The body of water was named by Captain George Richards in 1860 after Colonel Moody, who commanded the Columbia detachment of Royal Engineers in BC from 1858-63.2 The land around it became the original terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway;
however, the terminus was quickly moved to Vancouver, which slowed the Port's economic growth.3
Port Moody's first main industries were an oil refinery and a sawmill, but it was
developed primarily as a residential suburb of Vancouver.4 It maintains an active port as well as many important industrial facilities.5
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 397.