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  • History of Surrey BC

Before the now established city of Surrey BC, the area was home to the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen First Nations People. They fished and hunted in the lands, with their settlements based all along the area surrounding the mouth of the Fraser River. However, when a group of European settlers came into the area in the mid nineteenth century, a lot of this changed.

At the time, the area was filled with thriving canopies of cedar, fir, and hemlock. This meant that agriculture, logging, and farming became the main industries of the area and due to this, gradually formed Surrey. It is believed that the name came from Englishman HJ Brewer, one of the founders of the area, who believed that it looked a lot like Surrey, an area in England.

surrey-historyAs Surrey is located at the intersection of the Pacific Rim, the Vancouver area, and the United States border, it grew and developed tremendously over the years. In 1937 the Pattullo Bride was built and allowed surrey to grow even further. In the 1980s and 90s, immigration caused Surrey to expand even more, with people from all over Canada and Asia to make the most of the growth and new wealth in this area.

Surrey’s Coat of Arms was developed in 1987. The emblem was used as the new city logo. The Coat of Arms is made of five stars that represent the five original town centres. It has wavey bands to symbolize the Serpentine, Campbell AND Nicomekl rivers. There is a Peace Arch to represent the US, a canoe to represent Surrey’s indigenous communities and a beaver to represent Surrey’s municipal seal at the time. There is also a micro tower on a horse’s pendant to represent modern communication, tree on the other horse’s pendant to represent our forests, binary code on a horse’s collar to represent computers, ermine pattern on another horse’s collar to represent Surrey, England, A racehorse to represent Cloverdale and a farm horse to represent Surrey’s agricultural industry.

south surrey historyIn 1993 Surrey was officially declared a city, with 6 town centers. These were North Surrey, Newton, Fleetwood, Guildford, Cloverdale and South Surrey. The population of Surrey dramatically increased and was now 425,000 and was expected to become the largest City in BC. Post World War II brought in a rush of population growth, particularly commuters who worked in Burnaby and Vancouver.

Today Surrey is an ethically diverse cultural hub. The area is big on Agriculture and is home to one of the biggest floriculture greenhouse operation. Surrey is now known as the city of parks as it contains over 200 parks. Surrey is also home to Your Guy Plumbing and Restoration. We are the number one plumbing and restoration provider in the Surrey area.