Como Lake Preschool was founded in 1952 by Mrs. A Bennie and Mrs. Ellen Iveson in a rumpus room in the Sapperton District of New Westminster. When Mrs. Iveson moved to Coquitlam in 1954, the play group became more formalized and was relocated, first to a rented garage, then to the Como Lake United Church. The first teacher was hired in 1956 for morning classes of about twenty four and five year old children. In 1964, the preschool relocated again to the Scout Hall in Blue Mountain Park, where it remained until its dissolution. Como Lake Preschool operated as a parent participation preschool, which involved parents cooperating to run the preschool with qualified teachers.

Burquitlam Elementary School was founded in 1970 and was located at 550 Thompson Ave, Coquitlam, British Columbia. It was responsible for providing public education from preschool to Grade 7 to members of the neighbourhood of Burquitlam and also offered a daycare program and programs and services to children with special needs. Throughout its history, Burquitlam Elementary School was faced with three probable school closures (in 1979, 1984, 1987) and finally closed in 2003 due to budget cuts in the School District. Currently, the Mediated Learning Academy is housed in the old Burquitlam Elementary School building.

Emeri Paré Sr. was born on April 8th, 1874 in Champlain in upper New York State. He became a Canadian citizen in 1895 while living in Sherbrooke, Québec. Circa 1910, he relocated to the District of Coquitlam with his wife Celina and family of seven children in order to work at the Fraser Mills as a blacksmith. It is known that his eldest son, Emeri Paré Jr. was born to his first wife, Elise Garneau. The mother(s) of his other six children is/are unknown. In January 1913, his wife Celina died and he married Lea Dault in June, 1913. On January 21st, 1911, the first Coquitlam Police Committee was struck in response to a complaint "that tramps and undesirables were being sent from Vancouver and Westminster to Coquitlam." Council moved that a committee be struck to "deal with the police question with power to appoint temporarily one or two men as constables to start their duties at once, and that the vagrants be severely dealt with and all possible means taken to protect citizens." (Council Minutes, January 21st, 1911) On February 11th, 1911, a call for applications for a police constable were sent out, promising a rate of pay of $80 per month. It noted that applicants were to state whether they were married or single. (Council Minutes, February 11th, 1911) There is no mention of a constable being hired folllowing this call, until September, when Council suggested that they "advertise in Columbian and Province for a constable at $75 per month." (Council Minutes, September 9th, 1911) Twenty applications were received and J.R. Edwards was elected at the September 18th meeting. An additional constable, J. (?) Wood was appointed on April 18th, 1912 but he was discharged on May 2nd, with PC Worrall being engaged as a replacement. A request was made on July 11th, 1912 to appoint a third constable, but no action was taken. On October 7th, 1912 Paré and a man by the name of Hunt were taken on retainer as special constables at a pay rate of $10 per month with an additional $.40 per hour when called for duty. In November, 1912 E.A. Round (likely Ernest Albert Round) was appointed as the first Chief Constable at a rate of $100 per month. In March, 1913, Paré was presumably appointed as a full-time constable as the Council Minutes for March 31st indicate his pay rate changed to $75 per month. In July of that same year, R.G. Marshall was appointed special constable at a retaining fee of $10 per month. In January, 1914, Paré was appointed Chief, though he continued to be paid at his same rate of $75 per month. In addition to his police work, Paré was charged with administering the volunteer fire brigade, and maintaining the jail, which was in the back of his house on Brunette St.. In 1927, the municipality contracted its policing services to the British Columbia Provincial Police, though Paré remained on the force until 1928, when he was transferred to the City of Mission detachment. He served in Mission until his retirement in 1933, when he returned to Maillardville and returned to his blacksmith trade. He died on September 3rd, 1952 at the age of 78.

School District No. 43 (Coquitlam) or SD43 is one of the sixty school districts in British Columbia. The district is the third-largest in British Columbia with 45 elementary schools, 14 middle schools, and 11 secondary schools. School District No. 43 (Coquitlam) serves the Tri-Cities, including the cities of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, and the villages of Anmore and Belcarra.

