Langley History · November 6, 2026
FORT LANGLEY MOVED IN
1839
The fort you visit is the second one
The Fort Langley you can walk through today is not where it all started. The first fort stood about 4 km downriver.
THE FIRST FORT
It started at Derby Reach
In 1827, Hudson's Bay Company trader James McMillan built the first Fort Langley on the Fraser, near today's Derby Reach Regional Park.
The spot had problems, so in 1839 the company packed up and moved upriver.
1839 TO 1840
Two years, two forts
- 1839: the company moves the fort to its new spot.
- 1840: the new fort burns down.
- It was rebuilt right where it stands today.
PLOT TWIST
You can still visit the first site
Derby Reach Regional Park sits near where the original fort stood.
Same river, same view, almost 200 years later.
The full story
Why the first spot did not last
The first fort was built in 1827 by a Hudson's Bay Company crew led by James McMillan. It was the company's first post on the lower Fraser River, built to trade for furs and to give the company a foothold on the coast.
In 1839 the company moved the whole operation upriver to the spot it holds today, closer to the farmland it was working on Langley Prairie.
Fire, then a fresh start
The new fort burned in 1840, just a year after the move. It was rebuilt on the same site, and that is the fort that went on to trade for decades.
Fort Langley was named a national historic site in 1923. In 1931 its one remaining original building, the storehouse, opened to the public.
Standing on the first site today
Derby Reach Regional Park runs along the Fraser near where the first fort stood. The park also holds later farm history, like the Houston House and the Karr Mercer barn.
Walk the river trail and you are looking at the same water the first traders saw in 1827.
See it yourself
Derby Reach Regional Park
Sources