Port Hammond, commonly known as Hammond, is a community on the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

within the city of

Maple Ridge, British Columbia Maple Ridge is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the northeastern section of Greater Vancouver between the Fraser River and the Golden Ears (peaks), Golden Ears, which is a group of mountain summits which are the southernmo ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, near its border with the City of

Pitt Meadows Pitt Meadows is a city within Metro Vancouver in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Incorporated in 1914, it currently has a land area of with an estimate population of 19,498 as of 2024. The city received its name from the Pitt River and ...

and just east of the

Golden Ears Bridge The Golden Ears Bridge is a six-lane extradosed bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. It spans the Fraser River, connecting Langley on the south side with Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge on the north side. The bridge opened to traffic on J ...

History

The town's name derives from its two original settlers, William and John Hammond, a civil engineer and a farmer respectively, who with a Mrs. E.H. Mohun owned the property that became the community, which they received as a Crown Grant in 1862. The term "Port" was appended to the name in the course of the town becoming the westward terminus of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

during its construction, prior to its extension westward to Burrard Inlet. The brothers Hammond had struck a deal with the CPR, trading land for track right-of-way, station and yards on the condition that their townsite be the location of the first station in Maple Ridge. It was also known as Hammond's Landing, as it served as the steamship and mail port for all CPR shipping from

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and the brothers had ambitions of it becoming a major deep-water port. With the railway came Chinese labourers and merchants, some of whom stayed on after railway construction to work on farms or as servants, with their residential area being in the vicinity of 207th St and Maple Crescent, which is also the area of the grove of maple trees from which Maple Ridge's named was derived. Following World War I, part of Hammond became known as "Swede Row" due to the presence of a community of Swedish millworkers and loggers. From 1910 onwards, Port Hammond was the site of a major sawmill and served as a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

for its employees; this mill in 1946 became controlled by

British Columbia Forest Products Catalyst Paper Corporation is a Pulp and paper industry in Canada, pulp and paper company based in Richmond, British Columbia. It operates five pulp mills and paper mills, producing a combined 1.8 million tonnes of paper and 491,000 tonnes of ma ...

, then one of the province's largest milling concerns. The CPR Mainline runs through the community, with most of the townsite grid between it and the Fraser River, and therefore outside the main dyke protecting settlement from the Fraser

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

. Graveyard Indian Reserve No. 5, 0.40 ha., on the north side of Hammond and under the aegis of the Katzie First Nation, was bought from the Hammond brothers in order to provide a cemetery for Indians and Chinese, who were excluded from the other graveyard in the area, which was for whites although some

Kanakas Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and Blackbirding, involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British Empire, British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Queen ...

had been buried there.

Film location

Hammond is a popular film location and TV series like ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' and ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'' film in the Maple Meadows Business Park.

Sports

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

has always been a popular sport in Port Hammond and on July 30, 2016, the City of Maple Ridge unveiled a public art display titled “Play Ball” at the Hammond Stadium to pay homage to the extensive history of baseball. Hammond Stadium Park is also a year-round training facility for minor baseball. The sports enthusiast can take in a full day of activities in the Port Hammond area including soccer, baseball, golf, and cycling.

References

{{coord, 49, 12, 00, N, 122, 39, 00, W, display=title Neighbourhoods in Maple Ridge, British Columbia Company towns in Canada Populated places on the Fraser River