Langley Centennial Museum
Hello, Guest
Add As Favorite
Language
Viewing Object
Print
Saved List Options
My Saved List
Select
/
Clear
Create a New Saved List
Add
Object Description
Share
Object Name
Print, Photographic
Object ID
4515
Title
May Day May pole dancing outside the Fort Langley Community Hall, with the drygoods store (background).
Date
[between 1931 and 1936].
Description
People outside the Fort Langley Community Hall for May Day and May pole dancing. One of the Ushaw girls are probably dancing, as the photo was donated by a member of their family.
People/Subject
Duckworth's (store)
While there was a Duckworths' Store in Fort Langley for a time, the Duckworths' in Langley Prairie was located in two units in the Lyttleton Building on Fraser Highway before moving to a stand alone building farther east on Fraser Highway in 1938. Duckworth's later had a store in Cloverdale, too, but closed in 1973 because of the competition from national chain stores. Auld-Phillips took over the space and concentrated on the sale of ladies clothing.
Term Source: HPC Record (HPC-23/911); Warren Sommer's "From Prairie to City: A History of the City of Langley"
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.
May Day celebrations
Fort Langley established its May Day in 1922, and it continues to be an annual tradition (2003). In Langley, May Day refers to the 24 of May, the date of the birth of Queen Victoria. The first May Day was held in Fort Langley, then the event moved to Langley Prairie from 1923-1957. In 1958 the Langley Kinsmen gave up the event, and it returned to Fort Langley where it was organized by the Community Improvement Society and the Fort Langley Lions club, and finally a community committee. May Day celebrations include the crowning of the May Queen and the May pole dancing.
Superbase See Also: May Day Celebrations - Langley Prairie
Term Source: Warren Sommer's "From Prairie to City", p. 154.
Print
Saved List Options
My Saved List
Select
/
Clear
Create a New Saved List
Add
Opens in a new window.
Argus v4.4.2.32 - Langley Centennial Museum