4th & Bruce Square Through The Years

November 30, 2025

On the corner of 4th Street and Bruce Avenue in Harewood, sits the appropriately-named 4th and Bruce Square.

Back in the day, this spot was home to a gas and service station – and in more recent times, a cleaners, a video store, a Vietnamese market and restaurant, and The Mandarin House Chinese restaurant.

Just across the street from Harewood's first store (now Gateway To India) and the old Fun Centre arcade and pool hall, the Square stated as the Calverley Service Station and Five Acre Garage, as shown in a June 16, 1928 newspaper clipping from The Nanaimo Daily Free Press.

The Calverleys were a well-known family in Harewood who owned the original Five Acre lot where The Square now stands (and the lot next door).

Over the years the gas station was torn down and a new building was built that still stands today.

Check out these photos, showing the iconic Mr. 1 Hour Cleaners sign and how The Square looked in 2009 and 2012.

Images from Google Maps and the Nanaimo Archives (Item #: 1992026A-P127 from 1965)