Point Ellice Bridge Disaster, Bridge disaster site in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The Point Ellice Bridge was a railway crossing that spanned Upper Harbour, connecting Bay Street between Victoria and Victoria West. The structure became known to history after a streetcar accident destroyed its original form.

On May 26, 1896, a streetcar carrying roughly 140 passengers broke through the bridge during a celebration and sank into the water. The crash killed about 55 people and prompted stricter safety rules for railways and bridges across British Columbia.

The bridge and the point take their name from Edward Ellice, who joined the North West Company in 1805 and pressed for its merger with the Hudson's Bay Company, later serving as HBC deputy governor from 1858 to 1863. After the collapse, neighbours at Point Ellice turned the Grant residence at 304 Bay Street into a recovery site, laying the dead on the lawn and the living in the drawing room.

The bridge still carries Bay Street across the Upper Harbour between Victoria and Victoria West, at the point where the harbour gives way to the Selkirk Water. The crossing is open to traffic, so the collapse site is best viewed on foot from the surrounding streets and waterfront rather than from a stopped vehicle.

The bridge spans the point where the Upper Harbour ends and the Selkirk Water begins. Point Ellice and the bridge were named for Edward Ellice, who joined the North West Company in 1805 and was largely responsible for its decision to merge with the Hudson's Bay Company; he was deputy governor of the HBC from 1858 to 1863.