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New exhibit showcases the transition of Langley’s landscape

Centennial museum presents ‘Langley In Transition: Portraits of a Changing Municipality’ until May 27
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A photograph of the former Murrayville Garage from the Langley Centennial Museum’s collection. Submitted photo

In the age of digital photography, social media, and the selfie, we are inundated with images. But there is something about photographs from the past that almost magically connect us to a time and place, a home, a community and a memory.

The Langley Centennial Museum is looking at these connections to the past through photographs in their newest exhibit, Langley In Transition: Portraits of a Changing Municipality, on now until May 27.

Several aerial photos are available in the exhibit for the public to view, thanks to a collaboration between the museum and the Township of Langley’s Geographic Information System (GIS) Department.

These images go back to 1954 — before the freeway was constructed, before Langley Prairie left the municipality to become Langley City, before many large-scale developments and roads. These images are presented beside archival photographs from the museum’s permanent collection and contemporary photos displaying different locations in Langley “then” and “now.” They all speak to change, growth, adaptation and our ever-evolving imprint on the landscape.

The exhibit also features a film created by Ernie Sendall of Langley Prairie in the late 1930s and early 1940s, including footage of the Langley Greenhouses.

While looking back, staff at the museum are asking visitors to consider the future: what will our community look like? How will it grow and change? What will it be defined by, and how will its interests be served?

This in turn invites the question: what do we want tomorrow to look like?

The Langley Centennial Museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. We continue to be a home for our community history, and aim to connect people to the stories of the past while being a place to learn and share, remember and reflect.



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A photograph of the former Murrayville Garage from the Langley Centennial Museum’s collection. Submitted photo
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A photograph of the what the Murrayville Garage is today from the Langley Centennial Museum’s collection. Submitted photo