The original school district of "Junction" was created on April 8, 1891, "commencing at the north-east corner of Lot 385, Group 1, Block 6 North, Range I. West, New Westminster District; thence due east to the Pitt River; thence south-westerly, following the shore line to the mouth of the Coquiltam River; thence in adiret line north to the point of commencement."

In 1938, under School Trustee E.G. Daniel's leadership Coquiltam Junior High School was built to serve the growing need for schools in the community. The school served students from Grade 7-9. In 1944, new rooms were built for a High School. In 1946 grade 11 was added and in 1947, grade 12 was added.

Russell Hellard was born in 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. He worked briefly as a laboratory assistant at the Ontario Research Foundation before enlisting with the Canadian Army in 1943. He trained at Camp Ipperwash in Ontario, then was sent for a Special Wireless Course at Vimy Barracks (the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and Canadian Signal Training Centre), before being sent to Vancouver and then on to Victoria, British Columbia to await deployment to Australia. He served with the No.1 Special Wireless Group in Darwin monitoring Japanese wireless signals until the conclusion of the war in 1945. Once the war was over, it took six months to travel back to Canada with all of the equipment that had been shipped to Australia during the war. Mr. Hellard's unit returned to Canada in February, 1946.

Russell Hellard, his wife Kay and daughter Susan lived in Toronto before his company, Calgon, relocated him briefly to Edmonton for two years. The family then moved to Coquitlam in 1959. Hellard worked for 30 years in industrial water treatment and retired in 1981. During his retirement he became very active across British Columbia as a professional dog show photographer. He was very active in the area of crime prevention within the Coquitlam community between 1984 and 1997, serving as chairman of the Crime Prevention Committee from 1989-1991 and the Community Policing Committee from 1992-1996. He was also actively involved with the Crime Watch Patrol, Block Watch, Court Watch, and Vandal Watch programs. He volunteered his photographic skills for several large community events in Coquitlam, including the BC Summer Games and Centennial celebrations, both in 1991. Hellard has also been an active volunteer and activity group leader at Dogwood Pavilion with the Lifewriters Group, which began in 1999, the Veterans Group, and the Volunteer Improvement Program. He has also photographed many Dogwood Pavilion events over the years. Russell died on February 25 2023.

W. J. Moore was born in 1887 in Bryson, Quebec, one of eleven children of James and Elizabeth Moore. The family moved to De Winton, Alberta when Moore was in his early teens. By 1911 he had found work with commercial photographer Byron Harmon in Banff, Alberta. Harmon married Moore’s older sister Maude in 1907 and it is quite possible that Moore received his early photographic training from him.

Moore, his parents and several brothers and sisters settled in South Vancouver and Burnaby in 1912. Vancouver was then in the midst of an economic boom, but in 1913 it became a depression. Moore established a commercial photographic studio out of his home, first at East 21st Avenue and later on Sophia Street.

He bought a Kodak No. 8 Cirkut Outfit in 1913 and incorporated panoramic photographs as a specialty within his business, producing most of his work with this format in the first fifteen years of his career. After 1928, his use of this format was sporadic and production was solely by commission.

Moore worked on his own until mid-1915, when he formed a partnership with Wilfred F. McConnell, purchasing the Canadian Photo Company from O. J. Rognon and Fred P. Stevens. While in this partnership, Moore signed panoramic negatives under both his own name and the Canadian Photo Co. The partnership was dissolved in 1921, with Mr. McConnell operating his photographic business under the Canadian Photo Co. name until 1933.

In 1921, at the beginning of a decade of economic regeneration in Vancouver, Moore established his commercial studio out of the Winch Building on Hastings Street. William Read was hired as an assistant and worked with him for over thirty years, eventually purchasing the business in 1953 when Moore retired. He died in 1963.

E.A. Atkins served on Council from the date of Coquitlam's incorporation in 1891 until he was elected Reeve of the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam in 1897. He held the position of Reeve until 1903. He was an original settler of the area, having been issued a Crown Land Grant for District Lot 382 in the New Westminster District on June 6th, 1883.

