1960-1969
Mercury, John Glen, JFK, Bay of Pigs, The British Invasion, mini skirts, hippies, RFK, Viet Nam, "I have a dream", long hair, Woodstock, Martin Luther King Jr., Black Power, sock it to me, CKLG, The "Groove-yard", Ed Sullivan Show, "We're more popular that Jesus", Battle of the Bands, Be-In, Cold War, fall out shelters, CD, "this is a test of the emergency broadcast system", LSD, agent orange, 4 dead in Ohio, "Look out! Helter Skelter", the Manson family, ratfink, the Quiet Revolution, "Vive le Quebec Libre!", "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
quan-tum leap (plural quan-tum leaps) noun: sudden change or advance: a sudden, dramatic, and significant change or advance.
Oh what a decade it was! Maillardville, along with the rest of the world, struggled to maintain its equilibrium in the flash flood of change that engulfed it. Mass communication brought the world, the English speaking world, ever closer to Maillardville. The sexual revolution, the pill and women’s rights undermined the traditional authority of religion, especially that of the Catholic Church. The spectre of nuclear holocaust and the horror of the Viet Nam war ensured that people, especially younger people, felt a profound uncertainty about their future.
Yet Maillardville faced its own distinct challenges. Population growth in the Lower Mainland continued its dramatic rise. Where to put all the people! In the early days, Maillardville was left to grow and flourish in blessed isolation, but now the world was encroaching upon it, bringing a new kind of isolation that would challenge the community more than ever before.
The English population of Maillardville and the French Catholic community both had reason for high hopes at the dawn of the new decade. The robust development of the lower mainland ensured that Coquitlam and Maillardville would continue to grow and prosper. In fact, the population of Coquitlam was growing at a rate of over 25% every five years from the mid fifties through 1970. Yet, overall the District was still largely undeveloped and the main commercial and residential centers continued to be Cariboo, Burquitlam and, of course, Maillardville.
The French community built on the momentum of the previous decade. Following the building of a new Church and convent in the late fifties at Fatima, Notre Dame de Lourdes responded with a new convent school of their own in 1961. Built at a cost of $195,000, the brick and concrete structure accommodated 25 nuns and classes from grades 5 to 10. The building was blessed by Archbishop Duke in 1961.
The Caisse Populaire had recovered from its 1955 crisis (opening the bond to non Catholics) and was once again on an upward trend gaining members and building assets at a steady pace. Church organizations from Knights of Columbus, Mother's Club and Catholic Youth Organization to the schools and Scouts and Guides were flourishing.
It was a particularly active time for our scouts as they joined Les Scouts Catholique du Canada in 1961 and in 1962 the West Region was formed. Jean Lambert was its first president. Mr. Lambert worked hard throughout the decade to promote the French scouting movement. In 1969, 300 French Scouts from the West Region converged on Belcarra Park in Port Moody for the "Jamboree Sasquatch". The highlight was the search for the sasquatch. The Knights of Columbus put up a $1000.00 prize to anyone who could find and capture the sasquatch (Scout leader Andre Beauregard in a gorilla suit). At the end of the camp, the "sasquatch" was lead in by some of the leaders, a rope around its neck. The boys, believing the beast to be real and lusting after loot, descended upon the beleaguered fake with knives at the ready! All ended well, but the fate of the prize money remains as mysterious as the sasquatch itself.
The Jeanette and Guide movement was also growing under the care of les Cheftaines Henriette Sevigny, Amélie Gareau, Alice Gamache and Simone Stubbs. 1960 saw the creation of the first group of guides, "la premiere Cie St. Jean Baptiste" and in 1961,there were three "rondes" of Jeanettes. The girls made great use of facilities on Burke Mountain.
In 1964, a major event occurred in French Maillardville. With financial aid from the Federal Government the Federation Francophone de Colombie Britanique (FFCB) became a non-profit society, hired an executive director and opened its new provincial office in Maillardville.
But growth, uncontrolled growth, has its price. In 1961, Maillardville finally saw the beginning of its long awaited sewer project, but it was a long way from completion. The Lougheed Highway was already bringing increased traffic to Brunette. When the Port Mann Bridge and the Brunette interchange came into use, little Brunette Avenue, still functionally not much better than the original Pitt River Road, was overwhelmed. Traffic jams became a daily occurrence and by 1966, the main village thoroughfare had to be widened.
However, these were minor events compared to the much larger problem that was now looming on the horizon. The explosive growth in population resulted in a housing shortage that was so acute it assumed almost crisis proportions. For Maillardville, it gave rise to the apartment building and the proliferation of these structures is a defining point for the village in the sixties. The shortage was complicated further by a high proportion of lower income owners in the area. The creation of "affordable housing" became a necessity. Reeve and Council set about building a zoning map to govern the development of medium and high density projects. At the same time, they created a "plan for urban renewal and low rent public housing". Five centres were selected for such housing; Cariboo, Burquitlam, Austin, Harbour Village and Maillardville taking the lion's share of potential development with some 95 acres allotted. The others ranged in size from as little as eighteen acres to forty eight for Burquitlam.
And develop they did. Starting in the early sixties, the apartments at Marathon Court were built on what had been the Booth/Bréhault dairy farm. In fact the new building stood directly opposite the Bréhault house: the new order challenging the old. And as the sixties unfolded, more and more complexes were built. Wildwood Trailer Park, Kostur's Trailer Park and the three storey walk up apartments on Brunette all blossomed in Maillardville at this time. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to encourage the building of low rent housing, offered up to 90% of development costs with the provincial government and developer contributing the final 10%. Under this plan, Council considered buying up some of the old large houses east of Marmont in order to convert them to multi unit rentals. The housing stock in that area was beginning to deteriorate, many of the original occupants having moved on. Unfortunately for this original core of handsome buildings, Council did not follow through on the plan. It was left to others to buy up the houses a little later on. With few if any improvements to the properties they were rented to anyone on "easy" terms. The buildings were left to rot and today only one home from the original village is left on Brunette.
But that isn't to say there weren’t good intentions for Maillardville! During this period, at least two major proposals were put forward. One was a high-rise hotel to be located in the 900 block Lougheed, just south of Brunette. Situated on a 17 acre site, the $1 million dollar structure was to be "similar to class A hotels in the Richmond-Burnaby-Vancouver area" according to developers. The other was for a massive $20 million development. The Herald reports in November 1969:
"Proposed $20 Million High Rise To Receive Another Hearing Pending Coquitlam Council approval following a second hearing, a $20 million apartment project by Woodrise Securities Ltd. which would include three storey apartments, service stations and a number of stores will get underway. The development is located in the 600 block Alderson Avenue and bounded by Tenby Street, the Lougheed Highway and Girard Avenue...The gigantic development would involve some 1440 units, complete with town centre concept and including the Christmas Park development."
It is interesting to note than none of these more lucrative plans ever came to fruition. As a final indignity, that venerable (if dilapidated) icon of early Maillardville life, the Tremblay Hall at the corner of Laval and Brunette, was demolished in 1969 to make room for the Eiffel Apartment!
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