Then & Now is a weekly feature brought to you by the Langley Advance Times, in partnership with the Langley Centennial Museum & Archives.
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LOOKING BACK IN LANGLEY’S HISTORY BOOKS:
Did you know that during this week in Langley history…
Eighty Years Ago
May 11, 1939
Langley businessmen were among the 17 who formed a company to acquire and operate the Fort Langley Sawmill, which had been sitting idle for 18 months.
Seventy Years Ago
May 12, 1949
Replacement of train services between New Westminster and Chilliwack was challenged as breaking an agreement that was not to expire until 2005. The original tram service agreement had been signed by the B.C. Electric Co.’s forerunner, the Vancouver Power Association, in 1906.
Sixty Years Ago
May 7, 1959
Langley schools were chosen for a survey to determine the effects of television on young people’s approach to education and life in general.
City taxes jumped by 5.2 mills, to 48.1, while those in the Township rose by three mills to 44.
Fifty Years Ago
May 8, 1969
A charter fast-bus service between Abbotsford and Vancouver was terminated when the club operating the service dwindled to 17 members, and it became uneconomical.
City council asked the Department of Highways to install lights on Carvolth Road (200th Street) at Fraser Highway, Langley Bypass, and New McLellan Road (56th Avenue).
City council set taxes at 69.5 mills, with 35 to be set aside for schools.
Forty Years Ago
May 9, 1979
In light of a developer’s accusations of conflict of interest against some of its members, City council as the Minister of Municipal Affairs to step in and investigate the council and its affairs.
Dr. Grant Rawstron was the first to cross the finish line from among the 2,645 participants in the 12-mile (19-kilometre) Langley Walk.
Thirty Years Ago
May 10, 1989
A man was found hanging in his South Aldergrove barn. His wife said he had committed suicide because he was upset about plans to set up a garbage transfer station next door, near 272nd Street and 9th Avenue.
Work on the the garbage transfer station was halted when more than 100 residents turned up at a Township council meeting in protest.
Terms of reference were set and a call for proposals was sent out by City council to have a par three golf course built near 204th Street and 44th Avenue.
Twenty Years Ago
May 11, 1999
One of Canada’s biggest movie theatre complexes, the Walnut Grove Colossus, was preparing to open in time for the opening release of the latest Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace.
A report released by BDO Dunwoody accountants said unrealistic budgeting and poor organization were behind Langley Township’s excessive legal bill of $832,000 for 1998
May 14, 1999
RCMP chased a backhoe and its driver through Aldergrove. The machine had been stolen and driven from Chilliwack.
After eight decades of service, the Murrayville Post Office, operating out of P.Y. Porter’s Store, was shut down.
