay Co-op operates a year-round market and grocery store focused on natural foods,[25] while the local Save-On-Foods includes an expanded selection of organic products.[26] Local manufacturing includes the Nelson Brewing Company, a microbrewery based in the city.[24]
For many decades, Nelson has benefited from art education opportunities. High-school-level art classes had always existed.[28] An independent Nelson School of Fine Art, led by Yugoslavian immigrant Zeljko Kujundzic, began to offer two-week programs in a provisional fashion, in 1960.[29] When NSFA progressed to offering an expanded program toward a diploma, it was renamed Kootenay School of Art; it was British Columbia's first art school and received support from the provincial government. In 1969, the school's studio training was relocated into the city's Notre Dame University campus. In 1972, direct support from the province for its programs ended. Soon thereafter, while remaining in Notre Dame's location, the school was steered into a "trial" merger with the regional Selkirk College. Once the school was fully merged into Selkirk College, it began offering graduate internships and became affiliated with Eastern Washington State College.[30]
When Notre Dame University closed in 1977, so did the Kootenay School of Art.[30] It was succeeded in 1979 by offerings of the University of Victoria-sponsored David Thompson University Centre in the former Notre Dame buildings. In 1991, an independent institution emphasizing fine crafts, Kootenay School of the Arts, was founded. A few years later, the school secured possession of a spacious stone heritage building in Nelson's central area. In 2006, the school was absorbed by Selkirk College as a department, remaining in its own building but renamed Kootenay Studio Arts.[30] (In addition, since the 1990s Selkirk College has offered its School of Music & Media programs in the former Notre Dame buildings.)
In 2002, former writing and visual-art faculty from the Kootenay School of the Arts founded the independent, artist-run Nelson Fine Art Centre Society. In 2005, the Society opened the Oxygen Art Centre in downtown Nelson, offering classes, exhibitions, and residencies.[31]
The stately 1902 building at 502 Vernon Street, home to the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery (NMAG), provides gallery space for travelling exhibitions and work by some of the region's artists.
Attractions
In 1998, Nelson was highlighted as the "Number One Small Town Arts Community in Canada" by the publisher of The 100 Best Small Arts Towns in America,[32] and is home to a large and diverse artisan community.[32]
The annual Artwalk,[33] a display of artwork at various venues around town, features local talent where trippers and artwalkers are referred to by the locals, can get an up close and personal look at the studios and creative processes of local artisans. July, August, and September mark three months of exhibitions throughout the downtown core in a variety of galleries and local businesses. Each month has a separate grand opening, which is usually held the first Friday evening of the month, which includes refreshments, musicians, panhandlers, and artwork for locals and visitors to enjoy as they stroll through downtown Nelson.
Nelson Marketfest
The Nelson Farmers Market, located at Cottonwood Falls Park takes place every Saturday from May through October. The Downtown Farmers Market happens on Baker Street every Wednesday from June through September. Market Night, a lively nighttime street market in the heart of Nelson's downtown, happens twice each summer. The markets all offer regional farm produce, delicious foods, and a variety of locally hand-crafted products.[citation needed]
Two local hiking trails are popular. The Pulpit Rock Trail offers a short but somewhat challenging hike that ends with a view of the city. After Pulpit Rock, the trail continues up the spine of Elephant Mountain (an informal local name for Mount Nelson) to more postcard views and eventually to the radio towers visible everywhere in the city. Hikers venturing beyond Pulpit Rock should have essential wilderness gear and exercise common sense. Public access to the Pulpit Rock trail has been restored with the opening. In the spring of 2009, a new access point was established several hundred meters west of the old trailhead, which was on private land. [citation needed]
In the winter, skiing and snowboarding are Nelson's primary outdoor activities. Thirty minutes south of town is the Whitewater Ski Resort, which provides access (via one triple chairlift, one double chairlift, one quad chairlift, and a handle tow) to 396 vertical metres (1,299ft) of beginner-to-advanced terrain. The resort also provides access to hundreds of kilometers of off-piste skiing and backcountry touring. In 2012, Nelson and Rossland, a small city southwest of Nelson, were jointly voted the best ski locales in North America by the readers of California-based Powder magazine.[citation needed]
Mountain biking is part of the local culture, and Nelson offers mountain bike-oriented trails for a variety of experience levels.[citation needed]
Rock climbing is also a popular summer activity. Kootenay Crag, Hall Siding, Grohman Narrows, and CIC Bluffs are popular city crags. Slocan Bluffs and Kinnaird are in nearby Slocan City and Castlegar. The year 2003 saw bouldering take off in Nelson, with extensive new development of bouldering areas in Grohman Narrows and nearby Robson.[citation needed]
The "Big Orange Bridge" carries Highway 3A over the Kootenay Lake (West Arm) just north of downtown.
Highways 3A and 6 pass through Nelson, while a scheduled commercial airline service is available at the West Kootenay Regional Airport in Castlegar, approximately 43 kilometres (27mi) southwest of the city. Trail Airport is another nearby airport, while Nelson Airport is several blocks away from downtown Nelson. Public transit in Nelson is provided by the West Kootenay Transit System, which runs several routes within the city and to neighboring communities.[citation needed]
Nelson Pier is a lake pier designed by Matthew Stanley in Nelson. The pier symbolizes the connection between the city and the lake.[34]
Nelson is served by the freight-only Kootenay Valley Railway, an internal business unit of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Nelson is the historic headquarters of the CPR Kootenay Division, serving as the meeting point of the CPR Boundary subdivision running towards Castlegar, British Columbia, and the CPR Nelson subdivision running towards Cranbrook.[citation needed]
Nelson is home to the Tenth Street and Silver King campuses of Selkirk College, which absorbed Kootenay School of the Arts as a department and was renamed Kootenay Studio Arts.[37]
Kootenay Columbia College of Integrative Health Sciences has three campuses on Baker Street in Nelson.[38]
The Nelson Daily News was a local newspaper that began publishing in 1902. In 2010, it was announced the paper would cease publication, with the final edition of the newspaper published on July 16, 2010.[39] The closure occurred shortly after the Nelson Daily News' acquisition by Black Press, which purchased the paper from Glacier Media Inc.[40][41]
Black Press prioritized the publication and circulation of the Nelson Star, which is published twice-weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays. It started being published twice-weekly in 2010. The Nelson Star now circulates to over 9,000 recipients.[42]
↑"Baker Street". Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
↑"South Slocan, British Columbia". Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000 (in English and French). Environment Canada. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
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Highway 6 
Highway 3A 
