FORT LANGLEY

FORT LANGLEY
Is a subdivision and part of the township of Langley and community all of its own, located about 40 kilometers northeast of Vancouver in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It is named after Thomas Langley, a former official and employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1839, a new post was built 5 kilometers up from the Fraser River and was first known as Derby, closer to suitable farmland. When the original fort was destroyed by a massive fire in 1840, it was replaced and relocated close to the present site. When British Columbia was declared a colony in 1858, Fort Langley quickly became a starting point for miners heading towards the goldfields in the Interior, like Barkerville, Yale and Quesnel Forks. The fort remained in business until 1886, and from that time it became a prerequisite post producing agricultural products as well as cured salmon. In 1955, the British Columbia government declared the site as a National Historic Park and several buildings were reconstructed and in the 1990s, The Greater Vancouver Regional District and the government of the Township of Langley built a fort-to-fort trail linking the historic Park with the old site at Derby. Today, the village of Fort Langley caters to tourists mainly because of its antique shops, sidewalk cafes, 2 museums and many historic buildings. The town is also fast becoming as major commercial filming location for movies, commercials and TV shows partly due to its intriguing town hall that is colored yellow that has featured so many times during the filming developments.

FORT LANGLEY’S POPULATION: 2,865