Cloverdale is a

town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...

in the city of

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 ...

, a southeastern suburb of

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

, located just west of the City of Langley. The town centre was initially founded as a small farm community in 1870 for its fertile land and temperate climate. Cloverdale eventually amalgamated into Surrey as one of its six town centres. Cloverdale is known as a historic centre of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and is home to many heritage sites, including Christ Church, one of Surrey's oldest buildings (built in 1882). It is also the location of the City of Surrey's official museum.

History

William Shannon (1843–1928) was one of the first settlers to the Surrey Cloverdale region, buying 960 acres of land from the government in 1875.History of Surrey and Clover Valley
, Cloverdale Business Improvement Association website He was inspired to name the area from the

clover Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversit ...

that grew there in abundance. Cloverdale was the City of Surrey's first town centre, officially established in 1879 near Five Corners, the historic intersection of 60 Avenue and Old McClellan Road. Adding railways was significant in developing the area. Linking Bellingham, Washington to New Westminster was the subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway forged in the valley in 1891 and created a station named Cloverdale. In 1881, the first Surrey Town Hall was constructed there. In 1912, the Municipal Hall was built in the southwest corner of Cloverdale. In 1882, Surrey's first school was established on land donated by Joseph Shannon. In the 1920s and 1930s, Cloverdale was a common destination for Americans in Washington State seeking for alcohol to address the Prohibition laws. In 1968, Cloverdale's population reached to 5,000. By 2016, the population stood at 65,645.

Arts and culture

Cloverdale includes a campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), called KPU Tech. It is the main campus for the Faculty of Trades and Technology at KPU. Cloverdale's Canada Day events are the most popular in Western Canada. For example, 100,000 people were expected to attend the 2018 July 1 celebrations.

Film and television

Cloverdale is best known outside its immediate vicinity as the primary "main street" and "downtown" sets for the television show ''Smallville''. A billboard once stood on the edge of the community that read, "Destination Cloverdale – Home of Smallville." The community has been home to other filming, including one of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

's Christmas commercials. Despite filming during summer, the town square was decked with Christmas decorations, including fake snow. In June 2006, a film titled ''

Deck The Halls "Deck the Halls" is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, " Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

'' was filmed, and the area was once again decorated in Christmas decorations and fake snow. In September 2006 the feature film '' Postal'' was filmed in Cloverdale. The 2007 film ''

Hot Rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and ma ...

'', starring Andy Samberg, was also filmed in Cloverdale. A portion of 176th Street was shut down to accommodate a

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

scene and a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

stunt involving jumping over fifteen

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...

es was filmed at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. In addition to being filmed there, the town of Cloverdale was a fictional setting of the ''

Stargate Universe ''Stargate Universe'' (often abbreviated as ''SGU'') is a military science fiction drama television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the An ...

'' episode "Cloverdale". In July 2012 and February 2016, the TV show ''Supernatural'' was filmed at Christ Church on Old McLellan Road. Superman returned to Cloverdale with the CW show Superman & Lois which was filmed here from 2020–2024. The main street of Smallville this time was a set located near the Stetson Bowl on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. From March 2021 until July 2021, the

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

series '' Peacemaker'' was filmed in several different locations.

Music

The Cloverdale Fairgrounds was one of the North American stops of the 1994

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

in August 1994. Featured performers were

Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. ...

, The Beastie Boys, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

Rodeo

The yearly Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair, on the

Victoria Day Victoria Day () is a federal Canadian public holiday observed on the last Monday preceding May 25 to honour Queen Victoria, who is known as the "Mother of Confederation". The holiday has existed in Canada since at least 1845, originally on Vic ...

long weekend, attracts visitors from around western North America. It is the fifth-largest rodeo in Canada. Its location, the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, is also home to Fraser Downs, a popular racetrack and casino.

Demographics

References

External links

{{SurreyBCNeighbourhoods Neighbourhoods in Surrey, British Columbia