Let’s head back to see a piece of Delta’s history being demolished to make way for a new Safeway store in Tsawwassen.
In January 1965, the old Calvert property at 56th Street and 12th Avenue (formerly Point Roberts Road and Raitt Road) was cleared in “Operation Bulldozer” for the new grocery store that was to open later that year.
Edward Theodore Calvert (1875-1940) was born in 1875 in Devon, England, immigrating to Canada in 1892.
He married Euphemia May Robinson (1877-1964) in 1898 and they had six children.
In 1902, he became agent for the Great Northern Railway, and then started a business in Ladner, the E.T. Calvert Agricultural Machinery equipment store.
In 1914, Calvert was appointed the first customs agent at the new Boundary Bay customs office at the corner of 56th Street and 12th Avenue.
Calvert patrolled the international boundary and adjacent areas. At the time of his death, he was the chief customs-excise examiner for Boundary Bay.
He actively participated in musical groups and events in Delta, being the first conductor for the Delta Choral Society.
Among his many other community involvements was serving as president of the Delta Board of Trade in 1936.
