The City of White Rock turned 63 on Wednesday.
It was on April 15 1957 that the city – previously Ward 7 of the then-municipality of Surrey – was officially incorporated as its own civic entity.
The White Rock community, a 5.5 square mile area of some 6,000 inhabitants, broke away from the much larger municipality after many grumbles that it was being overlooked for development and improvement of infrastructure in favour of other areas such as North Surrey and Cloverdale.
Ultimately the city was created by a special warrant of the Government of British Columbia, after an Act of Incorporation presented to the B.C. legislature received assent from a majority of members.
Charles Defeaux took the oath as first mayor of the city in April, and acted in that capacity until the city’s first elections were held that fall, when Bill Hodgson was elected mayor.
