The archeological record shows evidence of
Stó:lō people in the Fraser Valley, or ''S'ólh Téméxw'', 10,000 years ago. Permanent structures in the Chilliwack area date from around 5,000 years ago. It is estimated that at the time of the
first contact with
Europeans, there were as many as 40,000 people living within Stó:lō territory.
19th century In the mid-nineteenth century, thousands of gold miners transited the area
en route to the
goldfields of the upper
Fraser River. By the mid-1860s, settlers had established farms around Codville's Landing, Miller's Landing, Minto Landing, Sumas Landing, and Chilliwack Landing along the Fraser River. On April 26, 1873, the "Corporation of the Township of Chilliwhack" (note the variant spelling) became the third municipality incorporated by the
Province of British Columbia. The town centre at the time was concentrated at Chilliwack Landing along the
Fraser River. Steamboats were the main mode of transportation, carrying goods and passengers between Chilliwhack and
New Westminster. After the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, many residents began to cross the
Fraser River at Minto Landing to ride the train from
Harrison Mills. In 1881, with little room for expansion and the threat of floods constantly looming, the town centre was moved south to "Five Corners" at the junction of the New Westminster-Yale Wagon Road, Wellington Avenue and Young Road. This subdivision was initially named "Centreville", but later was renamed "Chilliwack", as it was more commonly referred to by locals in 1887. The area would experience catastrophic flooding in
1894, 1935,
1948 and
2021. On April 20, 1891, Richard Plunkett Cooke, George de Wolf, and Walter E. Graveley established the Chilliwhack Railway Company.
Early 20th century On February 20, 1908, the area that was then known as
Chilliwack, i.e., the subdivision within the greater
Chilliwhack Township, was proclaimed as the
City of Chilliwack by letters patent issued by the provincial government under the
Chilliwack City Incorporation Act. The
City of Chilliwack and the
Township of Chilliwhack co-existed as separately administered municipalities until 1980. On October 4, 1910, the
British Columbia Electric Railway began operating regularly scheduled passenger service on the New Westminster–Chilliwack Interurban Line. In 1941,
Camp Chilliwack was established following Canada's entry into the
Second World War in 1939. After the outbreak of the
Pacific War, the camp was expanded to garrison
Canadian Army units for the defence of Canada's West Coast. It continued to be used as a permanent training facility and
army garrison during the
Cold War. Following the unification of the
Canadian Armed Forces in 1968, the base was renamed
Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack (CFB Chilliwack). The base housed the following units:
Late 20th century On January 1, 1980, the
Township of Chilliwhack and the
City of Chilliwack amalgamated to form a single municipality styled the
District of Chilliwack, following the passage of referendae in both municipalities. On July 16, 1999, the
District of Chilliwack, once again, was renamed the
City of Chilliwack. To the present day, locals idiosyncratically use the same name to refer to the city as a whole, and to the old city centre. It is also the name of the greater metropolitan area encompassing adjacent sovereign indigenous nations, municipalities, and unincorporated areas. In 1997, following the end of the
Cold War a few years earlier,
CFB Chilliwack closed. Its training facilities were converted into the
Canada Education Park, a campus for multiple institutions, including the
Justice Institute of British Columbia, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the
University of the Fraser Valley, and the Western Area Training Centre (WATC). Today it also houses supply depots for the
39 Canadian Brigade Group of the
Canadian Army and the
Royal Canadian Army Cadets. The old quartermaster warehouse became the Canadian Military Education Centre Museum. == Geography ==