Langley Centennial Museum
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Object Description
Object ID
2013.022.004
Title
Class at the Murrayville School.
Date
[192-?].
Description
1 photograph, b&w; of a class at the Murrayville School; children are arranged on the front stairs; there appears to be a teacher in the group on the top right.
People/Subject
Murrayville (B.C.)
Paul Murray was born in Ireland in 1811 and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eighteen. the Murray family settled in Oxford County, Ontario, and ten years later Paul married Lucy Bruce. They bought land in Zorra and had seven children together. In May 1874, after his children were grown, Paul left Ontario and relocated in B.C., accompanied by three of his sons. Their first home in Langley was a roughly built shelter they made for themselves from a gigantic fir tree, and after his wife and two of hisdaughters arrived, they all lived there together. After these humble beginnings, Murray opened a hotel on Old Yale Road to service travelers making their way into the interior, building up a reputation as one of the finest carpenters in the area. The corner where the hotel was eventually came to be known as Murray's Corners, as the family had 160 acres of land on each corner. Murray's Corners eventually came to be known as Murrayville, and all of Paul's sons worked on Old Yale Road, building more hotels and other businesses to increase commerce. Paul was an ordained church elder, dring a time when there were no official churches and services were held in a small schoolhouse on the corner of Glover Road and Old Yale Road. Holding the title of founder of Murrayville, Paul Murray died in 1903. Murray's Corners did not officially become Murrayville until 1911, when the local post office changed its name to Murrayville Post Office.
Murrayville Elementary School (Belmont Superior)
Murrayville Elementary School is located in the Langley School District, later School District No. 35 (Langley). A one-room school located just south of Murray's Corners was built in 1891, was known as Belmont School, and was the earliest public school in Langley. Belmont School was in use until 1911, when a new a two-room school called Belmont Superior School was built at the top of the hill on Old Yale Road (now 48th Avenue). One room was later sub-divided into three rooms, and two more rooms were added in 1913. Langley had no high school at this time, and from 1911-1922 high school classes were also held at Belmont. In 1912, the School District arranged to provide water to the school, which came from Rod Cumming's artesian well at Five Corners. In 1918 the school names were split: the elementary section became known as Murrayville Elementary and the high school part became Langley High School. In 1922 the high school moved to Milner. The original Belmont structure is now (2005) the back portion of the present Murrayville School. The row of oak trees in front were probably planted when the original Belmont School was constructed. The historic building was approved to be restored and used as apartments in 2018, called Reunion.
Term Source: BCAUL; "History of Langley Schools: Langley School District #35, 1867-2004".
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Argus v4.3.6.40 - Langley Centennial Museum