https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Westminster#History
Considering how much smaller New_Westminster is than Vancouver, Burnaby & Surrey, NW permitted its first 40 & 50 story building before it even had 100,000 residents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensborough,_New_Westminster#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Westminster#Geography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_British_Columbia_(1866-1871)
Unfortunatly, by the 1860s NW didn't start to acquire much more of the Burrard_Peninsula. It should have also annexed more or all of Lulu_Island. However, as a provincial backwater, there just wasn't a long-range vision to be that big on the BC map.
Then by the mid & late 1860s, Victoria,_British_Columbia went through the process of becoming the new capital of BC. Unfortunatly by the 1960s & 1970s, NW was firmly entrenched into the small city mentality trap.
Since the 1980s, NW should have been promoted and developed as the link-city between Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey & especially the Tri-Cities.
