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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.

The original store on this site (now 21611 48th Ave., Murrayville) was built in 1889 but had burnt down in 1896. The second store built here was owned by H. A. MacDonald, who sold it to W. F. Andrews and J. W. Lee in 1911. Still in his school years, Philip Young (PY) Porter began working for them in 1912 following a short stint as a blacksmith. P.Y. continued his employment with the store when Seth Witton purchased it two years later. PY became the local postmaster in 1916 and eventually bought the store from Witton in 1917. Porter employed Ab Sherritt and Mr. Crockett to do extensive renovations in the late 1930's and the "new" P. Y. Porter General Merchandise store was completed in 1939. P.Y. ran the store for many years but gave the daily management of it over to his son Eldon (a.k.a. Eldy) in the late 1950's. Eldon demolished the remaining section of the pre-1900 store and added a coat of stucco. P.Y. continued to help out until 1971 when he finally retired. Under Eldon the store became known for lawnmower repair and sales, as there were lots of mowers around and outside; one can still see grooves in the floor where mowers sat. After Eldon's death in 1997, the store was taken over by his daughter, Karen Lescisin. It is now (2007) a coffee and tea shop.
Term Source: Langley's Heritage