Woodstock, New Brunswick

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox settlement

Woodstock is a town in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada on the Saint John River, Template:Convert upriver from Fredericton at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River. It is near the Canada–United States border and Houlton, Maine and the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Trans-Canada Highway making it a transportation hub. It is also a service centre for the potato industry<ref name="tce">Template:Cite web</ref> and for more than 26,000 people in the nearby communities of Hartland, Florenceville-Bristol, Centreville, Bath and Lakeland Ridges for shopping, employment and entertainment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Woodstock was possibly named after Woodstock, Oxfordshire.<ref name="ketchum">Template:Cite book</ref> The name is Old English in origin, meaning a "clearing in the woods". New Brunswick historian William Francis Ganong believed the parish (and later town) was named in honour of Viscount Woodstock, a junior title of the Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of Great Britain when the Loyalists arrived in New Brunswick.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On 1 January 2023, Woodstock expanded in all directions, annexing all or part of six local service districts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="GovRefMapRSC12">Template:Cite web</ref> Revised census figures have not been released.

History

Little is known of the area before it was settled by disbanded veterans of De Lancey's Brigade following the American Revolutionary War.<ref name="cchs">Template:Cite web</ref> The veterans moved there in late 1783.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The 26,000 acres grant was to 110 men. Not all took up the offer, and of those who did, not all stayed. By 1790 only 23 families were present, and by 1804 only 10 of the original men had possession of the land.<ref name="cchs"/> According to the diaries of Frederick Dibblee mills were present from 1805. Export of timber via the Saint John river began about this time.

When Carleton County was created in 1831, Woodstock was made county seat, and a jail, court house and registry office were installed.<ref name="cchs"/> From 1837 William Teel Baird operated a pharmacy. The first steamboat from Fredericton reached Woodstock in 1837 and a regular service was established in 1845. By 1847 the population was at 2,000 and the town had four churches, a bank, and a grammar school.

On The Twelfth (Orangemen's Day) of July 1847<ref name="Baird1978">Template:Cite book</ref> a riot took place at the corner of Victoria and Boyne streets near the site of the Orange Hall,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> built in 1848 and now a vacant lot.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was a conflict between Protestant Irish immigrants of the Orange Order and Catholic Irish immigrants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Around 250 Orangemen clashed with an equal number of Irish Catholics, leading to 10 deaths and many more injuries. It was a result of years of tensions. Subsequently, only Catholics were brought to trial.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to the 1851, census there were 488 inhabited houses, and nine places of worship. Immigration was important, with the majority coming from Ireland.<ref name="cchs"/>

The town was the first in New Brunswick to be incorporated, in 1856. The first mayor was Lewis P. Fisher. He made provisions in his will for the building of several educational institutions, among them the first Agricultural and Vocational School in Canada, and the L. P. Fisher Public Library. In 1861, the newly built railway between St. Andrews and Woodstock was seized by several hundred navvies, angry at not being paid.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A peaceful settlement was later made personally by Arthur Hamilton-Gordon.<ref>Seventy Years. pp.217-218</ref>

The first telephone was installed in 1885 by H.V. Dalling, a homemade telephone whose wires ran between his home and shop. The Bell Telephone Company later opened a small telephone exchange in his store.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1887, Tappan Adney, visiting Woodstock, learnt birchbark canoe construction from a Maliseet, preserving and document the building process.

The headquarters for the New Brunswick Railway were here from 1870 until it ceased functioning.

The first dam at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River was built in 1886. In the 1880s Woodstock had two small electric companies related to the Small & Fisher and Connell Brothers iron foundries. These were superseded by the Woodstock Electric Railway Light and Power Company which in 1906 built a dam and a powerhouse on the Meduxnekeag for distribution of power to the town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first hydro-electric station in New Brunswick,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Hayden dam and its power station<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was destroyed by a freshet in 1923, which also washed out the bridge that crossed the Meduxnekeag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:NB Woodstock2 tango7174.jpg
Sunset on Main Street

Culture & recreation

In 1995, the Town of Woodstock opened the Carleton Civic Centre. The multipurpose complex houses a Template:Convert indoor swimming pool, an 846-seat arena, a fitness centre, and community meeting rooms. The Woodstock Slammers of the Maritime Junior Hockey League played previously at the Ayr Motor Centre.

