Eighty Years Ago
September 12, 1935
• Wallace Mufford was in charge of receiving entries for the Langley Agricultural Association’s 43rd annual fall fair.
• Victoria accepted Langley’s offer to build a road across McMillan Island for $3,000. It was to be the first link in connecting the highway between Maple Ridge and Langley.
• Langley council wanted the Municipal Act ameneded to allow municipalities into the insurance business.
Seventy Years Ago
September 13, 1945
• Burglars ransacked the Edwards and Fuller homes and St. Alban’s Church at Otter Rd. (248th St.) and Fraser Hwy. At the church, jewels were pried from the chalice.
• Meat rationing was introduced in Canada on Sept. 9.
• Reorganization of the Junior Chamber of Commerce was left to a Board of Trade Committee comprised of Grant Duckworth, Harold Brandow, Joe Linwood, and R. Armstrong. The Board also considered erecting a “Welcome” arch to greet returning soldiers, sailors, and airmen.
Sixty Years Ago
September 15, 1955
• A record number of exhibitors took part in Langley’s 63rd annual fall fair. Total attendance at the fair was estimated between 3,000 and 4,000.
• School district officials and principals were working out re-arrangements of classes to accommodate 3,243 students registered for local schools. One additional teacher was to be hired.
• The Langley Memorial Hospital board considered closing down the hospital, unless Premier W.A.C. Bennett and Helth Minister Eric Martin agreed to a hearing to discuss the hospital’s strained financial position.
Fifty Years Ago
September 16, 1965
• Fire completely destroyed a large, modern residential trailer and its contents. Damages were estimated at $14,000.
• Butter sold for $1.09 for two pounds, and a three-quart carton of milk cost 65 cents.
Forty Years Ago
September 11, 1975
• Pressure from the Pollution Control Branch to try and force Langley Township into joining the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District was largely ignored locally. The Township was in the midst of pursuing other options.
• Three elementary schools had too many students, and three were over-staffed, although the district close in its enrolment predictions for the new year. Average enrolment was up by seven per cent, to 7,018 elementary and 3,958 secondary students.
• A 205,000-square-foot office and warehouse development proposed for 96th Ave. and 200th St. by National Marketing Associates was approved.
Thirty Years Ago
September 11, 1985
• The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that Glen Valley farmer Grant Tocher could sell his milk, overturning an earlier Milk Board injunction. Tocher still face trial, however, on charges that he marketed his millk without Milk Board Quota.
• Langley’s branch of the Royal Canadian Legion locked out waitresses and bartenders when the workers rejected a tentative agreement which would have cut their wages by 15 per cent.
Twenty Years Ago
September 13, 1995
• Langley was horrified by the story of a dog that had been left tied to the rear bumper of a stranger’s truck at Willoughby Elementary School. Before the dog’s owner returned, the truck’s unsuspecting driver left the school, dragging the dog behind. The dog was “scuffed up” but survived. The contrite owner admitted she was lucky that the truck had been driving relatively slowly through a school zone.
• The task force enlisted to create a concept for a community cultural centre came up with an $8 million plan – which did not include a theatre.
• Township Councillor Mel Kositsky vowed to start a petition to try and force the provincial government to fix 200th St.
• Langley City council unanimously defeated a motion that would deleted auto-wrecking yards from permitted uses of I-2 zoning.
