The black and white photo has a brief caption in red ink: “Around the bluff on River Road (West’s Creek); Fort Langley.” The photo that is now in the Langley Centennial Museum collection also has 1909 written on it.
River Road crosses West Creek in the area of 249th Street in North Langley. A paved bridge has long since replaced the wooden structure from more than a century ago, and the busy roadway is paralleled by the railroad tracks which are between the road and the Fraser River.
This week in Langley history:
Eighty Years Ago
November 9, 1939
- Complaints of untidy premises left after schools were used by outside groups prompted the school board to institute a policy curtailing non-school activities “unless there is absolutely no other building in the vicinity.”
Seventy Years Ago
November 10, 1949
- The Fort Langley Board of Trade objected to removal of the B.C. Electric Railway trams, and sought a hearing by the Public Utilities Commission on the issue.
- Fort Langley was to get a second welcome arch. To be located on Wilson Townline Road (96th Avenue), it would be similar to the one on Glover Trunk Road.
Sixty Years Ago
November 5, 1959
- City aldermen discussed pulling out of a joint City-Township plan for expansion of Langley Memorial Hospital. The City was concerned about the $1.25 million price tag.
Fifty Years Ago
November 6, 1969
- A half-mile long stockpile of 4,000 railway bed ties beside the CNR tracks east of Fort Langley was destroyed in an enormous fire that stopped CNR rail traffic for 14 hours. Authorities were convinced it was arson.
- The worst episode during Halloween celebrations involved the smashing of windows at the Aldergrove Hotel, Montrose Cleaners, Super Valu, and the Rose Garden Hotel.
Forty Years Ago
November 7, 1979
- Langley School Board was attacked from both sides in a staffing dispute at Peterson Road Elementary School. A large delegation of parents at the board’s meeting demanded an extra portable classroom along with an additional teacher.
Thirty Years Ago
November 8, 1989
- Eighteen Langley landowners, each purporting to represent 20 others, attended Township Council’s meeting to voice support for equestrian trails.
- Some parents reported that their children, who had gone through an abuse-awareness program called CARE, had been coming home with sexually explicit language, sexually oriented play, nightmares, and unjustified fears of adults and brothers.
- A group of seniors, funded by a New Horizons grant, was working on a book about the history of Sharon United Church and Murrayville.
Twenty Years Ago
November 9, 1999
- There were 112,667 people living in Langley, according to Ministry of Finance statistics: 24,178 in Langley City and 88,489 in the Township.
- City-Township relations appeared back on the mend, as representatives from the two municipalities sat down together fro the second time in as many months to discuss the budgets of the co-owned W.C. Blair Recreation Centre and the Municipal Athletic Park.
November 12, 1999
- Despite poor weather, large crowds gathered at local cenotaphs for Remembrance Day ceremonies.
