Built in 1916, Hope Station is the last surviving example in Canada of a Class 2 station designed by architect John Schofield. As a ‘special’ variation of a Class 2 station, it had ticket and telegraph offices, waiting and baggage rooms, and living quarters for the Station Agent. It is an emblem of the central role the railways played in the development of the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. The Station is valuable for its links to Indigenous peoples whose homes and land were displaced by the railways. Chinese, Mexican, African Canadian, and Indigenous peoples helped to build the railways.
Over time, it has seen several lives and has been a place of memory. At the outbreak of war in 1942, over 8000 Japanese Canadians crossed the train platform on their way to Internment camps in the interior. Following the war, as rail traffic declined and road traffic grew, it was the last rail station in Hope when CN closed it in 1984. Hope community then bought and relocated it, using it as an arts and culture centre and later, a local hub for musicians. Now with reinvention, it will become a vibrant storytelling community hub and heritage tourist site.
This winter, Hope Station and the Tashme Historical Society finished third in the National Trust’s Next Great Save campaign.
