About Chilliwack

The City of Chilliwack is a community of 76,000 people and is growing rapidly. It is located 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Vancouver, marking the start of the Fraser lowland.

In its pioneering days the community served as a gateway as well as a hinterland to the fur trade and gold mines at Yale and Hope. But the arable flat land and the improved transportation of the Lower Mainland soon reoriented the community's economic ties toward the Vancouver area. As Greater Vancouver expands, the Lower Mainland becomes integrated as one economic region, and Chilliwack is very much a part of that region.

The incorporation of the area began with the Township of Chilliwhack in 1873. In 1881 a large subdivision called Centreville was developed. In 1887 the name Centreville was replaced by a more popular name, Chilliwack, and the area was incorporated in 1908 as a separate municipality, the City of Chilliwack. The City and the Township co-existed for 72 years, and finally in 1980 they merged to form the City of Chilliwack.

Chilliwack, How did we get our name?

The word Chilliwack is the name of a local Indian tribe as well as a geographic description of the area. Originally spelled Chilliwhack, this "Halkomelem" word means "quieter water at the head" or travel by way of a backwater