Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Local Business

Smithers, B.C.’s first village to Incorporate 100 years ago

100 years since Incorporation, Smithers history on display at Bulkley Valley Museum
Deb Meissner
24775513_web1_210415-SIN-BVMUSEUM-NEWDISPLAY-TAXLEDGER_1
Smithers Tax Assessment Ledger This ledger records property owners, property values, and assessed taxes owed to the Village of Smithers from 1923-1930. The featured page shows properties on Block 54 in 1924, including lots owned by two Asian-Canadian residents: Kintaro Aida, and Mah Yoke Tong. The Aida family operated a laundry and dry-cleaning business on Broadway Avenue (beside Smithers Interior News offices today) from 1923-1945. Mah Yoke Tong owned the Smithers Bakery at the corner of First Avenue and Main Street (where Ecklands Denture Clinic is today) from 1919-1955. Despite being landowning taxpayers, they and Indegenous residents of the village were not allowed to vote in municipal elections until 1949.

October 21, 2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of Smithers Incorporation, and the Bulkley Valley museum has a new exhibit celebrating the event.

Smithers was the very first village to incorporate in British Columbia under the Village Municipalities Act. At the time, the total population of the village was 520, with 348 being adults.

“The Exhibit, B.C.”s First Village: 100th Anniversary of Smithers’ Incorporation, discusses the history of how the village came to be incorporated, what citizen were excluded from early municipal affairs and voting, and how this anniversary has been marked in past decades,” said curator Kira Westby.

The exhibit features documents, artifacts, and photographs from the Museum’s collection, including the original Petition to Incorporate.

The museum is full of interesting displays of local history, and is currently open Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Admission is always free.


deb.meissner@interior-news.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter