Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, realized that Fort Vancouver opposite of present-day Portland, Oregon might be lost to the Americans if the border did not follow the Columbia River.

Fearing the 49th parallel north could become the demarcation line, Simpson ordered the Hudson's Bay Company to construct the original Fort Langley in 1827 at a location 4 km downstream from its present site.

By 1830, Fort Langley had become a major export port for salted salmon in barrels, as well as cedar lumber and shingles to the Hawaiian Islands.

He noted American territory lay just a few miles away across easily traversed land and that Fort Langley would be impossible to defend against attack.

On 14 February 1859, Moody selected a new site at the mouth of the Pitt River on the north side of the Fraser and suggested the town be named Queensborough.

Between the 1850s and the 1920s, the town of Fort Langley witnessed the threat of Russian invasion in the early 1850s, the threat of American invasion in 1857 at the discovery of gold in the Fraser River, the unification of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in 1858, the boom and bust of the Gold Rush from 1858 to 1865, Canadian Confederation in 1867, and the arrival of the first train early in the 20th century.

The former site of the local lumber mill was controversially rezoned for medium density residential in 2005 and in 2006 construction began on a massive masterplanned community that has been named Bedford Landing.

The restorations, combined with its rural setting, access to the river and mountain vistas, local amenities and the old Fort itself, make it a thriving tourist centre.

The town has served as a filming location for commercials, TV shows and movies, with its striking yellow community hall usually featured prominently.

Additionally, there are few franchises in the village and this has raised its profile as a tourist and independent retail destination with hundreds of thousands of annual visitors.

[6] The three-storey building includes retail shopping spaces, commercial offices and restaurants, and merges contemporary elements with a heritage style design.

[8] Downtown Fort Langley lies on the Fraser River and public walkway along the bank was built as part of the Trans-Canada Trail, in addition to a rowing facility which was completed in 2009.

[9] The historic Fort Langley Community Hall houses meeting space and a branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library.

In 2012, the same owners reopened a new store (Lee's Market), keeping the traditional and mandatory historic appearance that is specific to Fort Langley.

[12] Fort Langley acts as the amenity and service hub for a number of satellite communities such as Forest Knolls to the south, Glen Valley to the east and the Kwantlen First Nations to the north.

The majority of roads in Fort Langley break from the numerical grid system used elsewhere in the South Fraser Region and retain historical names.

[16] Other productions filmed in Fort Langley include Air Bud, Once Upon a Time, Twilight, Bates Motel, Big Sky, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fire Country and Supernatural.