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Term Source: dhv

Term Source: Sears List of Subject Headings (16th. Ed.)

Paul Murray was born in Ireland in 1811 and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eighteen. the Murray family settled in Oxford County, Ontario, and ten years later Paul married Lucy Bruce. They bought land in Zorra and had seven children together. In May 1874, after his children were grown, Paul left Ontario and relocated in B.C., accompanied by three of his sons. Their first home in Langley was a roughly built shelter they made for themselves from a gigantic fir tree, and after his wife and two of hisdaughters arrived, they all lived there together. After these humble beginnings, Murray opened a hotel on Old Yale Road to service travelers making their way into the interior, building up a reputation as one of the finest carpenters in the area. The corner where the hotel was eventually came to be known as Murray's Corners, as the family had 160 acres of land on each corner. Murray's Corners eventually came to be known as Murrayville, and all of Paul's sons worked on Old Yale Road, building more hotels and other businesses to increase commerce. Paul was an ordained church elder, dring a time when there were no official churches and services were held in a small schoolhouse on the corner of Glover Road and Old Yale Road. Holding the title of founder of Murrayville, Paul Murray died in 1903. Murray's Corners did not officially become Murrayville until 1911, when the local post office changed its name to Murrayville Post Office.

The oldest part of this structure dates from just after the turn of the century, when it was originally constructed as both a blacksmith shop and carriage works. It was built by Ed Rudick for Dave and Jim Monahan. In 1907, Arthur Anderson came to work for the Monahan brothers. Anderson subsequently took over the operation of the shop in 1912 (one year after the building's foreclosure). The front section of the garage was replaced in 1922 with a new building, constructed by Ab Sherritt. Anderson continued to shoe horses in the older part of the building, while his son, Benny, operated a service station in the new addition. In 1944, Anderson sold the building to the future mayor of Langley City, Len Nicholas, who operated an International harvester dealership on site until 1958.