Sometimes we receive questions about the story behind the houses that Langley Heritage Society has helped restore. Most recently we received a query from Kamloops about the Loucks Family home on 0 Avenue. Fortunately LHS member Maureen Pepin had already prepared a profile a while ago! Thanks Maureen.
“William Markley Loucks was born in Ontario in 1865 and settled in Langley about 1908 after working in Atlin, B.C. and trying his luck in the Yukon gold fields.
He and his wife, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Pillath, were married in 1907 and after the birth of their first son, Frederick Williams, bought a property on Zero Avenue between 272nd and 276th Streets where they lived in a log cabin while their larger house was built on the hill. The house is particularly noted for its curved wraparound verandah with turned columns and decorative newel posts as well as the wonderful view looking south over the U.S. border.
Their farm was very productive, growing grain, hay and vegetables as well as raising beef and chicken. They traveled overnight to New Westminster where they sold produce on Fridays and then at the Curb Market in Vancouver on Saturdays. The Loucks family purchased one of the first cars in the area in 1913 and although they did not have electricity until after World War II, they used gas motors to run pumps, the cream separator and the washing machine.
The Loucks family was very adventurous and entrepreneurial. Despite having diabetes, William traveled to Dawson City in 1931 in his 1919 Model T. There was no road, but William and his two friends followed the telegraph line to reach their destination.
Fred Loucks attended North Prairie School on Double Ditch Road north of Lynden in 1914 as it was only one half a mile from their home. However, when World War I began, some American soldiers came to the school and told the six or seven Canadian kids that they had to get back across the border and quickly marched them home with bayonets at the ready.
Fred Loucks farmed, built and operated sawmills all over Langley and later developed Loucks Trucking Service which took his trucks all over B.C., Alberta, the Yukon and into Oregon. He collected vintage vehicles and built his own trucks and machines including a snow plough used on municipal roads in Matsqui and Langley. Brother David, who enjoyed fast cars and big game hunting, kept up the Zero Avenue residence after the death of his father but later moved to a farm near Barriere where he died in 1984.
With the help of the Aldergrove Heritage Society and the Langley Heritage Society, a new roof was added in 1999 and the interior of the house was renovated. The house and property is available for rent from Metro Vancouver who acquired the whole section between 272nd and 276th for the Aldergrove Lake Park in the 1970’s.”
