The route of the Lulu Island Railway is today the so-called Arbutus Corridor, which runs west through Kitsilano before turning south to Kerrisdale and Marpole before crossing the North Arm of the Fraser to reach Lulu Island and the City of Richmond.
The area was renamed after Richard Marpole in 1916, and by the time it joined Vancouver in 1929, it had become one of the area's major industrial centres.
Born in Montreal, Crossan's family moved to the Isle of Man when he was eight, before returning to Canada in 1949, where he began his career with the Marpole Athletic Club.
Richard Marpole (1850 in Wales – 8 June 1920, in Vancouver, Canada) was General Superintendent with the Canadian Pacific Railway Pacific Division in Vancouver.