Over the years it’s been written both ways, and people often ask me which is correct: Medina Street or Medana Street? The answer is Medana!

 

Paul Medana–or Medina, as he was sometimes later called–was born in Italy in 1813, and arrived in Victoria during the heady, gold-rush era of the late 1850s. Unlike most of his fellow gold-seekers, he had money in his pocket, and wasted no time in investing in downtown real estate.

 

At that time, little was left of Fort Victoria, established at the foot of Fort Street by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1843, but the settlement was spreading to the north and west. On its south side, James Bay was a real bay–a shallow inlet extending east from the harbour to where the Church of Our Lord now stands, on the corner of Blanshard and Belleville.

 

Behind the first, wooden, pagoda-like parliament buildings on the bay’s southern shore, much of the peninsula was farmland. Paul Medana bought a huge acreage facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and built a fine home (long since demolished) near the corner of Menzies and Dallas for his wife Mary and their large family.

 

Real estate ventures took up most of his time, and much of his James Bay land remained undeveloped. Over the years, Medina’s Grove, as it was erroneously labelled, became a firm favourite with local residents. It stretched from Simcoe Street south to Dallas, and from Menzies Street west to Pilot–a wonderful, wild, fence-free place, covered with trees and shrubs, with clearings ideal for picnics.

 

In November 1868, Medana suffered an aneurysm and died. His fellow freemasons accompanied the coffin on its journey to the Quadra Street Burying Ground, which since 1855 had provided a final resting place for many of Victoria’s early pioneers, and was rapidly filling up to capacity.

 

Four years after Medana’s death, when the city was looking for a location for a second cemetery, his James Bay property became the focus of debate. Local residents, horrified at the thought of losing their favourite pleasure ground, objected strongly, and fortunately the city turned its attentions to Ross Bay instead.

 

In 1880, Medina’s grove was subdivided. Trees were felled, land was cleared, streets were created. But Paul Medana has not been forgotten. One of the few remaining monuments in Pioneer Square, next to Christ Church Cathedral, bears the words “In Memory Of Paul Medana, Native of Italy, Died November 14, 1868, aged 53 years.” And at the eastern edge of what was James Bay’s favourite picnic area, a quiet, tree-lined street still bears Paul Medana’s name.