Lindsay Edgar Marmont was first elected to Council for the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam in 1911 and served in this capacity until 1912, before being elected Reeve in 1914. He served as Reeve from 1914-1916, then again from 1918-1922. Later in life he served as a Justice of the Peace until shortly before his death.

Colonial settlement of the area between New Westminster and Pitt River along the Fraser began in the 1920s in the pursuit of trapping, fishing, and logging. Industry and more intensive colonial settlement began with the opening of the Fraser Mills sawmill on the north bank of the Fraser in the last years of the 19th century.

Coquitlam comprised an area of approximately sixty-five square miles that had been surveyed by Royal Engineer A.L. Breakenridge in 1863. In the late 1880s, the landowners and pre-emptors living in the area petitioned the province to incorporate as a Municipal District.

The area was incorporated by letters patent dated July 25, 1891 as the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam. The letters patent called for the nomination of five councillors and a reeve and the first meeting of a municipal council were assembled in Kelly’s Hall on August 22nd, 1891 at Westminster Junction, now within the City of Port Coquitlam. The first reeve was R.B. Kelly and the first councillors were E.A. Aitkins, James Fox, S.W. Lehman, James Morrison, and J. Shennan. The first City Clerk was R.D. Irvine.

In 1894, a portion of the Maple Ridge Municipality between the newly formed Corporation of the District of Coquitlam and the Pitt River was added to the Coquitlam municipality, following a petition by the landowners to the province.

In 1913, the land owners in the area known as Westminster Junction wished to limit their tax liability for the development of the rapidly growing district and to establish their own tax base. A petition was sent to the province and the area seceded from the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam, forming the City of Port Coquitlam.

In the same year, The Canadian Western Lumber Company decided to incorporate the area surrounding Fraser Mills and the Corporation of the District of Fraser Mills was incorporated by letters patent in 1913. The Corporation of the District of Coquitlam and the Corporation of the District of Fraser Mills amalgamated in November 1971, when both districts revoked their letters patent and new letters patent was issued incorporating the area as the District of Coquitlam. Supplementary letters patent were issued in 1973 and 1986 to reflect changes in municipal boundaries.

Effective December 1, 1992, the District of Coquitlam’s status was changed by new letters patent to that of a city municipality and it became known as the City of Coquitlam. Today, it is bordered by the municipalities of Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, and New Westminster as well as the Fraser River to the south, the Pitt River to the east, and the Coastal Mountains to the north. It includes the community of Maillardville, a region near Fraser Mills settled by French Canadians in the early part of the 20th century.

History of the municipality’s bylaws indicates both the perceived remoteness of the region and its rapid urbanization. Road taxation began in 1897, the sale of liquor was first regulated in 1909, and municipal health regulations were first passed in 1912. Coquitlam had electricity by 1911, and plans for running water began in 1916. The building of a separate fire hall in 1946 and expansion of water service in the mid-1950s indicate a particularly vigorous period of population growth. The municipality assumed responsibility for paved roads and sidewalks by 1961. Zoning changes in the 1970s and 1980s reflect a change in land use from agricultural to single-family suburban residential and low-density apartment housing. An average of two development permits was issued every month by the early 1980s.

The town centre, developed in the 1980s and 1990s, provides cultural and recreational facilities and includes the Coquitlam Centre Mall, the Evergreen Cultural Centre, the Public Safety building, City Hall, the Pinetree Community Centre, the City Centre Aquatic Complex, the Coquitlam Public Library, the City Archives, and Douglas College. The population of Coquitlam has more than doubled from the 1970s to the present day.

