Eighty Years Ago
April 8, 1937
• Tenders were called to build a ferry wharf at Fort Langley, although doubt was expressed that a Fraser River crossing would soon be in service. A dispute over a location for a wharf on the north side of the river appeared nowhere near being settled.
• Rev. Nerbison was appointed to another five-year term as minister of Beaver Presbyterian Church.
Seventy Years Ago
April 10, 1947
• Fort Langley Chamber of Commerce was concerned about silt in the Bedford Channel. The channel was fully dredged in 1913, and again in 1937, but only to the Haldi Bridge, and silted up again in only four years.
• Langley old age pensioners petitioned the Dominion government for: $50 a month at age 65; free medical and dental care; and abolition of the means test.
Sixty Years Ago
April 4, 1957
• Inaugural run of the Fort Langley-Albion ferry was tentatively set for May.
• Babysitter Rosalie Floberg, 14, was credited with saving the lives of five children, aged nine months to five years, from a fire that started in their home.
• Natural gas lines were being run through Langley City and Murrayville. Pipe for Aldergrove and Fort Langley was to be in the ground within a week.
Fifty Years Ago
April 6, 1967
• Canada’s first commercial glider training air strip was opened at Fort Langley by Skyway Air Services of Langley. A large sandbar and wooded area were bulldozed for the 1,000-foot-long and 90-foot-wide strip on the bank of the Fraser River.
• Ribboned medallions were presented to 105 Langley residents who had helped build Canada over the previous 75 years.
Forty Years Ago
April 7, 1977
• Five ranking executive members, including the president, resigned after an internal conflict within the Langley Association for the Handicapped.
• A meeting was scheduled between Langley City and Township officials in an effort to heal the rift that had developed between the two jurisdictions over recreation services.
• A dawn raid by Langley, Surrey, and Vancouver police uncovered a stolen-property ring and turned up $50,000 worth of loot.
Thirty Years Ago
April 8, 1987
• Township council was accused of unethical tendering procedures by a construction company that failed in its bid to install a water line from Fort Langley to Forest Knolls.
• An amendment approved at Langley School Board’s regular meeting gave trustees the maximum stipend allowed under provincial guidelines.
• Township Alderman John Rennie’s propoal to split his 44-acre property in two was rejected by his fellow councillors.
Twenty Years Ago
April 4, 1997
• Winds of up to 90 km/h ripped through Langley, with resulting power outages wrecking havoc on families’ Easter dinner plans.
• A delegation of 20 residents appealed to Township council to stop any further development of Walnut Grove.
• Faulty wiring started a fire in a Milner shed, ultimately leading police to two marijuana farms.
• Dr. Tom Ward turned down an provincial government appointment to run Langley Memorial Hospital as a public administrator.
• The death of a Trinity Western University student was under investigation. She had visited several medical facilities, including LMH, before going to Vancouver General Hospital, where she was diagnosed – too late – with flesh-eating disease.