Never Without Controversy: The History of our Municipal Halls

From our incorporation in 1874 to 1892, the municipal council met first in private homes and then in the first Maple Ridge School building. As that building was outgrown and a new two-room schoolhouse built, the old building was renovated as the first official municipal hall. Travel to meetings for the most far-flung ward representatives usually required a long row in a small boat.

The old hall was soon outgrown and the growing community was anxious for a proper hall as a place to hold dances and other community celebrations. With entrepreneurial spirit abounding, a consortium of settlers undertook to build a bigger hall in Port Haney. Each stockholder invested $5. Dan Callaghan and James Bonson were hired as contractors who built the hall from lumber obtained at Langley.

Even though there was no public money involved in the project, there was still controversy as indicated by the following column, which ran in the New Westminster Columbian of December 20, 1892:

"A certain correspondent of the World, who purports to write the Maple Ridge news, evidently finds much pleasure in belittling the efforts of the promoters of the public hall. It is, however, pleasing to note that this man's overflow of bile has not in the least interfered with construction of the edifice, and this being a fact, no harm is expected from a future inundation of bile, however deep and bitter. The launching of the hall, as a much needed institution, may therefore be looked forward to as a certainty."

A few years after its construction, John Carr bought out all shareholders and then offered the building for sale to the municipality. It was an attractive offer as space was desired for council meetings, the police constable, a jail, and eventually classroom space for high school subjects. Again, the Columbian records the details of the ensuing battle taking place a few weeks before the public vote on September 26, 1896. A group ran an ad countering the vote claiming that every "intelligent voter" should vote against because "the municipality has no need for such a hall" and "they cannot afford to squander away so much money [nearly $2000] at present on a thing they don't want". It ended with:

"We hope those poor struggling ranchers will look at this affair in the right light and, if they can see that it will benefit them in any way, then vote for it; but remember, those who dance must pay the fiddler."

The total vote cast was 88 - 54 for and 34 against. The "ayes" had it and the community had its first official hall.

Fifty years later, the much-used and dilapidated structure was greatly in need of replacement. Safety was a major issue as the building was propped up with flying buttresses on each side. The library was housed on an upper floor at the top of a rickety external staircase and the council had been reduced to meeting in the entranceway, as all other spaces were committed to other purposes. From 1948 to 1950, referendums were held at each election to replace the leaning structure and each was defeated.

In frustration, Reeve Sol Mussallem insisted that he would build the hall anyway out of "surplus" funds and predictably, set off a firestorm of controversy. Accusations flew of deficit financing and failure to live within means as the municipality decided to commit $10,000 to the new hall. Despite the complaints, the hall was constructed as an enlargement of the BC police building on 8th Ave [224th Street] where it opened in 1951. The new building included enlarged council chambers, a few offices, and a small room with a separate entrance to serve as the municipality's first dedicated library. It served until the need for more office space and a larger library for a growing community led to the construction of the existing hall in 1980.

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