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LOCAL HISTORY
Saint John is the largest
city in New Brunswick, Canada. Located at the mouth of the Saint John River,on
the Bay of Fundy.
Saint John Harbour was first entered
probably in 1524 by Gomez (A Spaniard) and named Rio De La Buelta. Earlier
still Basque, Breton and Norman Fisherman are to believed to have made voyages
to the Bay of Fundy in the early 1500s.
History records
that the French explorers Sieur de Monts and Samuel De Champlain, arrived at
the mouth of what is now the St. John River on June 24, 1604, feast day of St.
John the Baptist and named the River in the Saint's
honour.
Portland Point, near where H.M.C.S. Brunswicker is
located, is an important historic landmark on the east side of Saint John
Harbour. It was here that the first permanent french settlement in that part of
Acadia now known as New Brunswick was made.
Fortified by
Charles La Tour, who was made Lieutenant Governor in 1631 to
1635 and engaged in trade with the natives.
It was
occupied in 1758 by the British and renamed
Fort Frederick. The latter was destroyed by American
revolutionaries in 1775 but was replaced by
Fort Howe (1777-1778), whose
block house has since been reconstructed. The settlement began to develope in
1783, when the United Empire Loyalists established Parr Town and
Carleton around the harbour. In 1785 the two communities
amalgamated as Saint John (after the river) to become Canada's first
incorporated city.
Benedict Arnold, the American revolutionary traitor, lived
here in 1787 to 1791. During the War of 1812,
Martello Tower was built
on Lancaster Heights for harbour defense; it is now a national historic
site.
A year round ice-free harbour fostered shipping,
shipbuilding ( the famous Ship Marco Polo to name one ), and fishing; but
economic growth was checked by a disastrous fire of 1877 and a declining lumber
trade. Saint John recovered, absorbed the city of Portland in 1889 the city and
parish of Lancaster and part of Simonds parish in 1966, and became the
province's commercial, manufacturing, and transportation center, with shipping
facilities and one of the world's longest (1,050 feet) dry
docks.
The
Irish Story, thousands of Irish immigrants were quarantined on
Partridge Island during the time of the Great Famine in
Ireland. Many died fleeing across the ocean packed in unsanitary cargo vessels.
Hundreds more who survived the journey died on the overcrowded island with
inadequate shelter, medical care, sanitation, and drinking water.
Those hardy enough to make it ashore alive faced
continued poverty, prejudice, and great challenges in finding gainful
employment in the "Loyalist" city. An Irish community was established in Saint
John during the late 19th century owing to the arrival of these Irish
immigrants, but it diminished somewhat over the years as immigrants who had the
means to travel further abroad sought better opportunities in the west and
south in the United States.
The
great fire of 1877 reduced much of the city to ashes, and
although foreign nations and cities raised relief funds to help rebuild, the
Irish labourers who had arrived en masse only 30 years before and who continued
to arrive in droves played no small role in rebuilding the destroyed Loyalist
city of Saint John back up again, this time in brick and stone.
A local phenomenon is the "Reversing Falls" at the river's mouth, where strong tidal
fluctuations of 30 feet reverse the rivers flow for several miles upstream
twice daily( this is truly a site to witness). The New Brunswick Museum located
in downtown Saint John has an extensive collection of colonial relics, ship
model of the shipbuilding era, a variety of galleries and features a 45-foot
right whale and mastodon!
Saint John has taken great pride
in it's history and has restored many of the original building and homes of the
early settlers, a walk down
Prince William St. is like taking a walk in the
past.
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