Dawson Creek, British Columbia is where the Alaska Highway officially begins. It stretches for 2,500 km (1,570 miles) from Dawson Creek to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon.
Today the second largest city in the British Columbia section of the Peace Country, Dawson Creek was incorporated as a City in 1958. It has become the shipping point and supply centre for the surrounding farming area, as well as a supply and storage centre for the regional oil and gas industry.
Dawson Creek grew slowly but steadily until March of 1942, when the village was invaded by a huge horde of U.S Army personnel with the intention of building a road to Alaska in hopes of being able to defend it should the Japanese choose to make a landing there. Dawson Creek was to be the starting point for the renowned
Alaska Highway.
The Dawson Creek City Hall is a three storey concrete structure of contemporary design. A modified "T" in plan, it stands along the southwest side of Ben Heppner Way, west of 12a Street. Expanded somewhat over the years to service an expanding population, its architecture suggests an age of 40 to 50 years. In reality however, the grand opening ceremony for the original section of Dawson Creek's City Hall took place on November 22, 1961.
In March of 2017 a rather unusual thing (for Dawson Creek, at least) took place, in that city hall was evacuated for a short time as the result of a threat to one or more of the staff.
More, on the
Afternoon News, below:
Dawson Creek City Hall evacuated after threat
Dawson Creek City Hall was briefly evacuated Friday morning after a customer threatened staff at the building. Chief Administrative Officer Duncan Redfearn said a man carrying a backpack entered the building around 10:30 a.m.
Jonny Wakefield | Mar 13, 2017
Dawson Creek City Hall was briefly evacuated Friday morning after a customer threatened staff at the building.
Chief Administrative Officer Duncan Redfearn said a man carrying a backpack entered the building around 10:30 a.m. March 10 and made threatening remarks toward a staff person.
"As a safety precaution we decided we were going to evacuate the building until we could confirm if that information was accurate or not," he said.
The evacuation lasted around 20 minutes while RCMP cleared the building, Redfearn said.
"They came back and confirmed it was really a non-event—a false alarm," he said.
No charges have been laid against the person who made the threat, a Dawson Creek RCMP spokesperson said.
Redfearn said city hall has never been evacuated during his nine years with the city. Some staff were still recovering from the shock, he added.
"It went as well as I think it could go," he said. "It can obviously be a little traumatic and create some stress, but ultimately everyone handled it very well. It was also an opportunity to learn and tweak our evacuation procedures."
From the Dawson Creek Mirror