| Feature Type: | District Municipality (1) - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a district municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | N end Windermere Lake, SE of Golden, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 50°30'20"N, 116°01'49"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82K/9 |
| Related Maps: |
82K/8 82K/9 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Canterbury (settlement) identified in 1909 BC Gazetteer. "Invermere (townsite), not Canterbury" adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924. Incorporated as a Village Municipality 22 May 1951; name confirmed 3 February 1954 on 82/NW and 82/NE. Re-incorporated as a District Municipality July 1983 (date not cited), called District of Invermere; name confirmed 29 November 1984 on 82K/9. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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The name means "at the mouth of the lake" - from the Anglo Saxon or Middle English words "inver" for mouth, and "mere" for lake. So-named c1911 by Windermere resident Robert Randolph Bruce (1866-1942), prospector and president of Columbia Valley Irrigated Fruit Lands, later 13th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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In 1890, in consequence of some local mining excitement, Edmumd T. Johnson laid out a townsite here and named it Copper City. In 1900 the Canterbury Townsite Company took over the site and renamed it after the famous cathedral city in England. Finally, the Columbia Valley Irrigation Fruit Lands Comany acquired the site and the name was changed to Invermere.... Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997 |
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Two miles north of Invermere on Toby Creek, Parks Canada has installed a National Historic Site monument to mark the site of Kootenae House, the first non-native trading post on the Columbia River or its tributaries, built by David Thompson of the North West Company in August 1807. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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The traditional name for this site is Kya ·knuqti?it, pronounced kya-k-nook-thi it, [meaning/significance not provided]. (April 2006 advice from Janice Alpine, Ktunaxa Language Program) Source: included with note |