Matsqui Village

This photo shows a train arriving in Matsqui after construction of the rail link between Mission and Sumas. The train was symbolic of the incorporation of this land into the settler-colonial state--a sign of progress for some, but an ominous development for the Stó:lō Nation who had lived in this region for thousands of years.
Before the arrival of the trains, and the Europeans who built it, the vast sprawling floodplain before you was the land of the Stó:lō. The Stó:lō lived off the incredible bounty of the Fraser River and used the river and its network of tributaries as highways across their traditional territory that spread from the Fraser Canyon just past Yale in the east all the way to the river's mouth in the west. One of the bands that made up the Stó:lō Nation were the Matsqui, who lived in this area.

This view of Riverside Road is an early shot of the small Scandinavian community that grew up here.
Before we turn to them in detail, we must ask how Europeans came to occupy all this land, which is the ancestral territory of the Matsqui. The Matsqui, one of the bands making up the Stó:lō Nation, were initially given a large grant of land by the British authorities who ran the colony of British Columbia in the mid-1800s. However, after James Douglas stepped down as governor in 1864, a far more brutal and explicit policy of dispossession of Indigenous lands was immediately implemented by Joseph Trutch.
Within months the Matsqui found 99% of their lands sold out from underneath their feet without their consent or even consultation.¹ They were confined to a tiny reserve on the banks of the Fraser River and subjected to a legal regime that relegated them to the status of second class citizens. The Matsqui continue to fight for redress over the theft of their lands to this day.

This is Matsqui's Lutheran Church, built in 1903. It's probably the oldest surviving church in Abbotsford, and one of the only physical traces you can still find of the origins of Matsqui's village. The simple log structure is a design that dates back to the Middle Ages, and is "exactly like a Scandinavian visitor would expect."¹
Around the time this church was built the majority of immigrants coming to British Columbia were British. Matsqui was different: This community was established by people from Scandinavia, primarily from Norway, and Sweden, as well as some from Finland. They were just a few of the hundreds of thousands of Scandinavian immigrants who had caught 'Canada fever,' a desire to escape their harsh lot at home and start over in the Canadian West.
What drove these people to get 'Canada fever' and make the risky journey to start a new life in a distant land?

This was the home of J.P. Kemprud in 1925. The Kempruds were one of the founding Scandinavian families around which the Village of Matsqui was built. J.P. Kemprud was a prominent local businessman, and his wife Anna started the village's first restaurant here, making her one of the first female business owners in the area.
We have seen why so many Scandinavians were eager to emigrate from their homeland, but what made them choose Canada? There were three main factors: In the 1890s the US West was largely settled and they'd run out of free land to distribute. Shortly thereafter the Canadian government sponsored aggressive initiatives to get Swedes and Norwegians to come to Canada, and finally coastal British Columbia, with its rugged mountains and temperate climate, very much resembled their homeland.

This is another view of the Lutheran Church, which was originally named Goshen Evangelical Lutheran Church. This church replaced an earlier one as the primary place of worship in Matsqui, and was built on land donated by a local man for that express purpose.
While this building has obvious Scandinavian roots, it defies many Scandinavian Lutheran architectural conventions. Most Lutheran churches were built in an east-west orientation, with the chancel on the eastern side, and the entrance facing west. But this church is the opposite. For the new settlers, location was more important than orientation, for the church had to be the focal point of the community. If they had followed convention, the bell tower and entrance would have been set away from the intersection, facing away from the nexus of the village.
The vast majority of immigrants to BC coming from Europe in this period were British, meaning they were almost all Christian, but Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, or Presbyterian. There were also many Irish Catholics. Lutheranism was distinct to Northern Europe, so you won't see many Lutheran churches outside of communities without strong Scandinavian or German roots.
What kind of religious beliefs and cultural traditions did the Scandinavians immigrants have?

This photo features what was once Matsqui's second Post Office. Matsqui's first post office was built in 1902, and was originally both a post office, and a store. The original building still stands at 33677 St. Olaf, but the post office was moved to the building you see here in the mid 20th century. It has since moved again to a new building on Riverside Street.
The post office not only facilitated communication between Matsqui and the rest of Canada, but allowed Scandinavian settlers to keep in touch with relatives scattered across North America, and those still living back home.