City Clerks, District and City of Coquitlam
R.D. Irvine 1891-1899
John Smith 1899-1913
A. Haliburton 1913-1917
Robert Newman 1918-1927
Alan M. Shaw 1928
William Russell 1928-1947
F.L. Pobst 1947-1972
R.A. Leclair, acting clerk, 1965, 1966 1967
H.F. Hockey, acting clerk, 1967
Ted Klassen, acting clerk, 1967
Ted Klassen, 1972-1991
Sandra Aikenhead, 1991-1994
Warren Jones, 1994-2000
Trevor Wingrove, 2000-2002
Sonia Santarossa, 2002-2008
Jay Gilbert, 2008-present

Reeves and Mayors, District and City of Coquitlam
R.B. Kelly 1891-1896
E.A. Atkins 1897-1903
Ralph Booth 1904-1908
D.E. Welcher 1909-1910
James Mars 1911-1913
L.E. Marmont 1918-1922
George H. Proulx 1923
R.C. MacDonald 1924-1941
J.W. Oliver 1942-1944
L.J. Christmas 1945-1969
J.L. Ballard 1970-1971
James L. Tonn 1972-1983
Louis Sekora 1984-1998
Jon Kingsbury 1998-2005
Maxine Wilson 2005-2007
Richard Stewart 2008-present

On May 25, 1987, Alderman Ray Mitchuk proposed a motion to Council to create a publication to celebrate Coquitlam’s Centennial. The motion read as follows:

“Inasmuch as the District of Coquitlam will be 100 years old in 1991,

And Inasmuch as an integral part of the celebration of such an anniversary is often the publication of a special book containing pictures and entertaining and nostalgic and informative data and history of a community,

Therefore Be It Resolved that Council appoint a committee of lay people, Fine Arts Council, professionals and members of the Public Library, to begin laying the groundwork for such a publication, to be funded by an advance of say $5,000 to meet initial expenses, and thereafter be marketed, and excess funds from sales be earmarked for a charitable purpose, or to meet library operating costs. The book will augment or replace the only written history of Coquitlam and Fraser Mills written by Harry Monk and John Stewart, and permission to use excerpts from that publication be sought. The published books will remain the property of the District of Coquitlam.”

The Committee members included: Ted Nikiforuk (chairman), Kathy Bach, Pat Cooper, Craig Hodge, Charlotte Lonneberg, Stan Pukesh, Larry Rose. The committee members served on a volunteer basis and meetings were conducted on a consensus basis. Originally, the concept for the book involved having Centennial High School students conduct the interviews; however, this proved too challenging to organize so reporters from the Coquitlam Now (including Hazel Postma) did the interviewing, transcription, and editing. Craig Hodge coordinated the collection of photographs, which were gathered from a variety of sources including archives, businesses, public and religious institutions, and members of the public.

6900 copies of the publication were printed by Hemlock Printers Company in 1990.

Dennis Eugene Welcher was born in the United States and emigrated to Canada in 1885. He served as Reeve of the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam from 1909-1910.

Peter Barth was the Accountant for the Canadian Western Lumber Company. He stood in the election for Reeve of Corporation of the District of Coquitlam following the secession of the City of Port Coquitlam in March, 1913. He defeated L. E. Marmont by a margin of 144 to 121 votes in the election held on March 29th, 1913. His victory was due to significant support in the Maillardville community. The Coquitlam Star reported that "Mr Barth is known to be a man of excellent business training and the result showed that Mr. Barth convinced the electors as to his ability." (Coquitlam Star, April 2nd, 1913) Barth served only one partial term as Reeve of the municipality.

Coquitlam Minor Hockey Association, established in 1963, is a Tier 1 minor hockey association in the Greater Vancouver area within the Pacific Coast Division. Their mission is to provide the children and young adults of Coquitlam with the opportunity to play recreational hockey in a safe, enjoyable, and challenging environment.

John Douglas Andrew Lidster, known as Doug Lidster, is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL. He is currently an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks. Originally from Kamloops, BC, he was drafted by the Canucks in 1980 and played for Team Canada in the 1984 Olympics. He made his NHL debut at the end of the 1983-1984 season. He was traded to the New York Rangers before the 1993-1994 season and was part of that team's 1994 Stanley Cup win. He briefly played for the St. Louis Blues before returning to the New York Rangers in 1995. He signed with the Dallas Starts in 1999 where he won his second Stanley Cup before retiring. After his playing career ended, he coached several minor hockey teams and served as Assistant Coach to the Canadian Women's National Hockey team. He returned to the Canucks as an assistant coach in 2014.