The annual Woodstock Old Home Week activities are centered around Woodstock and the fair grounds at Connell Park. Activities include parades and fireworks, a gospel concert, 4-H activities, Miss New Brunswick talent show & pageant, beautiful baby contest, horse pulling, harness racing, and a demolition derby.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Dooryard Arts Festival is four days of music, art, theatre, stories, workshops and an open-air market.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Economy & infrastructure

Education

A campus of the New Brunswick Community College, Townsview School (Grades K-8), Meduxnekeag Consolidated School (Grades K-8), and Woodstock High School.

Transportation

Woodstock is located on New Brunswick Route 2, an alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway. The shorter New Brunswick Route 95 extends westward from Woodstock to the Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing, where it continues into the United States as Interstate 95. The small public Woodstock Airport is in nearby Grafton, New Brunswick.

Mining

Regional geology consists of shales over a Late Ordovician to Early Silurian formation.

Iron-manganese and iron ore occurrences were reported in 1836 during a geological survey conducted by the state of Maine.<ref name="assembly">Template:Cite book</ref> The Woodstock Iron Works ran from 1848 to 1884, closing because of competition from the United States.

Today Minco owns 100% of an Template:Convert manganese claim, about Template:Convert northwest of Woodstock. Samples were taken in 2010, 2011,<ref name="globex">Template:Cite web</ref> and 2013. Minco plans to produce manganese well below the typical cost for the industry. The manganese would be used in the production of stainless steel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Media

Woodstock's radio station is CJCJ-FM.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The weekly newspapers are the Bugle-Observer and the River Valley Sun.

Architecture

Many of the original wooden buildings have not survived into modern times. Calamities over the years included a hurricane in 1836,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and fires in 1860,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and 1911,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As a result, much of downtown was rebuilt in the brick that remains today.<ref name="community_history">Template:Cite web</ref> Before the arrival of the railway, businesses faced the river banks, since they provided transportation, energy, and water. With the switch to rail and road traffic buildings face roads instead.<ref name="community_history"/>

The George Frederick Clarke house, built in 1905, is a provincial historic site valued as a rare example of residential Regency architecture.

The Old Carleton County Court House was built in 1833. When new court house was constructed, the old one was used as a horse barn from 1911 to 1960 when it was purchased by the Carleton County Historical Society.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was the site of the George Gee trial, and that of Minnie Bell Sharp who ran the Woodstock School of Music in the early 1900s.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Woodstock had a population of Template:Val living in Template:Val of its Template:Val total private dwellings, a change of Template:Percentage from its 2016 population of Template:Val. With a land area of Template:Convert, it had a population density of Template:Pop density in 2021.<ref name=census2021/>

The Maliseet Woodstock First Nation is about Template:Convert south of the town on 426 acres with an on-reserve population of 291 and an off-reserve population of 721.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Historical populations

Geography & climate

Woodstock experiences a humid continental climate (Dfb). The highest temperature ever recorded in Woodstock was Template:Convert on 18 August 1935. Woodstock, along with Five Rivers and Nepisiguit Falls share the record for New Brunswick's highest recorded temperature.

Template:Weather box

Government

Template:See also Woodstock elects a mayor and a town council every four years. All councilors are elected at-large. The last election was November 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The chief administrative officer and the administration department is responsible for the town financial matters, record keeping, implementation of policies and directives, and providing support to all other departments and the town council. The position of chief administrative officer was formerly known as town manager. Woodstock was the first town in New Brunswick to have a manager-council form of government.<ref name=Administration>Template:Cite web</ref>

The current mayor of Woodstock is Trina Jones who has held the position since 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Woodstock's other town departments are Business Development, Development & Inspectional Services, Fire, Police, Public Works, Recreation, and Tourism.<ref name=Administration />

Notable people

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Sister project auto

Template:Coord Template:Subdivisions of New Brunswick Template:Saint John River

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Woodstock,_New_Brunswick&oldid=276618"