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Langley Then and Now: College campus started as a dairy farm in the 1960s

A look back at Langley history courtesy of local newspapers and the Langley Centennial Museum
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The property was originally part of the Hudson’s Bay Co. lands and later became the Seal-Kap Dairy. Then it became a private, Christian post-secondary school that we now know as Trinity Western University.

Eighty Years Ago

January 18, 1940

  • Councillor Charlie Logan gave notice of motion asking for the establishment of a planning committee for Langley Prairie.

Seventy Years Ago

January 19, 1950

  • A record-breaking cold snap lasted a month, with temperatures reaching down to -6ºFahrenheit (-21º C). Snowdrifts on north-south feeder roads were too deep for municipal graders to handle, so bulldozers were called in to clear swaths for single-lane traffic.
  • The Fort Langley Fire Brigade’s executive resigned en masse, following council’s criticism of its purchase of a truck without informing the municipal body. The truck was returned, and the fire department’s bank note was cancelled.

Sixty Years Ago

January 14, 1960

  • Joe Chesney made an application to open a radio station in Langley on the 860 KC wavelength. The 1,000-watt station was expected to employ 15 people.

Fifty Years Ago

January 15, 1970

  • Langley Memorial Hospital had been overfull during December, according to a statistical review. Occupancy of the hospital averaged 100.3 per cent for the 31-day period. The previous month’s occupancy had averaged 98.1 per cent.

Forty Years Ago

January 16, 1980

  • The Minister of Municipal Affairs had to intervene to settle an argument over who was to audit Langley Township’s books for 1980.
  • Two applications to operate helicopter training schools in Langley were made to council, as well as a bid to gain licencing to operate an existing airstrip in Fort Langley.

Thirty Years Ago

January 17, 1990

  • A $315,000 deficit had been pencilled in to Langley City’s provisional budget, but Mayor Joe Lopushinsky still vowed that he could reduce taxes by one per cent.
  • Petitioners supported with 11 pages of signatures wanted stop signs installed at the intersection of Nash Avenue and St. Andrews Street in Fort Langley.

Twenty Years Ago

January 18, 2000

  • South Fraser Health Region got a $1.6-million shot in the arm, to buy high-tech anaesthetic machines and an additional CT scanner.
  • Fifty-five residents applied to sit on the Township’s public commissions.

January 21, 2000

  • Alder Inn joined battle with the Workers Compensation Board over the new tobacco smoke ban. The local hotel owner felt he had found a loophole: all employees were to become shareholders, and would receive dividends instead of paycheques.
  • A study in preparation for a new Fraser River bridge ruled out the Albion Ferry site and Barnston Island as possible crossing points. Favoured were crossings fed by either 200th Street or a new freeway interchange at 216th Street.
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