Historic Langley

1891: Town founder, Jacob Anthes, named the widest street in town leading to the original wharf for himself - Anthes Avenue. His store and home at the corner of Anthes Avenue and First Street was the first structure built in the new town. It and a small hotel were the only commercial buildings in Langley during the economic depression that lasted from 1893 to 1897 when the Yukon gold rush created rapid growth in the Puget Sound region.

1907: A new wharf was built around the point in 1902 and the original wharf was abandoned. By 1907, two hotels and a number of businesses had been constructed along the north side of First Street, and the west side of Anthes Avenue. The first church was built on the south side of First Street in 1900, and an adjacent parsonage in 1907. The bunkhouse for loggers built by Jacob Anthes on Second Street served as a residence for the town blacksmith.

1912: The east end of First Street that extended to the top of the bank in the original plat was angled in 1909 to accommodate traffic coming into town from Cascade Avenue. Fire destroyed Jacob Anthes' Store in 1910 and Ed Howard's Store across Anthes Avenue in 1911. Howard moved his store and Post Office into the Olympic Club built in 1908. A Methodist Church was constructed at the corner of Third Street and Anthes Avenue in 1909.

1930: The large hotel at First Street and Anthes Avenue burned in 1921. A small wooden Langley State Bank building was built in 1914 on the site of Ed Howard's former store. It was replaced by a larger bank building in 1922, and the wooden bank became the telephone office. A public library was built on Cascade Avenue in 1923. The two-story home and adjacent shed next to the former bunkhouse burned in the mid 1920s. By 1929, there were three garages to serve the increasing number of automobiles, including Norman Clyde's garage that was the only commercial building on the East side of Anthes Avenue.

1946: Second Street was connected to Cascade Avenue in the late 1930s. Carl Lenz's garage burned in 1932 and was replaced by a larger garage. Norman Clyde built a larger garage on the site of Anthes' former store in 1935, and an adjacent theatre in 1937. A drug store was built along the bluff in 1937. A new post office building was constructed on the site of the former Hotel in 1938. Wooden pilings were placed at points along the waterfront in an attempt to prevent further erosion of the bluff.

1970: The Howard Hotel on the North side of First Street was demolished in the 1950s. A new drug store was built across First Street from the old one in 1970. More buildings appeared along the north side of Second Street between Anthes and Cascade Avenues, including a Masonic Temple in 1948, and a medical clinic in 1968. A multi-unit, low income housing complex known as Brookhaven completed in 1969. A number of buildings appeared along the south side of Second Street between Anthes and Cascade Avenues, including a gas station, new post office, home, firehouse and new bank.

2018: A concrete sea wall was constructed in 1976. The Inn at Langley was built on the site of the former Howard Hotel in 1985. A number of new buildings were built in the 1990s west of the Firehouse, including those constituting the Langley Village. The gas station on the corner of Second Street and Cascade Avenue was replaced with the Saratoga Inn in 1994. City Hall moved from Anthes Avenue into the vacated Masonic Temple in 1992.