OUR HISTORY

Abbotsford is located on a part of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. 15 thousand years ago (Reid, C., n.d.), the Cordilleran Ice Sheet began to split into smaller pieces. 3 700 years later (Reid, C., n.d.), the land was shaped into what is known as the Fraser Valley today. A big glacier called the Sumas Glacier began to feed into the Fraser River. Ever since this has happened, the landscape, plants, flora and fauna has grown around the Fraser River, making the river a center Fraser River is the core of life in the Fraser Valley.

When the first of humans migrated across this continent, they settled themselves along this area because of the abundant supply of salmon, seabirds, edible plants and other necessities. Originally, most of the people who arrived in this area were hunter or gatherers. After a while, they became more sedentary because the land was so fertile because of the river and resources were very near. The population slowly began to grow and soon enough, a group of First Nations, The Sto:lo, had become highly developed. They were also known as The People of the River.

Abbotsford's development first began when people surveyed the area in response to the gold rush in 1858 ("Abbotsford | Destination BC", n.d.) which was located close to the Fraser River. This led to the building of Yale Road (now known as Old Yale Road). This was the first transportation route that was connected to the Fraser Valley. As more settlers came to this area, this area started producing things like butter, milk and tobacco by the late 1860s. In 1889, former Royal Engineer, John Cunningham Maclure, asked for a Crown Grant to attain the 160 acres (0.65 km²) that would soon become Abbotsford (Reid, C., n.d.).

Fast forwarding to when the Europeans decided to expand Canada's population towards the west and confirm the land as Canada's, not the United States'. They wanted to promote establishment in the west, so decided to make a railway, which is now known as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The land was very promising, therefore, the government decided they would succeed in promoting establishment in the area. After surveying the area now known as Abbotsford, they decided to put a station to encourage settlement. The area was named after a good friend of the surveyor. His friend's name was Mr. Abbot, who was the Western Superintendent of the CPR. After the CPR was finished in 1887 (Reid, C., n.d.), more and more settlers came into this area.

On July 9th, 1891 Mr. Ward filed the town site subdivision plan, and the Village of Abbotsford was born (Reid, C., n.d.). 

Other railways also brought more newcomers in, for example the BC Electric Railway, the Great Northern, and the CNR. These railways and the CPR were what allowed smooth commercial transportation and it was easy to go back and forth from central Canada to Western Canada.

With the settlers taxes, improvements to the infrastructure (ex. new roads/dykes to stop the annual flooding) were made. As well as that dense forests were logged and The Abbotsford Logging Company was formed. They operated around and in Mill Lake and then sent them off to large American markets. Facilities around Mill Lake included: residences, lumber and shingle mills, drying kilns, shipping yards, a Japanese bath house and a general store. The logging company also employed people from different ethnicities, like the Japanese and Indians.

The early settlers had to cope with very bad conditions in Abbotsford. Their plan was to clear the land they logged and use the land for farming. However, with the annual flooding in the Fraser River and Sumas Lake, swarms of mosquitoes hatched in the shallow water in the logged area. It was so bad that schools were closed for periods of time, livestock were killed and children had to stay inside at all times. Therefore, the removal of the leftover stumps from the logging were virtually impossible.

Since the people were suffering very much due to these conditions, in 1923, the lake started to be drained completely (Reid, C., n.d.). This process took almost a year. The fertile lake bed attracted settlers to this area and industries like the tobacco industry and dairy industry expanded. The Abbotsford Lumber Company closed the mill in the 1930’s (Reid, C., n.d.), the land that had been logged was parcelled and sold off as farmland to new settlers. More farms were created in Abbotsford and soon enough, agriculture began to replace the lumber industry.

Before and after the draining of Sumas Lake:

After the attack on pearl harbour on December 7th 1941 (Reid, C., n.d.), to protect the west coast of Canada, the Canadian military built the largest military airport in Abbotsford. This was a huge success and during the flood of 1948 (Reid, C., n.d.), the airport got to serve as an evacuation centre, and during the uprising against the communist rule in Hungary in 1956 (Reid, C., n.d.), it also served as a refugee centre. Today, this military base is known as the Abbotsford International Airport.