Albion Hall

Prior to the 1920s, Albion was quite an isolated area, with most of the residents being fishermen, loggers or farmers. In 1923, a group of residents decided that it was time to build a town hall, as the Albion Boys’ Entertainment Club had no place to go for their meetings and recreation. They had been using the Albion Church for boxing practice, an activity which the church did not appreciate within its walls.

Soon after, plans for a town hall were drawn up by George Owen. These plans were brought to a community meeting, which took place at Albion United Church, and speeches on the positive aspects of community halls were given by R. Holland and J. J. Dugan, of the Gazette newspaper.

R. Morris and J. Gaugler volunteered to go around the community and ask for donations. To help build the hall, donations of $25 per family and $15 per single man were sought to help with costs, while fundraisers were held at Whonnock Hall and other locations to help pay for the construction of the hall. Over 100 people bought memberships to the hall, at the cost of one dollar each.

When enough money had been raised, land was donated by Mr. Walter Gow on a 99 year lease, and Sandy Baker acted as the chief carpenter. Rough lumber for the hall’s walls and construction was bought from Hector Ferguson, who had a mill off the highway, as well as Martyn and Webber in Webster’s Corners.

The hall was officially opened to the public in the form of a grand ball on October 26th, 1923. The first president was Mr. Gaugler, and the first secretary-treasurer was Bob Morse.

The original Albion hall building was basically a shell, heated by donated wood, and measuring a small 40’ by 60’. Water was brought up to the hall by members and the washroom was just an outhouse.

According to one of the original members, Bob Holland, the hall was quite isolated. “There was no paved road between here and New Westminster and the area was very sparsely populated.” This did not seem to matter too much, as “the people of Albion didn’t travel very far afield but took pleasure in getting together with one another. Of necessity their lives were lived within walking distance of their homes. The Albion Hall was a result of this desire to get together in a place where transportation would not be a necessity.”

While the hall’s minutes predating 1931 were sadly lost to a fire, the rest of the following years were recapped in a document entitled “Fifty Years of Minutes,” put together by Gladys Sutcliffe for the hall’s Golden Jubilee. In 1931, the minutes show that the hall was rented to the school board for $3 a night, a dance was held with the proceeds amounting to $8.35, two whist drives were held with proceeds of $4 and $3.50, while Art Nelson was allowed to use the hall for his wedding on the condition that he become a member of the Albion Hall club.

In an article written by George Owen in 1971, the author described Albion hall like so: “entering the building and glancing around at its huge structure, the vastness of it takes away nothing from the feeling of sitting by your home fireside; it is a setting of welcome, second to none.”

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