Langley Centennial Museum
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Object Name
Print, Photographic
Object ID
5200
Title
Aerial view of part of the Interfor site, Bedford Channel and Fort Langley.
Date
[1991 or 1992].
Description
Aerial view of part of the Interfor site, Bedford Channel and Fort Langley. Lines up with photo #5199.
People/Subject
Aerial Views
Bedford Channel
Fort Langley (village)
Fort Langley CN Station
The Fort Langley CNoR Station (originally called "Langley") was built in 1915 using one of the Canadian Northern Railway's "third class" designs used until 1924. It was originally built approximately two blocks farther west, almost on the back of Charles Hope's property. In 1918 Canadian Northern became part of Canadian National, and the CN station was enlarged to accommodate larger living quarters for the Station Agent. The station was used full time until 1972 when it was reduced to a flag stop with passenger service being completely terminated in 1980. In 1983 the station was moved to its present location and restored by the Langley Heritage Society in cooperation with the Township of Langley. It was designated a heritage site on Feb. 27, 1984. The site now occupied by the station and Mrs. Simpson's garden was originally the home of Fort Langley's first firehall.
Fort Langley Community Hall
This location was the site of the first town hall, although it was closer to the north-east corner of the lot, near the Fort Grocery. In 1924 the Fort Langley Women's Institute, led by the second Mrs. Hector Morrison, started the Fort Langley Community Improvement Society with the idea of building a new town hall. In 1925 the old town hall grounds are purchased from the municipality for $137.13, the amount of the tax bill still owing.
Although the Fort Langley Community Improvement Association had been primarily founded in 1924 by the second Mrs. Hector Morrison (nee Hadden), George Young became a very active influential member as well. Archibald Campbell Hope, architect brother of local Charles Edward Hope, was commissioned to plan the new hall. Construction on the building did not begin until 1930. On March 6, 1931, the formal opening and Inaugural Dance was held, and that same year maple trees were planted by members of the board, those along the north by the women and along the south by the men, and the cherry trees were later donated by another supporter. Originally the hall was painted dark brown.
The Community Hall became a designated Heritage site September 10, 1979.
Fort Langley Sawmill
Sawmill located in Fort Langley, on the Fraser River on the west side of the Haldi Bridge. Developed in 1920s by Messers Irvin, Young and Kidd of New Westminster. Believed they started using the site as a tie mill in about 1928 or 1929, and later enlarged the operation to include dimension lumber. Wilfred (Winky) Muench used to graze his cattle on the west end of the mill site. The mill used to burn their waste on the land to the west of the mill, but with a breeze it got all of the village ladies laundry dirty. Local tradition records the mill as having a series of short-term owners in the 1930s. An Indo-Canadian, Lal Singh, bought the mill in the mid 1930s and ran it as the Fort Langley Sawmill. Singh sold the mill to a New Westminster firm (John R. Morley) who ran it as "Fort Langley Sawmills Limited" and subsequently sold it to McLellan and Fred Chadwick in about 1942. Chadwick built the water tower. The Langley Advance newspaper reported on May 11, 1939, that Langley businessmen were among the 17 who formed a company to acquire the Sawmill, which had been sitting idle for the previous 18 months. Due to flooding in the 1940s, a raised platform was built, as well as a larger dyke in 1949. The mill burned in the early 1950s and was rebuilt in 1951-52 as McDonald Cedar, by Bob and Ian McDonald. The McDonalds built the beehive burner in the mid 1950s. Sauder Industries purchased the mill in 1973, but retained the familiar McDonald Cedar name for many years afterward. The mill later became part of the Interfor network of mills. Dimension lumber ceased to be manufactured in about 1977, when the mill was retooled to become a remanufacturing plant. The mill operated until 1996 and was demolished and sold as the Bedford Landing housing development in approximately 2006. Also includes the Fort-to-Fort trail, which, in 2010, began including artifacts along the trail, including a 50 foot saw, to commemorate the mill.
mills
See From: sawmills
See Also: logging, logging camps
railroads
Saint George's (St. George's) Anglican Church
(Now at 9160 Church Street). The Hudson's Bay Company sold the south-west section of their Fort Langley property to Alexander Mavis in the 1880s. The local cemetery, where many early settlers and HBC employees were laid to rest, was included in this sale. Mavis erected a fence around the cemetery to keep wandering cattle from grazing amongst the gravestones. He later subdivided his farm and sold the cemetery with adjacent land to the Anglican Parish for $50. In October 1901, St. George's Anglican, a small Carpenter Gothic Revival style church, opened on the site to serve the surrounding communities (including Milner, Glen Valley and Langley). It was built by Duncan Buie, with BC Mills providing the building supplies and the Coulter & Berry General Store supplying the hardware. The original windows were all single-hung sash with plate glass. The total cost for building St. George's, including the land and some furnishings, came to $744.40. A local craftsman by the name of Joe Sailes created the lectern and other fixtures. A striking iron cross is mounted over the front door and details the artistic aspect of the blacksmith's craft. It is thought to be a marker once gracing the grave of a Hawaiian (Kanaka) HBC employee. 1912 saw the Chancel enlarged and the installation of the stained glass window over the altar. A small bell tower was added in 1914 and rebuilt in 1982. The bell is purported to have come from the estate of Port Kells' Carl von Mackensen, a German loyalist interned during WWI. Billy Brown donated new front doors to St. George's in 1935 (after finding they were the wrong size for the church that originally commissioned them). A hall with full basement was constructed at the rear of the church in the late 1940s to facilitate growing social functions. Memorial gifts (often stained glass) add to the church's interior decoration.
See Also: Pioneer Cemetery
Term Source: Langley's Heritage
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Argus v4.4.2.32 - Langley Centennial Museum