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By 1919, the Intercolonial, Canadian Northern, National Transcontinental and Grand Trunk Pacific had become part of a government railway system known as the Canadian National Railways (CN).

The Fort Langley Hotel (originally known as just the Langley Hotel) was built by first owner James Taylor in the late 1860s, early 1870s, and appeared to incorporate part of a saloon built by Henry West, the builder of the steam mill. There were three "long term" hotel keepers: James Taylor, from when he built it until about 1889, Peter Stanley Brown, who ran it from 1891-1914, and Warren W. (Spud, or Jack) Webster, who ran it from 1914 - abt. 1938. Alexander Praisley was proprietor of the hotel in the late 1950s and 1960s. After many years and several renovations, the hotel was the oldest in B.C. by the 1970s. On December 29, 1974, the owners burned the hotel to the ground to collect the insurance money. The site is now the home of the Riverside Centre (2007).
See Also: Brown's Hotel, hotels

Charles Reid emigrated to Canada in 1908. Two years later he settled in Fort Langley and took over Medd's blacksmith shop. Later, he became one of the first machinist shop operators in the area. A fire destroyed the blacksmith shop in 1922, and the new one was built, which increasingly acted as a garage, not a blacksmith shop. Charles was the first chief of the Fort Langley Volunteer Fire Department, a charter member of the Fort Langley Community Improvement Association and an early member of the Board of Trade. Charles married a pioneer Fort Langley girl, Olive Carter, and raised a family of three children, including son Don and daughter Helen Gardner (husband Bill). He was in the business for 60 years; he saw it change from horse shoeing and wagon repairs to motor mechanics and heavy equipment repairs. Son Don took over the business from him, but it believed to have closed down in the 1990s. Later, the garage was used to store canoes for the Fort Langley Canoe Club.
See Also: Reid, Charles
Term Source: HPC Record (HPC-273/1069)

See Also: streets and roads
Term Source: dhv