Killarney

This area is primarily single-family residential, with some multi-family homes, and even highrises in the recently-developed Fraserlands along the Fraser River. Also in this area, Champlain Heights offer retail services and amenities in walking distance. For those seeking a reprieve from city activity, Everett Crowley Park’s 40 hectares offer walking trails and an off-leash area for dogs. Killarney is in the southeastern corner of the city, bordering Burnaby and the Fraser River.

Killarney is well populated with parks and green spaces, reflecting its forest history. The largest is Everett Crowley Park, along Kerr Street and north of Marine Drive; this park was originally a forested area with a ravine and waterfall that was used as a landfill for many years before being closed and reclaimed to its present form. Across Kerr is the Fraserview Golf Course, which also includes a number of trails. Killarney Park is now the location of Killarney Secondary School and a Community Centre, which features a swimming pool, is built on a reclaimed bog. There is also a Community Centre in Champlain Heights, near a commercial sector at the corner of East 54th and Kerr. A trail runs along the Fraser River through green space stretching along the riverfront. It also features a newly constructed Olympic ice rink for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The music video of Canadian singer Michael Bublé’s song “Haven’t Met You Yet” was shot in Killarney Market at the corner of East 49th Avenue and Elliott Street in Killarney. After 25 years as a family-owned grocer, Killarney Market was sold to another local independent retailer in 2018. The location is now known as 88 Supermarket.

Neighbourhood history and heritage

Although the first settlers arrived in the late 1800s, Killarney remained an area of second-growth forest and farms until after WWII. The first non-native settler to the area was William Rowling in 1868.

A surveyor in the British military, he received the only land military grant in Vancouver for his service to the British Empire. Before long Rowling and his family owned 3.5 kilometres of land along the Fraser River shoreline, including all of Killarney’s riverfront land.