| Feature Type: | Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | S of Glen Lake, W of Triangular Hill, Metchosin Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 48°24'59"N, 123°32'04"W at the approximate population centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92B/5 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Happy Valley (settlement) adopted 6 November 1934 on National Defence sheet Goldstream, as labelled on BC map 2A, 1913, and as identified in the 1930 BC Gazetteer (files S.2.33 and Ottawa OBF 1449-1). Form of name subsequently changed to Happy Valley (community). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Happy Valley Post Office opened 1 August 1896; closed 30 September 1922. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Around 1860 some blacks who had emigrated from the United States settled here. According to some accounts, their singing gave the place its name. However, I.G. Walker, postmaster at Happy Valley in 1905, reported that it was one of the blacks, Isaac Mull (who lived to be more than 100), who gave Happy Valley its name, possibly with reference to joy at becoming a free man under the British flag. Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997 |