For years, the Coquitlam Heritage Society has been leading walking tours through historic Maillardville.
Offered in both French and English, the tours focus on the unique stories associated with our heritage houses. These vintage gems demonstrate Coquitlam's pragmatic and hardworking past as much of Maillardville was developed to house Fraser Mills workers and their families.
But the houses also remind us of the small, anecdotal snippets of day-to-day life that make history come alive and often make us smile.
A city of Coquitlam Spirit Grant provided an outstanding opportunity for the Coquitlam Heritage Society to recognize these houses with beautiful, informative, bronze plaques in English and French.
It was not, however, as straightforward as it seemed.
Let's start with some examples of sites selected for plaques.
The Beaubien House, located at 1125 Cartier Ave., is named for the brothers who built it. Some say the Beaubien House (sometimes spelled Beaubiens) is the location of the neighbourhood's first bakery. Actually, the bakery was in the shed adjacent to the house and lasted there until 1927 before moving to Marmont Street and James Avenue. Between fires and the re-location, contention remains about the bakery story. One thing is certain, bakery or not, the house is an original and boasts a spectacular view down the hill and out to the river, a view that looked very different in 1917 when we think the house was built (there's some small debate on the date, too).
Down the street from the Beaubien House is the remarkable stone wall that surrounds Place Maillardville. It's a solid river rock wall (not today's facade of manufactured flat-sided composite stuck on to plywood) and was entirely built by hand. Constructed in 1929, it was a make-work project of the Depression years. Built entirely by the Girardi family, it surrounded their land and was entirely of rocks from the property. Mary Louise Malfet (née Girardi) describes how the family's younger children washed each rock by hand before passing them over to the older members of the crew to set the stones.
Today, the Girardi site and Laval Square is dominated by Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Lourdes was not the first church built on this site, although it certainly looks like it could be. The current church was built in 1937 on the foundation of the original church, which was built in 1910 and burned to the ground.
The Beaubien House, the Girardi family wall and Our Lady of Lourdes all have heritage plaques detailing their dates and significance. The intent is to mark Coquitlam's historic buildings in a celebratory and descriptive way. The plaques are offered at no cost to the recipients and assistance with mounting is offered.
Of the three plaques described above, only one is mounted at the time this is written. Some unanticipated contentions have emerged. The church is considering the "liturgical implications" of mounting the plaque. Coquitlam Heritage Society is awaiting a decision from the local priest on this.
The Beaubien House will be mounting its plaque very soon (we hope). The current owners were not originally convinced of the veracity of the information on the plaque; this is not surprising given all the threads that run through the neighbourhood stories (with very little documented). Fortunately, in the case of the Place Maillardville wall, the Girardi family had a family member who knew their story well and assisted us to capture it.
More plaques are in the works for Maillardville, specifically on Cartier and Marmont, and maybe beyond. We are having some challenges locating residents and convincing them of the value of a plaque. We are knocking on doors, writing letters and offering assistance and flexibility with mounting. We are hoping for success with Vancouver Golf Club and Minnekhada Lodge but from our experiences so far, we are not counting our achievements yet.
Although this program hasn't experienced the smooth sailing we envisioned when we wrote the grant application, we did have some early successes and it is important to note them. Mackin House, Place des Arts and the Booth Farm House on Brunette Avenue all have plaques firmly mounted by their front doors.
The Booth Farm House is one of the oldest houses in Coquitlam and the farm supplied the local area with all their dairy needs in the early 1900s. The current owner, Rosaleen Morgan, was pleased to accept a plaque and was delighted on the sunny day in May when we mounted it. Sadly, she passed away just a couple of weeks ago.
Plaque progress will be tracked on our website (www.coquitlamheritage.ca) or we invite you to drop by the Museum for a guided walk through our historic neighbourhood. With or without plaques, it is a fascinating area in which to stroll.
Your History is a column in which, once a month, representatives of the Tri-Cities' three heritage groups writes about local history. Jill Cook is executive director of the Coquitlam Heritage Society.
