Port Kells is a neighborhood of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, a town center in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

. The neighborhood is located in the northeastern sector of Guildford, and is adjacent to the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

and west of

Walnut Grove, Langley Walnut Grove is a town centre (approx pop. 23,295) located within the Township of Langley, British Columbia. "Walnut Grove" is located at cross roads north of Highway 1. To the north lie the cities of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, connected by ...

. It has two major components: a large rural southern portion located south of Highway 1, and a section north of the highway that consists mostly of

industrial parks An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

History

Port Kells was founded in 1889 as the Township of Port Kells, and was established by two Irish pioneers, both named Henry Kells, who were brothers-in-law. It was originally intended as a port and was laid out in 1890 by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

.The area did not grow into the thriving town the two had intended, instead becoming mainly agricultural. The New Westminster and Southern Railway established a station in Port Kells in the late 1890s. The port was also a hub for logging operations along the Fraser River, and materials gathered at the port would be sent downriver to New Westminster. In 1914, the Great Northern Railway sold its section from Hazelmere to Port Kells to the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

, and the area struggled. In the early 1960s, the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

was built through Port Kells. Since the 1970s, the highway has provided a neat distinction between the industrial northern portion and the rural and residential southern portion of the community.

Development

Industrial developments in North Port Kells occurred after 1970. In 2005, plans surfaced for development of the neighborhoods southern portion, which called for a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial uses from its present rural condition.

References

External links

Populated places on the Fraser River Neighbourhoods in Surrey, British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub