Let’s head back to 1969 and the grand opening of Delta's new museum, located at the historic city hall building in Ladner Village.
Longtime Delta Optimist publisher and columnist Edgar Dunning greeted BC Premier W.A.C Bennett for that big event.
Dunning was the first president of the museum society.
Years earlier, concern about inevitable changes with the upcoming opening of the Deas Island Tunnel prompted local residents to discuss the need for a new museum to preserve the community’s heritage.
Those discussions were first held by Delta's 1958 Centennial Committee, chaired by Art Swenson.
The committee was formed to celebrate Delta's history as part of B.C.'s celebration of 100 years as a colony of the British Empire.
In 1961, Delta citizens gathered to talk about forming an historical society and a potential museum site. Families at the time were encouraged to collect and store artifacts until a new facility was available.
As it turned out, Delta’s historic Municipal Hall building in Ladner Village became available a few years later when a new city hall opened in the civic centre.
A few decades after, it was obvious Delta needed a new, better equipped museum facility.
In 2022, the city celebrated the opening of another new museum and cultural centre, named the Douglas J. Husband Discovery Centre after the former mayor. The facility is located in the former second city hall building at the civic centre, next to the already relocated archives.
The city has assumed its daily operations but the society, which is now called the Delta Heritage Society, still has a role.
