Woodstock, New Brunswick

The Town of Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada is located in Western New Brunswick at 46.15°N, 67.57°W. The region is bordered to the west by the US state of Maine, and is 45 mi (72 km) WNW of Fredericton.

History

The Town of Woodstock was largely settled by Loyalists following the American War of Independence.

It was named for Woodstock Parish, established in 1786, which in turn was named for William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland and Viscount Woodstock, who was briefly British Prime Minister in 1783.

The upper limit of Loyalist grants on the river fell to members of Colonel DeLancey’s 1st Battalion New Jersey Volunteers, and the members that accepted the land moved there early in the summer of 1784. Three small settlements were formed in this new area named Woodstock and they were: the Upper Corner; the Creek Village; and Lower Woodstock.

When Carleton County first came into being in 1832, Upper Woodstock was made the shiretown due to the influence of Colonel Richard Ketchum who donated land for construction of public buildings. The Old County Courthouse is now an historic site, having been restored under the Carleton County Historical Society.

However, after a bridge was built across the Meduxnekeag River, there was rapid growth of the Creek Village and this resulted in its being chosen as the Town of Woodstock.

Woodstock, incorporated in 1856, is the oldest incorporated town in New Brunswick. The first mayor was L.P. Fisher, who held office until his voluntary retirement some 24 years later. Being a great benefactor, 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.

Woodstock has had at least 22 newspapers operating at on time or another. The first was the Carleton Sentinel, beginning in July 1848 and ending in March 1943, merging with The Press to form the Sentinal Press. The Sentinal Press ended publication on June 1971.

The first dam at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River was built c. 1886, and activated on December 1, 1886. It provided electric power for the town; inviting the beginning of industrial activity that included tanneries, carriage factories, a wool mill, sawmills and grist mills, two foundries producing stoves; furnaces and agricultural machinery, etc.

This dam was destroyed by an unusually high spring freshet, causing the spring flood of May 1, 1923.

Presently, Woodstock is the shopping centre for the surrounding area, being the closest town to the border. A New Brunswick Community College is located here.

Resources

The region has been the past center of iron working and mining.

Rock containing iron was discovered here in 1820, and in 1826 there was a report of low-grade iron ore. In 1848 operations began on some iron-manganese deposits, continuing until 1884.

Zinc, copper, and lead have also been mined here.

Sursassite has been found in the nearby Strategic Manganese Mine.

Statistics

• Population 15 yr. & over – 22,000
• Population—County – 27,184
• Population—Woodstock – 5,198
• Population 15 yr. & over – 21,325
• Labour Force – 14,160
• Employed – 12,940
• Unemployed – 1,220
• Not in Labour Force – 7,160
• Unemployment Rate – 8.6%
• Participation Rate – 66.4%
• Bilingual Rate – 8.4%
• Annual High School Grads – 344
• Annual Community College Grads – 159
• Annual Community College Enrolment – 375
• High School Education (population) – 3,730
• College Education (population) – 2,690
• University Education (population) – 1,755

Source: Statistics Canada— 2001 Census - Dept. of Education

Historical population of Woodstock

• 1867 - 18,000
• 1951 - 3,996
• 1971 - 4,846
• 1991 - 4,631
• 1996 - 5,092
• 1999 - 4,631
• 2001 - 5,198
• 2004 - 5,100

Media

Woodstock has a small band of media, consisting of a radio station and weekly newspaper. The community is also served by WAGM-TV in Presque Isle, Maine in addition to regional Global and CTV newsrooms in Fredericton.

Radio

Station CJCJ FM, also known as EZ Rock, maintains a small news department with one reporter.

Print

The Bugle-Observer is the town's weekly newspaper, which is owned by the Irving family's Brunswick News. The paper went by the name of "The Bugle" for several years until it was sold to Brunswick news in 2003. Shortly there after, Brunswick News also bought the weekly paper in neighboring town of Hartland, The Observer. The staff of the two papers were combined into one office in Woodstock, at first producing two seperate issues. Later, the papers were combined under one name, Bugle-Observer, which publishes twice weekly on Tuesday and Friday.

External links

• Town of Woodstock website
• Unofficial Woodstock website