Our communities have been so interconnected and woven together, that sometimes it all just blends a little bit. With historical families crossing both borders, farms in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, Reeves that have served in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge (looking at you John Blaney). We do share quite a lot of similarities.
 
As we celebrate you today, Maple Ridge, we acknowledge our shared history. At one time, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge were part of the same municipality – the Township of Maple Ridge. Most are unaware that 130 years ago, the western edge of the municipality extended almost as far west as Coast Meridian in what is now Port Coquitlam!
 
On September 12th, 1874, a group of settlers met at John McIvers farm and decided to incorporate and become a municipality. Maple Ridge was British Columbia's sixth municipality in 1874 (After New Westminster 1860, Victoria 1862, Chilliwack 1873, Langley 1873, North Cowichan 1873) and included 4 other communities: Whonnock, Port Haney, Port Hammond and of course Pitt Meadows. The name Maple Ridge was given in recognition of the cities Maple Trees.
 
Surprisingly this union of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows wouldn’t last long. On March 2nd, 1896, a letters patent was issued, reducing the area of Maple Ridge substantially, with the removal of land westward from Port Hammond including Pitt Meadows. Perhaps as no surprise, the petition for removal came from Pitt Meadows landowners, who were not satisfied with the municipality's handling of dyking and drainage issues. Pitt Meadows would revert to an unincorporated territory until we would apply our own letters patent and be granted the right to our own municipality in April, 1914!

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What is not so well known, and is almost lost to history, is the fact that a sliver of land between the two municipalities (lots 280, 281, 267, 285, 429 and the southwest corner of Section 25) remained unincorporated, and under the authority of the provincial government.
 
This was about to change as Pitt Meadows, much to the chagrin of the unincorporated landowners, petitioned to include the sliver in its municipality. In response, the landowners sought a return to Maple Ridge. After a year of arguing, a hearing was held at Dale Hall in Port Hammond on Dec. 13, 1915, when all parties involved, municipalities and landowners, argued their respective cases. A dog-eared copy of the proceedings is found in the collection at the Pitt Meadows Museum, and from it, we gain insight into the concerns of settlers in the Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge over issues around diking, drainage, road building and taxes.
 
The landowners in question, among them the Laity and Hampton families, preferred their unincorporated status. But if forced to choose, they stated their desire to be reincluded in Maple Ridge due to worries over the tax burden if incorporated into Pitt Meadows. Testimony concluded with the commission adjourned until “a date to be advertised later on.” That date is lost to time, and a search of the provincial archives yielded no further record of proceedings at hearings into the matter.
 
However, on Aug. 14, 1918, the dispute was put to an end when an Order in Council, No. 2,168, was approved, granting the landowner’s petition and giving the disputed territory to the Corporation of the Township of Maple Ridge as of Aug. 1 that year.

Happy 150^th Birthday, Maple Ridge!

September 12, 2024.