| Feature Type: | Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | E side Kootenay River, N of Fort Steele, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°46'59"N, 115°44'03"W at the approximate population centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82G/13 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Wasa (Station) adopted 12 December 1939 on 82 SE, as labelled on BC map 1EM, 1915 et seq. Confirmed 6 January 1949 on Columbia River Basin manuscript # 57. Identified as Wasa (Post Office & Railway Point) in the 1977 supplement to the Gazetteer. Form of name changed to Wasa (community) 30 April 1982 on 82 G/13. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Wasa Post Office was opened 1 April 1902; closed 16 April 1934, since re-opened. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named by Nils Hansen after Vasa, a coastal community in his native Finland. See also Wasa Lake (lake) Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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The name of the Finnish city is Vaasa, a reference to the House of Vasa, which was the reigning royal family at the time the city was founded in 1606. Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff. |