This distinctive building is in a very poor state of repair today, but it was once at the centre of the community's commercial area, and housed a garage, Lightbody's Pharmacy, and later the town's library. It was built in 1925, shortly before this photo was taken.
In 1898 Alex Cruikshank, owner of a nearby farm, was appointed manager of the Matsqui Land Company. His task was to build up a settlement here. Today this might look like an easy place to settle, but in those days the Fraser River had yet to be dyked, and frequent flooding threatened anyone who settled here. He wanted hardy pioneers who would stick it out, and help build the desperately needed dykes. He sought to lure Scandinavians from the American Midwest with promises of land and good paying work.
The first family, the Hougens, arrived in 1899 and began farming the 160 acres promised by the Dominion Lands Act. They liked it well enough that soon more of their countrymen were coming from America and also directly from Scandinavia. Within a few short years 18 Scandinavian families had settled in Matsqui.¹

Two men pose with a team of harnessed horses in front of the Patterson blacksmith shop, which was built around 1915. During this time there were blacksmiths all over Abbotsford, though this is the last surviving one where the building still stands.
Blacksmiths were some of the most important tradesmen in the pioneer towns. Their work included shoeing horses, repairing wagon wheels, and repairing farm machinery. In the early 19th century, separate craftsmen handled various metalworking tasks in small communities, but by 1850 all of these amalgamated under the blacksmith's banner. They were especially important in farming communities like Matsqui.

This photo shows a lone woman standing on the porch of this home on Olaf Street. In addition to being the home of several of the village's pioneer families it is also one of Matsqui's earliest uses of stucco siding.
For Norwegian women, gender roles were similar to those in England or America. Women generally took charge of the home and children, while the men were the 'providers.' However, in this role, Norwegian women were seen as being more independent and assertive than Canadian women from other backgrounds.
This was remarked upon by other settlers: author Gulbrand Loken writes "It seems no wonder that one Englishman blurted out, 'What unbelievable women these Norwegians have!'" He continues by saying that while the father was head of the family, the mother was "the neck that turned the head."¹

This is the Matsqui Hotel. It was built in 1914 to replace an earlier hotel on the same spot. Despite the owners' Scandinavian roots, the hotel is built in a North American style: you wouldn't find many buildings with flat roofs in Sweden, they risked collapsing under the weight of snow!
Matsqui itself ceased growing during the Great Depression, when this photo was taken, as any new arrivals opted to settle in the nearby Mennonite community of Clearbrook instead, which was thriving. In addition, a new bridge to Mission meant farmers on the Matsqui Prairie could go there to get their shopping done, bypassing the village altogether. As Heritage Abbotsford's Christina Reid explains, from this point "instead of becoming a ghost town... Matsqui neither grew nor shrunk, but seemed to become frozen in time."¹

This house, built in 1900, is one of the early examples of typical architecture in Matsqui. Although the building has been remodelled several times over the years, it's largely unchanged since its last serious renovation in 1926 by local contractors, O. Olund, Kemprud and Hanson. Like many of the buildings in Matsqui, this house is two storeys, and built with clapboard siding. Despite the community's Scandinavian roots, most of the buildings are constructed in a style that is clearly North American.
Scandinavia had long and well-established building traditions, but as we can see from this home, and many of the buildings in this community, Scandinavian architectural influences can be hard to find. Local builders brought with them American styles they'd adopted in their time in the American Midwest, and made use of local materials to adapt to local conditions.

This is Matsqui's Community Hall. Built between 1907 and 1915. It was used early on as a community school. The hall was also the central gathering place for the Norwegians, Swedes, and Finns who called this place home, and it has seen thousands of joyous events over the years. Today it continues to host meetings, dances, and wedding receptions.
It's role as a school early on was important, as the settlers here placed enormous importance on educating the next generation. "In general, the Norwegians in Canada were faithful patrons of public school education from kindergarten to university," writes the historian Loken Gulbrand.¹

This photo was taken during the royal visit by King George V to Matsqui just before the outbreak of the Second World War, when he stopped at the station located approximately on this spot. Though nominally independent and self-governing, Canada still had very close ties to Britain. British culture and traditions dominated, especially in western Canada, and immediately upon their arrival the Scandinavians were under considerable pressure to assimilate into this Anglo-Canadian society.
The cultural assimilation of the Scandinavians was so complete, that a recent study on Swedish Canadians was subtitled 'The Invisible Immigrants.' What cultural pressures were Scandinavian Canadians under, and how did they respond?

This photo of St. Olaf Street, is one of the earliest shots we have of Matsqui Village. Foremost in this shot is Halverson and Hougan's Store, which provides not only general merchandise, and farm tools, but also insurance and real estate. The store also doubles as the community's post office. With it's muddy crested road, and raised wooden sidewalks, this snapshot closely resembles many other photos of BC's frontier towns in this period.