From Facebook

Otter Neighbour Fred Elmore was very well known in the Scout and Sports circles in this community, especially where boxing was concerned.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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A little while ago someone asked if we had a map of the White Fence Farms subdivision - we found one in the Aldergrove And District Newspaper (Aldergrove Star), along with a few more articles about the development.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Today's neighbour is Mr. Emery Fraser. A newcomer to Aldergrove in 1968, Mr. Fraser was the branch manager of our Royal Bank (when we still had one). He was quick to get involved in the Aldergrove community by joining the Aldergrove Chamber of Commerce, and many of us attended school with Mr. & Mrs. Fraser's children.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Today's neighbour is Cliff Davidson, a man whose family is very well known in these parts.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #horseplay

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Our Neighbour story featuring teacher Robert Gubbe and a totally unrelated story but one that I found amusing. Hopefully some of you can remember this giant hot dog feast or maybe even have some photos of the event.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Here are some more memories from local schools in the early 1960s, including the formation of Mr. Green's Weatherman Club and the bane of every generation - New Math. Loads of well-known names in all of these columns. =)

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays #SD35

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Today's "Our Neighbour" (note that the Advance spelled it correctly this time 😉 ) is Bob McCubbin. Also included is a photo from 1956 featuring both Mr. Angrignon and Mr. McCubbin as well as a complete list of #SchoolDistrict35 teaching staff and where they were placed for the 1962-1963 school year.

#sd35 #storiesmatter #localhistory

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Today we'll visit with Aldergrove neighbour Mr. Albert Angrignon, whose news feature I just came across this morning.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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A few more items from the Doc Java's collection. We'll have to scan the card again, as the bottom has a wee bit cut off, but it doesn't diminish the message at all. We definitely miss those "mile high" sandwiches and apple pie.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Aldergrove happenings 80 years ago in 1944.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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One of yesterday's scan tasks was to begin digitizing the Doc Java's Collection, which consists of photos, menus, drawings, news clippings and the famous Doc Java's coffee card. Doc Java's and Lorne's Fish & Chips shop are two establishments that are greatly missed - they weren't "just a coffee shop" or "just a restaurant" - they were full of personality and were fully immersed in the goings-on of our community.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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We haven't posted very much about Coghlan School - mainly because we don't seem to have an abundance of information in our digital files about its history. We also appear to be lacking in class photos from its opening years. Hopefully we will find more as we continue our digitization process.

#localhistory #storiesmatter #schooldays

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And now that we've let you all know that the museum will re-open tomorrow, let's get back to our regular programming.

Who went to Patricia School in 1967? Do you recognize anyone? Let's see if we can get everyone in this photo identified. =)

#schooldays #localhistory #storiesmatter

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Book Recommendation - we are not an affiliate nor is this a paid advertisement, it's just a #localhistory #booksuggestion because #storiesmatter

Harbour Publishing is one of our favourite local book publishers, and we highly recommend Go Do Some Great Thing by Crawford Kilian for #BlackHistoryMonth. It's an incredibly informative and well-written book that has been updated as new information came available.

Go Do Some Great Thing : The Black Pioneers of British Columbia

"Living in pre-Civil War Philadelphia, young Black activist Mifflin Gibbs was feeling disheartened from fighting the overwhelming tide of White America’s legalized racism when abolitionist Julia Griffith encouraged him to “go do some great thing.” These words helped inspire him to become a successful merchant in San Francisco, and then to seek a more just society in the new colony of Vancouver Island, where he was to become a prominent citizen and elected official.

Gibbs joined a …

School Promotion Lists from all of our community districts, years are varied but still so many familiar names. If only we could see the grades and teacher comments! 😉

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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I found some late 1950s and one 1961 County Line Promotion List for the County Line Crew. I believe that the Advance stopped publishing promotion lists, but I will continue the search for more from both County Line and other Aldergrove schools.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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Who went to County Line School - let's look at the class promotions for 1932, 1942 and 1952. Many resident families over many years were sending their youngsters off to the local school for their education.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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I know that many of you like to look at the directories that have been posted, so here's a look way, way back before telephone directories were a thing out here.

These pages are from Williams' 1883 British Columbia Directory for all of Langley Municipality. The information for this directory would have been compiled in 1882, and the majority of settlers are located in or near Fort Langley - or perhaps due to the lack of roads, not all of the settlers were accounted for in this volume. It is interesting to note, however, that Philip Jackman Sr is not listed as being in the township. He, along with his sons Richard and Philip Jr are all listed as living in New Westminster City on Agnes Street.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Found another rabbit hole this morning, this time to do with logging and lumbering. I've been traversing it since just before 6am and will be returning to it for "just a bit longer" to see what else I can get immersed in as I hunt down tidbits relating to Aldergrove's settler and commercial history. 😉

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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COGHLAN SETTLERS – Part 2 - From The Place Between Volume 1 pages 507-508

Among a few of the earliest pioneers in the district, was G.I. Blair who came to the area in 1886 and homesteaded 160 acres. John McDonald who came after the Vancouver fire in 1887, located at the southeast corner of Coghlan & Roberts Roads. He was the Reeve of the Municipality for several years.

The City of Vancouver owned property across the road from McDonald. The land was cleared by steam donkey & the trees & roots were left in six huge piles. An offer of $600 was made by the City to anyone who could burn any of these piles. Many people tried without success until finally some Italians came, tore the pile a part in small pieces and succeeded in burning them.

Two other earlier settlers were the Coghlan brothers who came from Alwood …

COGHLAN COMMUNITY part one – The Place Between Volume 1

Coghlan, named for settlers Nathaniel & Henry Coghlan, began to emerge as a community in the early 1880s. The majority of early settlers fished the Fraser River in the summer & held jobs in New Westminster during winter. They survived on barrels of salted salmon & pork, home cured hams & bacon, wild fowl & deer, and root cellars stocked with fruits & vegetables.

Early settlers walked to Fort Langley for mail & food supplies, taking butter & produce to exchange. Travel to New Westminster was by river boat from Fort Langley.

The roads were often just trails, curving around large stumps & water holes. Settlers worked their taxes out on road work & if a new section was to be opened a contract went to the lowest bidder. Taxes were $3.75 per 160 acres in the 1890s.

After the …

Here is another of the hand-drawn-from-memory Aldergrove maps, but it's not known who drew it. Most likely drawn when research for The Place Between books began, it appears to span the 1950s-1970s, and as noted in the image, some locations aren't quite in the correct spot - the United Church and Moen's Woodworking, for example, are a bit too far north on the map. Also, the Swensson & Eve Hatchery location is a bit suspect, as it sat where the Post Office is now. Documentation to say that it moved to the side street hasn't been located, but that doesn't mean it didn't. Either way, this map does contain valuable information and is useful to our research, so we are grateful to whomever took the time to put it on paper.

#mapsarecool #storiesmatter #localhistory

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Two aerial photos that were scanned last spring (we don't always look closely at what we're scanning until later, as we have so many items to get digitized). We are not 100% sure of the source, but they may possibly be held in a collection at UBC.

For the longest time, I wasn't sure these photos were of the Aldergrove area, until I realized that I was looking at them upside down. Then they made perfect sense. I wish the photos were of higher definition, but considering the time period, they are still a great resource and truthfully, we're lucky to have them.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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