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History > A Company Town In historical terms, Bamberton stands at the very beginning of the industrial and horticultural history of BC. The land was initially part of the E&N Railroad right of way. In 1912-1914 it became a companytown and a cement factory due to the actions of the Portland Cement Construction Company of London, England and their agentMr H.K.G. Bamber, who put his name onto the company town of Bamberton. For over 60 years, Bamberton provided the cement for virtually all the nation-building projects of the Pacific Northwest: The Lion’s Gate Bridge, the Deas Island Tunnel, the aluminum plant in Kitimat, hydroelectric dams, mining operations and airports throughout BC. The Bamberton company town was home to thousands of workers and their families who lived in the village over the years. People whose lives were shaped by the fortunes of the cement industry from 1904 to 1982. In 1980, the property’s ownership group shifted their focus of operations to Delta, BC, and Bamberton, as a factory and as a town, ceased to be. For the next two decades, a number of plans were floated for the property, none of them successfully. They either didn’t make sense to the people who lived nearby, to the planet, to the government, or to investors who expected a return for their efforts. Much of Bamberton’s 1550 acres stood as a ruined, contaminated cement plant that no one wanted to clean up. |