Williams Lake is named in honour of Secwépemc chief William, whose counsel prevented the
Shuswap from joining the
Tsilhqot'in in
their uprising against the settler population. The story of Williams Lake (called
T'exelc by local
First Nations communities of the region) begins as much as 4000 years ago. The story of Williams Lake written by those coming into the region from outside begins in 1860 during the
Cariboo Gold Rush when
Gold Commissioner Philip Henry Nind and
William Pinchbeck, a
constable with the
British Columbia Provincial Police, arrived from
Victoria to organize a local government and maintain law and order. At the time, two pack trails led to the goldfields, one from the
Douglas Road and the other through the
Fraser Canyon. They met at Williams Lake, which made it a good choice for settlers and merchants. By 1861, Commissioner Nind had built a government house and had requested the funds to build a jail. With the centre of local government being at Williams Lake, the miners and businessmen all had to travel there to conduct their business and soon the town had a post office, a
courthouse, a
roadhouse and the jail that Nind had requested. Meanwhile, William Pinchbeck had not been idle and had built his own roadhouse, saloon and store. Eventually he would own most of the valley. In 1863, the town was excited by the news of the construction of
Cariboo Road, believing it would pass through their already established and important trading centre. However, the roadbuilder
Gustavus Blin Wright rerouted the original trail so that it bypassed Williams Lake and went through
150 Mile House instead. The Williams Lake by-pass doomed the city and accusations flew that Gustavus Blin Wright had changed the route for his own personal benefit as he owned a roadhouse at Deep Creek along the new route. Regardless of Wright's motives, Williams Lake was forgotten and wouldn't be reborn until over half a century later in 1919 with the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, later
BC Rail and now
CN Rail. On July 5, 1867, the
Roman Catholic Church established
St. Joseph's Mission halfway between Williams Lake and 150 Mile House. In 1891, the mission opened an
Indian residential school, called St. Joseph's School. The school became one of the most notorious Indian residential schools over the 90 years it operated. A St. Joseph's School reunion in 2013 in Williams Lake led to the creation of
Orange Shirt Day, a memorial to the victims of the Canadian Indian residential school system that is observed nationally. A memorial monument to the victims of the school was also erected in 2013, in Boitanio Park. In 1891, the subdistrict of Williams Lake had a population of 410. In July 2017, the province of British Columbia declared a state of emergency with more than 200 fires burning, mostly in the central region of the province. Residents from Williams Lake along with other communities in central British Columbia such as
Ashcroft and
100 Mile House were given evacuation orders and most of those affected went to either Prince George or Kamloops. On August 15, 2022, the City of Williams Lake officially proclaimed the third week of August as LGBTQ2S Pride Week for the first time in the city's history, and raised the inclusive pride flag at city hall. ==Economy==