| Feature Type: | City - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a city municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Surrounding the junction of Nicola and Coldwater Rivers, SW of Kamloops, Kamloops Division Yale Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 50°06'44"N, 120°47'18"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92I/2 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Incorporated as a City 1 April 1911; Merritt (City) confirmed 7 April 1949 on 92I/SE, as labelled on BC map 2B, 1914. Re-incorporated as a Village Municipality 1 January 1958; re-incorporated as a Town Municipality 1 January 1965; re-incorporated as a City 15 December 1981; Merritt (City) re-confirmed 15 December 1981. Boundary amendment effective 31 December 1993, gazette date 27 January 1994; confirmed 13 July 1994 on 92 I/2. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Merritt Post Office was opened 15 August 1907, W.R. Longstaff postmaster. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Prior to 1905, Merritt was called Charters, The Forks, Forksdale and The Forks of Nicola. (Nicola Valley Historical Quarterly, Vol 2, No 4). Source: included with note |
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Originally called "Forksdale" because of its position at the junction of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers. Re-named Merritt in August 1906 after William Hamilton Merritt, a mining engineer from Toronto, and one of the promoters of the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal & Railway Co. It is not clear if Merritt had actually settled in the town that would bear his name. See also the municipality's own website. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |