Raspberry, British Columbia


Raspberry is a settlement in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is immediately north across the Columbia River from the city of Castlegar, on the east bank of the mouth of Pass Creek and to the northwest of the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers. Across Pass Creek on the same side of the Columbia is Robson, a one-time gold rush settlement and steamboat port. It is unincorporated, but part of Greater Castlegar. The two communities are grouped together for census purposes as a single designated place named as Robson/Raspberry.
Raspberry is notable as one of the few places in which traditional Doukhobor communal houses remain standing.

History

The village was built by Doukhobor settlers in 1914 for its proximity to a communal raspberry plantation. It was originally named Malinovoye, the Russian word for "raspberry". The village was expanded in the 1930s, with more Doukhobor communal houses added in 1932 and the Brilliant Community School opened in 1934.