Delta Area Info.

Delta is home for 100,000 people. We pride ourselves on our past and our growing sustainability. Delta has a hospital, an airport, libraries, museum and archives, sports and recreational facilities, and many bike and walking trails in a diverse network of parks including waterfront parks on the Fraser River, Boundary Bay and Strait of Georgia.

Residents enjoy safe, clean quiet neighbourhoods. The stable prosperity of the community makes it attractive for businesses to choose as their preferred location. Delta’s estimated household average income is 30% higher than the Canadian average. The municipality has one of the fastest-growing industrial areas in Greater Vancouver.

With a rich farming and agricultural history, Delta has grown into three thriving communities: Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta. Delta is a vibrant community that is rich in soil and water, rich in history and industry and especially rich in people.

Delta encompasses 364 square kilometres bordered by the Fraser River on the north, the U.S. border and Boundary Bay on the south, the District of Surrey on the east and the Strait of Georgia on the west.

Each Delta community is proud of their distinct character and amenities. Above all, people still may find a well-preserved sense of rural living in Delta.

BC Ferries run frequent daily service from Tsawwassen terminal in South Delta to Swartz Bay and Nanaimo (Vancouver Island), the Gulf Islands and Prince Rupert. The area is accessible to rail, water and major highways in all directions. Delta is roughly 35 minutes from Vancouver and 25 minutes from the Vancouver International Airport. The Boundary Bay Airport for small planes is located in South Delta.

History

Archaeological evidence shows that aboriginals had seasonal settlements near present-day Alex Fraser Bridge at Glenrose and St. Mungo’s over 8,000 years ago. Other sites, on the west side of the Beach Grove golf course and along the shores of the Strait of Georgia, date back 4,000 years.

The land that would become Delta was first sighted by Europeans in 1791. Spanish explorer Lieutenant Francisco Eliza mistook the area for an island and named it Isla Capeda.

The present name - Delta - was given to the municipality in 1879.

The Gold Rush of 1858 and the creation of the Colony of British Columbia attracted settles to the land. The Ladner brothers, William Henry and Thomas Ellis of Cornwall, England, on their way to the gold fields, saw the potential for agriculture in the rich soils of the Fraser River delta and resolved to return. In 1868, they did and claimed land at the head of the Chilukthan Slough. In the north of Delta, James Kennedy had pre-empted acreage on the south bank of the Fraser near New Westminster in 1859.

Farming and fishing were the economic foundations of Delta. Salmon was first canned commercially on the Pacific coast near Annieville. In 1873, James Deas established a cannery at present-day Deas Island. In 1879, Ellis Ladner opened a cannery at the north end of Chilukthan Slough and later managed the Wellington Cannery near Westham Island.

As the population grew, incorporation - and its present name - were granted to Delta in 1879, and the community of Ladner was designated its administrative centre.

Information from the Corporation of Delta