Ioco Port Moody BC (Ghost Town)

We’re going to do a little walkabout in the former company town of Ioco British Columbia and snap a few photos. Chris, along with two dear friends, were exploring out on the West Coast just over a year ago and this post came as a result. These other fellows are similarly into historic and abandoned stuff, so it’s party in the making.

Adventure calls, its name is Ioco and our little group just had to answer.

This is going to be a casual, fun look at whatever caught our eye and not an all encompassing history of Ioco. That’s beyond the scope of anything we could cobble together and to know more refer to a link further down this post. You can find a lot of information there. It’s a deep, deep rabbit hole.

A few people still live in Ioco, but mostly there’s empty houses and many empty lots. There’s streets and sidewalks to nowhere and an old store (Groceteria) that comprised the business centre of the community. Despite the air of abandonment, it’s clear things are maintained and this reminds us it’s not a totally forgotten place.

There’s also a school and church and it seems they see some use. They’re close to a more heavily travelled road that leads to other communities and as such are more visible. On the other hand, the houses and store are hidden away down side streets and sort of out from view.

Signage for the Ioco self-walking tour.

Still, Ioco is a ghost town in the sense that it’s a shadow of its former self, but not completely without life. To look at it you’d swear all the people had gone. Lived in houses look…well…lived in, where as the vacant ones are boarded and many are surrounded by fencing. They have signs stating their historic significance too.

The town was next to a huge refinery and this is where it gets its name. Ioco = Imperial Oil COmpany. Parts of that plant (west of the townsite) are still used, and function as a transfer and storage terminal for various petroleum products, though it no longer refines fuels. Products come and go by rail and sea barge.

In spite its proximity to the Greater Vancouver area and across Burrard Inlet from the city of Port Moody, Ioco is a quiet place and feels remote. Sprawling cites are a shorty distance away, yet here you’d never know it. Trees? Open spaces? It’s so different. In the old days Ioco was sort of off by itself but today, development encroaches from every angle.

Growth in the Lower Mainland is both incredible and seemingly boundless, so who knows how long before there’s condos here. The pressures to develop are incredible. Anything can be done if you show up with a dump truck load of cash. This land was already purchased by a developer but they seem to be in a holding pattern for now. No doubt, they have plans and visions of dollar signs.

The Ioco Refinery began in 1915 and soon after a shack-town for workers developed beside the plant. It became a temporary measure and a proper company town was established a few years later (early 1920s). They built some eighty houses for workers and their families, plus all the amenities.

Two churches, the store, school, a bowling green and tennis courts were all part of the town. A gas station and garage were added later. They laid the town out in an orderly fashion and old photos show it was pretty as a picture. Development happened quickly and most everything was in place and built by 1922-ish. Everything we see in our photos is from around this time.

Ioco was pedestrian oriented (how progressive) and for the most part, the town (along with the refinery) could be self-sufficient. There’s two sections, each a few blocks square but separated by a stream. A road and (now disused) footbridge connected the two.

Early access to Ioco was by boat, but even with a new road built in from Port Moody (1920s or 1930s, depending on the source), Ioco remained a relatively independent place. The big city’s not all that distant, yet this community still seemed out of the way. You might say it’s…wait for it…“Off the Beaten Path.” Good tag line!

Ioco flourished and remained pretty much intact well into recent times. Photo from the 1960s-1970s period (found at various sources) shows it looking much as it did when built. Cute cottages, tended gardens, picket fences and everything tidy. With the closing of the refinery (mid-1990s) the need for the town had passed and many of the houses were demolished leading up to this event.

Anyone then employed at the plant, and it was a much reduced workforce, simply commuted in by road from wherever.

Present day there’s some ten or so houses left, along with the store and the other institutional buildings.

Ioco has been historically recognized (since 2002), and any development will likely be well-scrutinized before receiving approval. Anything new will have to be in harmony what’s already there…we presume. Due to unstoppable growth out this way, something will happen at some point.

The Port Moody Heritage Society hosts a yearly Ioco Ghost Town Day. Tours of the townsite are arranged and they include guest speakers, historians and displays. Our visit happened late in October 2023 and unbeknownst to us at the time, we missed it by a few weeks. It happened earlier that month.

The Port Moody Heritage Society has also set up interpretive signage and plaques in the old townsite. Might as well learn a few things as you walk around. We saw other visitors while we explored, but most came and went quickly. Our little group hung around for much of the afternoon but knowing we might not come back anytime soon meant we extended it as long as we could. And we savoured the experience.

I joined Rob Pohl, who we collaborate with often (including on the Beer Parlour Project) and art photographer Arturo Pianzola. Rob almost exclusively shoots film, and with old large format equipment at that, and Arturo on mixed media. Film of various formats and digital.

Old school film rigs mean shooting at a relaxed pace (set up times are often extended) and this afforded your author the chance to wander about and take in all of Ioco. These legs are made for walking. A good stroll is an awesome way to connect with the past and imagine how things used to be.

By the time I’d return, they’d just be finishing up and ready to move on to their next shot. Rinse and repeat. It’s different approaches, but they seem to work together.

There’s a few houses and otherwise empty streets.

To find a place such as Ioco in the Lower Mainland is amazing. Old buildings out this way don’t stand a chance against new development and that the whole place is rather untouched strikes us as extraordinary. It’s an oasis, in an ever-growing metropolis made up of tall and shiny condo towers. There’s endless strip malls, a million Starbucks, BMW, Mercedes and Audi dealers as far as the eye can see and a short distance way, it’s these deserted streets.

It’s textbook Kenopsia and the euphoria goes deeper than we could ever describe here. Kenopsia: “the eerie atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned.” That’s the rush and it’s our drug of choice. If you visit the town, be respectful of the property and mindful of those who still live here.

Regrets: the light proved extremely harsh this day and as a result good photos were hard to come by. So, we present a few that look nice, some begrudgingly posted and the rest are forgotten. When you live far away, the chance of returning is unknown and there’s only one kick at the cat, you take what you can get.

Know more (new tab): Ioco Ghost Town Port Moody BC and Company Towns.

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From the same trip…
Royston Wrecks (Vancouver Island BC), Alexandra Bridge Fraser Canyon BC and The Giants of Cathedral Grove (BC).

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Date of adventure: October 2023.
Article references and thanks: Rob & Arturo, City of Port Moody British Columbia, Port Moody Heritage Society, Royal BC Museum (BC Archives Collection) and HistoricPlaces.ca.

The whole town is historically recognized.

One of a couple occupied houses – it’s cute one too.

Sidewalks to nowhere.

It’s a former company town founded it the early 1920s.

The Groceteria was the business centre of Ioco.

In business from 1920s to 1995.

A second that’s lived in.

There’s some ten or so houses left out of about eighty.

The Lawn Bowling Green and old church in back.

The school is in good shape.

It’s mostly abandoned but still kept up.

Hanging with Rob & Arturo, both great art photographers.

It closed as a company town in the mid-1990s.

The sign says it’s a protected heritage site.

An old footbridge hidden in the woods.