Midway is in the West Kootenay region of south central British Columbia. The village lies west of Greenwood and east of Osoyoos along Highway 3. Name origin Around 1884, Louis Eholt obtained a preemption that as a popular stopping place for travellers became known geographically as Eholt's. (A railway junction called Eholt later arose to the east.) In 1893, Capt. Robert C. Adams purchased the property and created the townsite subdivision. The initial name was Boundary Creek or Boundary City, but this had changed to Midway by 1895. Adams never provided a rational reason for the new name. The generally accepted explanation is that the village lies approximately midway between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. A less plausible theory is that he named it after Midway Plaisance at the Chicago World Fair of 1893. Railways In 1899, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) extended the Columbia and Western Railway to Midway, creating a standard gauge link to Nelson. The Great Northern Railway (GN) arrived westward from Curlew, Washington in 1905. Despite CP opposition, the GN line westward reached Princeton in 1909. In 1914, the CP Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) connected to Penticton in 1914, and Vancouver in 1915. The GN track west of Curlew was abandoned in 1935. Passenger service on the KVR ended in 1964. The Penticton–Beaverdell track was abandoned in 1973, and Beaverdell–Midway in 1979. The CP eastward almost to Castlegar was abandoned in 1991. Early community The post office and school opened in 1894. A provincial police constable was stationed from 1895. During the mining boom the population peaked at around 700 in 1895, falling to around 200–250 from the late 1890s, and 100 by the late 1910s. In 1908, two masked bandits murdered Charles L. Thomet, a hotel proprietor. Despite a $1,000 reward, no suspects were brought to trial. Midway incorporated as a village in 1967. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Midway had a population of 651 living in 324 of its 340 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 649. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Government Midway's local government consists of a mayor and four councillors elected to four year terms. The current mayor is Martin Fromme. The councillors are Dick Dunsdon, Darrin Metcalf, Fred Grouette, and Gary Schierbeck. James McMynn, Midway's first mayor, was