New Brunswick
Recent Articles
The Post Office and Customs Building
Overlooking Market Square near the waterfront, the St. Andrews Federal Building was constructed in 1936 to accommodate the town’s post office and customs services. Bringing these functions together placed two important connections with the wider world under one roof: the movement of correspondence and the regulation of goods entering the country. Its prominent location made […]
The War Memorial
At Market Square on the St. Andrews waterfront, a rough stone arch shelters a granite memorial carved in the shape of an open book. A lantern hangs beneath the arch, while the book’s pages carry the names of people from the community who died in war. Across its base, the words “LEST WE FORGET” state […]
The Stone Church
At the end of Wellington Row, the narrow spire of St. John’s Anglican Church rises above one of Saint John’s oldest surviving places of worship. Commonly called the Stone Church, it has stood on Carleton Street for two centuries, witnessing the city’s growth, its devastating fires, and the many changes that have reshaped the surrounding […]
King’s Square
At the center of Uptown Saint John is King’s Square, a public space that has served the city since its earliest years. Named for King George III, the land was granted to Saint John through the royal charter that incorporated the city in 1785. Its history therefore began alongside that of Saint John itself, which […]
Young Memorial
The Young Memorial in King’s Square remembers an ordinary young man whose final act became part of Saint John’s civic history. John Frederick Young was only nineteen years old when he drowned in Courtenay Bay in 1890 while attempting to rescue ten-year-old Frederick E. “Freddie” Mundee. Young was a factory worker who had come to […]
Saint John War Memorial
Standing among the trees of King’s Square, the Saint John War Memorial honors the men and women of the city who served and died in military conflicts. The monument was originally created to remember those lost during the First World War, but later inscriptions expanded its meaning to include the Second World War, the Korean […]
Saint John Coat of Arms
Mounted high upon the wall inside the Saint John City Market is the city’s historic coat of arms. Surrounded by two antlered moose and topped by a crown, the emblem brings together symbols representing the natural resources, maritime industries, and British institutions that shaped Saint John. The shield is divided into sections containing images associated […]
Fused Metal from the Great Fire of 1877
Resting quietly in King’s Square is a misshapen mass of metal that could easily be mistaken for an ordinary rock. It is a collection of metal objects fused together by the intense heat of the Great Fire of 1877. Recovered from the ruins of a Saint John hardware store, it provides a tangible connection to […]
Imperial Theatre
The survival of Saint John’s Imperial Theatre depended upon an extraordinary agreement: a one dollar down payment followed by a promise to raise nearly one million dollars within a year. The community kept that promise, saving a building that had entertained generations of Saint John residents and restoring it to its original purpose. The Imperial […]
Engine House Museum
Before fire engines had motors, alarms were transmitted electronically, or firefighters were employed by the city, Saint John relied upon volunteer companies to respond when flames threatened the community. One of those companies operated from the No. 2 Engine House at 24 Sydney Street, where volunteers once pulled a hand-operated fire engine through the wide […]
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley
The statue standing in King’s Square honors Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, a New Brunswick politician who helped create Canada, and who is traditionally credited with giving the new country its original title, the Dominion of Canada. Born in Gagetown in 1818, Tilley moved to Saint John as a teenager to apprentice with a pharmacist. He […]
Saint John City Market
One year after the Saint John City Market opened, fire swept through the city. The Great Fire of 1877 destroyed hundreds of acres, leaving much of Saint John in ruins. Yet the new market, protected by its solid brick-and-stone construction, survived. Its exterior therefore represents more than nineteenth-century architecture. It is one of the buildings […]
