About Lake Country

The Interior Salish were the first residents of the area and called Carr's Landing Cus-in-so-nook, meaning Place of Fickle Women. The early pioneers called it Sunnywold.

Andrew Carr and his wife Agnes built their home with the Carr's Landing wharf built below it, just north of where Jealous Fruits is located today. Settlers such as the Carrs, Thorlaksons and Gibsons farmed close to the lake and ranchers like Joseph Cools ran cattle into the Charolais area.

The small Sunnywold School opened off Commonage Road and became the centre of the new community. For decades, while Vernon, Kelowna, and Winfield grew rapidly, Carr's Landing remained a quiet, rural, farming community.

Coral Beach was one of the first areas to be subdivided in the early 1960's, and much development has occurred since then.

Settlement of Okanagan Centre began around 1900 when Northcote Caeser and T.F. Valentine bought Rainbow Ranch. In 1903, they sold most of the ranch but kept 18 acres of the south-west corner and continued ranching.

By 1910, there were 2 hotels, a general store, a butcher shop, and a packing house and cannery under construction. By 1913, orchardists were packing their own fruit and the community was at the height of its development.

At the start of World War I many men departed for war and many didn't return. This was the beginning of the decline in the development of Okanagan Centre. It was deepened by the loss of the Grandview Hotel, which burned down in 1919, followed by the closure of the general store, which left residents without a place to shop.

Oyama was named after Field Marshall Iwao Oyama who fought in the Japanese-Russian War from 1900 to 1905. Oyama was also the name given to the first post office in the area which was established between 1906 and 1908.

As early as 1867, Thomas Wood and Cornelius O'Keefe drove cattle from Washington State to the north end of Okanagan Lake. In 1893 the first white settlers began arriving. Ranching and the planting of orchards started in the 1900s. By 1906, fruit growing and packing was the major industry. The Vernon Fruit Union was packing 3000 boxes a day; the season's harvest was 210,000 boxes of apples and 10,000 to 20,000 boxes of soft fruits a year. The Wood Lake Fruit Lands Company was formed in 1907 and fruit growing became the main industry. More settlers arrived after World War I and many of their descendants still live in Oyama today.

With the construction of the CN rail line through Oyama, the transporting of goods over land became a more cost-effective means of transportation than the steamboat. By the late 1940's, road improvements and increasing ownership of vehicles paved the way for tourist opportunities.

The Kalamalka Agricultural Association was established in February 1914 under the leadership of Price Ellison. In August 1937 a general meeting changed the name of the Association to the Oyama Community Club. The Club is still actively involved in the community today.

Thomas Wood, the man responsible for the current names of Wood Lake and Winfield, bought 160 acres of land and started Winfield ranch in 1871.

Settlers began to arrive and there were many signs of community development in the 1890's - the first telephone, the first fruit trees planted and the first church services held at Winfield Lodge (Thomas Wood's lodge).

The first post office opened in 1909 and a school opened in 1910 where the Winfield Memorial Hall is today. Winfield Elementary was built in 1923 at the corner of Highway 97 and Berry Road. It was shut down in 2002 after being a school for 80 years.

It was not until 1920 that an official name was chosen for the area, at which point 'Winfield' was chosen, after Thomas Wood's Winfield Ranch.