ENDERBY

Enderby is a small riverfront city, perched along Highway #97A and located in the North Okanagan Valley. It is also situated approximately halfway between Vernon and Salmon Arm, alongside the banks of the Shuswap River, about 13 kilometers north of Armstrong.

Known previously as Lambley’s Landing and Belvedere, Enderby was first settled in 1866 by Alexander Leslie Fortune who bought, settled, and took up land here near a bend in the Shuswap River. Fortune also became the first Caucasian settler to live in the North Okanagan Valley. To commemorate this, its name was then changed to Fortune’s Landing shortly afterward. Fortune’s land soon became an ideal sternwheeler landing for paddlewheel ships from Kamloops in order to ship supplies to the Okanagan Valley. The town began to grow in the early-1900s when tracks for the Okanagan and Shuswap Railroad were laid and soon after, Enderby, had a sawmill and a flour mill open for business.

Enderby today is named by its present-day name, after a place of the same name that is mentioned in several paragraphs of the famous Jean Ingelow-written poem “High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire”. This poem tells the story of a flood that happened in 1571 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England.

Villagers were then saved from the rising waters by church bells playing the tune “The Brides of Enderby” that was used as an evacuation alarm to warn the people of the town.

Here’s a paragraph of this poem:

The old mayor climbed the belfry tower,
The ringers ran by two, by three;
Pull, if ye never pulled before;
Good ringers, pull your best,” quoth he
“Play uppe, play uppe, O Boston bells!
Ply all your changes, all your swells,
Play uppe, ‘The Brides of Enderby’

The story of why it is called “Enderby” isn’t really clear but one theory is that in 1887 during an afternoon tea party with some ladies, the Spallumcheen River (now known as the Shuswap River) began to overflow its banks. This is when one of the ladies, Mrs. Henry Oliver became inspired to recite the aforementioned and popular poem.

One of only a few communities with a population of smaller than 3,000 people that are actually considered to be a city, Enderby has many recreational activities including recreational boating, golfing, and many great hiking trails.

Incorporated officially as a city in 1905, its major industries include that of farming activities, such as cattle ranching and dairy farming, in addition to small-scale lumber manufacturing.

Highly regarded as the original inhabitants to Enderby, the Spallumcheen Indian Band, a branch of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) First Nations, have lived in the Enderby area for well over 10,000 years to fish and hunt near the banks of the Shuswap River.