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www.parkscanada.gc.ca/langley ***** The Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Langley in 1827 about 50 km. from the mouth of the Fraser River. The Company's first fort was established on the Fraser River in present day Derby Reach Regional Park, two miles downstream from what is now the village of Fort Langley. Recognition that the site of the fort was vulnerable to flooding and too far from its farming operations resulted in its relocation further upstream on a higher piece of land. A second fort was thus established at the site of the current reconstructed Fort in 1839. It burned in 1840 and was immediately rebuilt in the same location. The Fort mainly served as a provisioning post producing agricultural products and Salmon. The Hudson's Bay Company Fort went to pasture after the company moved its operations to the village of Fort Langley in 1886. From 1888 to the 1920's, the Mavis family farm occupied the land that would later become a National Historic Site. In the late teens and early 1920's, many became interested in the preservation of the historic fort site. Fort Langley was recognized by the federal government's Historic Sites and Monuments Board. At the Board's urging, the local community raised money to purchase three acres of the fur trading post in 1924, including the last remaining building. The HSMB and Native Sons unveiled a plaque commemorating the site in 1925. Between 1931 and 1958, the Native Sons operated a museum display in the Store House, the last remaining Hudson's Bay Company building. In 1955, the Fort was declared a National Historic Site. During the 1958 Centennial (the 100 year anniversary of Governor James Douglas declaring the mainland of present-day British Columbia a British colony), the federal government undertook the partial reconstruction of palisades and buildings at the Fort. The same year saw the construction of the Langley Centennial Museum.

The Hopeline District Women's Institute was officially incorporated on November 30, 1964 under the Farmers' and Women's Institute Act, 1956 and the Farmers' and Women's Institute Act Amendment Act, 1961. The Institute sought to promote Women's Institutes, facilitate greater cooperation of Women's Institutes particularly I the Fraser Valley area, to raise funds for the Institute to further its aims, and to arrange for District Women's Institute Annual meetings. Representatives from the following Women's Institutes signed the constitution: Ryder Lake, Vedder, Pine Grove, Upper Sumas, Peardonville, Poplar Manor, Hope, Rosedale, and Chilliwack. Prior to this date there were unofficial coalitions of various Women's Institutes within the area. In the late 1990s the Hopeline District Women's Institute and Douglas District Women's Institute began to hold joint meetings and coordinate activities. On April 7, 1998 the Hopeline District Women's Institute and the Douglas District Women's Institute seceded from the British Columbia Women's Institute. At this time, the Women's Community Institute of the Pacific Region was formed.

Stella Evangeline Dynes was born on May 22, 1898, to Valentine and Victoria E. Dynes, nee Ryall. She married Benjamin Franklin Gummow on January 1, 1920, and they had two children: John Benjamin, born April 25, 1922, and Noreen (birthdate unknown). Benjamin died on October 23, 1942. Stella married Herbert J. Welch on November 1, 1958; he died on April 27, 1959. Stella was very involved in the Women's Institute in British Columbia.

See Also: East Chilliwack Women's Institute, Ridgedale Women's Institute