Sergeant Theodore (Ted) Brue of the Langley Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing on the Fraser (Trans-Canada) Highway at Otter Road.

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Object Description

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Object Name

Print, Photographic

Object ID

2019.038.007

Title

Sergeant Theodore (Ted) Brue of the Langley Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing on the Fraser (Trans-Canada) Highway at Otter Road.

Date

19 Dec. 1957.

Description

Photograph, b&w; of Sergeant Theodore (Ted) Brue of the Langley Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing on the Fraser (Trans-Canada) Highway at Otter Road; Brue is in uniform on the left hand side of the photo on the north side of Fraser Highway; the photographer is looking east along the highway; the sign for the Esso Gas Station on the left can be seen, as well as the Star Drive In Theatre; on the south side of the road the police car is parked, and there is a sign at the side of the road that reads "Otter District Farmers' Institute 1/4 mile"; beyond this you can see three parked cars, Otter Road (248th Street), and St. Alban's Church.

People/Subject

Brue, Theodore (Ted) Olaf (1911-1997)

Theodore (Ted) Olaf Brue was born in Provost, Alberta in 1911. When he was 10 the family moved to Vancouver, where he attended Britannia High School. After high school he returned to Provost, eventually taking half interest in the store his father still owned there. He married Frances Demskie in 1934 in Strome, Alberta and the couple had two children, Anita and Jeanette. They left Provost in 1936 and Brue was involved in various enterprises before opening a store for himself in Vancouver. In 1941 he joined the BC Provincial Police Force and was posted at Rivers Inlet. He then moved to headquarters in Victoria and then after a course, was stationed in Richmond until 1944, when he was transferred to Prince Rupert. He was there until 1947, and during this time he became a constable. Next he went to Terrace, where he was in charge of the detachment. The RCMP took over the provincial force in August 1950, and in 1952 Brue received his corporal's stripes. He was transferred to Langley in 1954 where he was in charge of the detachment, and the family bought 2/3 acre at 20264 Michaud Crescent. When he started in Langley the police office was on Topping Road (now 204th Street), in the old O'Neill house, in the same building as the Columbia Funeral Parlour. Brue was in charge of organizing the detachment when the city broke away from the municipality a year later; the municipality's detachment moved to Fraser Highway (then the Trans-Canada Highway) and Livingstone Road (232nd St.), and Brue was in charge at this new location (this building later became a plumbing shop called EDS Pumps). Cells were in the basement. On main floor was a courtroom (on left when facing the building, facing south) and police office (on right, separated from the court room by a wall and/or staircase) and the RCMP members could sleep upstairs. Brue's daughter Jeanette remembers that they painted the court room pink (not Ted Brue's choice). One time, an officer had to come down and declare a court session open - while wearing his pajamas. The building was demolished in approx. 2018. In 1957 Brue was made a sergeant. Brue was very musical and could play piano, saxophone and harmonica, could hear a song once or twice and play it, and also composed music and poetry. He was a member of the Masons, Tsimpsian Lodge No. 58, and attended the Masonic Lodge on Fraser Highway, was on the RCMP degree team, and belonged to the Royal Arch. He also curled with the police team in Cloverdale during his time in Langley. Ted and Frances were members of the Langley United Church. After Langley, Sergeant Brue was transferred to Brandon, Manitoba in 1961, and Winnipeg in 1963. In 1969 Brue moved to Richmond, where he officially retired from the RCMP at age 58. After his RCMP retirement he served with the BC Corps of Commissionaires at the Workman's Compensation Board until age 65. He passed away at age 85 on February 6, 1997.

Fraser Highway

See Also: streets and roads

Otter (B.C.)

In 1892, settlers along the Yale Wagon road about 7 miles east of Langley Prairie decided that there were sufficient children to warrant a school. After its completion, a question of naming it arose. Two of the homesteaders, Best and Brown, ex-army veterans who had served under Col. William Dillion Otter on the Prairies from 1885-1887, suggested calling the school "Otter School." This name was agreed upon. In the late 1890's, a community hall carrying the name "Otter" was built. It was at this time that the rough wagon road running from the US border in the south to Telegraph Trail in the north was named "Otter Road." By 1909, the V.V.&E. Railway intersected Otter Road less than one mile north of Yale Road. Along the many spur lines, industry was booming and in 1910, a shingle mill, a saw mill and a lumber mill all carried the name "Otter." In 1910, the BCE Railway crossed Otter Road 4 miles north of Yale Road and built a railway station called "Warwhoop." The name was largely ignored as residents continued to use the name "Otter."

Otter Co-op

Business

Otter District Farmers' Institute (Otter Co-op)

The Otter District Farmers' Institute represented farmers and agricultural interests in the Otter district of Langley, B.C. Since 1922, the Otter District Farmers Institute and its successor, Otter Co-op, have been a part of the Otter community.
Term Source: BCAUL

police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police or Mounties (RCMP) or "Gendarmerie royale du Canada" (GRC), is both the federal police force and the national police of Canada. The RCMP is descended from the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) and the Dominion Police, founded in 1873 and 1868 respectively. The NWMP was given the "Royal" title in 1904, becoming the Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP). In 1920, it was renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force when the RNWMP was merged with the Dominion Police. The RCMP acts as the federal police force of Canada, enforcing federal laws. It also has contracts with Canada's three territories and eight of its provinces to serve as their provincial/territorial police force. Most of Canada's provinces, while constitutionally responsible for law and order, prefer to sub-contract policing to the RCMP. They consequently operate under the direction of the provinces in regard to provincial and municipal law enforcement. The exceptions are Ontario, Quebec, and parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, which have retained their own provincial police forces. Additionally, many towns and cities throughout Canada also contract the RCMP to serve as their municipal police force.
See Also: police
Term Source: www.wikipedia.org

Saint Alban's Rectory (St. Alban's Manse)

This building was identified as the "St. Alban's Manse" in the 1985 inventory. "Rectory" is the correct term.

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