Introduction
I've been interested in the history of Maple Ridge for a few years now. When I started looking for information, I naturally turned to the web at first. But there was little information available. Neither the museum, the historical society, nor the local government had any information online. The municipal government has a bit of information now, but the web is still mostly devoid of local historical information. I hope to change that a bit by completing this page.
Photographs
As one of the oldest settlements in the province (the fifth incorporated area after New Westminster,
Victoria, Langley and Chilliwack), Maple Ridge has a history stretching back almost as long as that of
photography. My collection of historical images, gathered from the
BC Archives and the
City of Vancouver Archives, are just
a sample of the rich photographic record of the early years of Maple Ridge. Most of that record is
unavailable to anyone unwilling to rummage through dusty archives. This will hopefully change over time,
as people realize the value of truly universal access. In the meantime, I check back at the archives
every few months for new images, and will update the page as necessary.
Most of the images are
from Maple Ridge, there are some from Pitt Meadows, and a few from elsewhere.
Historical Buildings
In 1998 the municipality comissioned a report on it's heritage resources. I scanned it in and used it as a learning project when I was just learning to write CSS and (proper) HTML. This report is now available from the municipal government website, but only in PDF format.
Street Names
Maple Ridge has gone through three sets of street names in its short history. I put together a
list of the names through the years to keep things straight in my head
while I was researching things.
I am also working on the historical background of our present street names.