2 July 2010

Trio of Icons Celebrates 100 Years

The Fraser Mills railroad station, now located at Coquitlam's
Heritage Square, was built 100-years-ago.

Coquitlam British Columbia - This year marks several significant centenary anniversaries for our area, which, considered together, make it obvious that 1910 was a banner year for our local and regional development.
 
First, 1910 was the year Fraser Mills' railroad station was built, one of five depots on what is now the Westminster Subdivision of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Westminster Junction (later Coquitlam), Essondale, Fraser Mills, Sapperton, and New Westminster were stops along the 8.4-mile route for a southbound train. At that time, six passenger trains ran daily in each direction.
 
 

Canadian Pacific Railway's Fraser Mills station - 1964 British Columbia Archives.
 
 
Today, two station buildings from this section of rail line survive. Many of us still visit the ornate brick New Westminster station building next to Westminster Quay but today it is the home of The Keg restaurant. The building is on its original site, with Front Street now separating it from the railway tracks.
 
The more modest Fraser Mills station is the other surviving station. It is a wood-frame structure built to CPR's Number 6 station plan. It has been preserved and relocated to Coquitlam's Heritage Square in the 1100-block of Brunette Avenue. It is here during Fair in the Square 10 and 11 Jul 2010 that we will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. Come and enjoy some birthday cake while you take in the station history. Take a walk through the old orange caboose parked at the station, the paint faded from its glory days when it was a high-gloss lemon-yellow. Time for a facelift paint job or let it age gracefully?
 
Jill Cook.