'Chatham' is a
Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of
Miramichi,
New Brunswick.
Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incoporated town in
Northumberland County along the south bank of the
Miramichi River opposite
Douglastown. Since amalgamation it has been sometimes referred to as 'Miramichi East', a name that many long time residents find offensive.
Communities amalgamated in 1995 to form the City of Miramichi, New Brunswick
The impact of geography on history
At Chatham, the Miramichi River is quite wide, the water salt and tidal. Just downstream from the town, the river begins to widen into a broad estuary, the Miramichi River gradually becoming
Miramichi Bay. Because of its eastward facing location, ships coming from the British Isles in early times had easy access through the
Strait of Belle Isle and across the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was more accessible and safer to get to than
Quebec City or
Saint John, New Brunswick.
In colonial times the surrounding lands were heavily forested, the stands of
eastern white pine being especially valued for ships' masts. The River teemed with fish,
atlantic salmon the most prized. Abundant game roamed the forests, and berries were a valuable food supplement.
Scottish people arriving here found the area strangely familiar. The rocks in the Miramichi are similar to those of Scotland, being a part of the same formation before continental drift separated them. Seabirds and fish are often the same or similar. The atlantic salmon, the herring gull and the common tern were found in both areas. The Scots had the technology and know how to lumber, fish, farm and build ships in such an area. The Irish were somewhat less adapted, their forests long having been cut down, and fishing not being so well developed there. But they could pick up skills from their neighbours. The skills of the urban English were not so well adapted to this area and English farmers were accustomed to a gentler climate, so not many settled here.
At Chatham, the river banks are low, but not subject to flooding, being very suited to wharves. A deep channel comes very close to the shore, enabling the largest ships in colonial times to come up to the wharves. Away from the shore the land gradually rises several hundred feet. Rainfall is quite adequate. The soil, while sandy and a bit acid, supports potatoes, root crops and apple trees.
All these circumstances made Chatham an ideal location for a lumbering and fishing centre.
Early days
In 1800
Francis Peabody settled in the location that became Chatham. The Miramichi River is nearly a mile wide here. Its channel comes very close to the shore at this spot, so it was a natural place to build wharves. Logs from the large watershed of the river could easily be floated to this point. It made sense to saw lumber here. The best salmon fisheries were nearby.
Other settlers followed, but growth was relatively slow throughout the early part of the 19th century. But, by 1834 the first bank opened. A stage coach left each Monday for Fredericton. The settlement attracted a group of aggressive entrepreneurs, Scottish and English, such as
Joseph Cunard,
William Muirhead,
Jabez Bunting Snowball, and later,
W.S. Loggie. Gradually, the community became a centre for sawing lumber, shipbuiding, and exporting fish and forest products to the
British Isles and, later on, to the
United States.
In its early days, Chatham resembled the Calgary of today far more than the contemporary quiet towns of The
Maritimes. It was bustling, energetic, growing and confident. It is interesting that both Chatham and Calgary attracted an ambitious and able young Maritime lawyer called
Richard Bedford Bennett, later to be
prime minister of Canada. He was involved in politics in both places.
By 1851, Chatham had 505 employed persons distributed among the following occupations: 170 labourers, 74 servants, 60 shipwrights, 25 joiners, 20 cordwainers, 19 farmers, 16 clerks, 13 blacksmiths, 12 merchants, 10 tailors, 9 storekeepers, 7 sawyers, 7 teachers, 5 blockmakers, 4 sailmakers, 4 riggers, 4 stage drivers, 4 butchers,4 printers, 3 clergymen, 1 sparmaker, 1 gunsmith, 1 surgeon and 1 constable.
A police force was started in 1858, telephones came to the town in 1880, with street lighting in 1888.
In 1881, somewhat past the prime of sailing ships, the port of Chatham recorded the following annual traffic:
★ 177 overseas vessels entered- 80,558 tons exported; 11,344 imported:
★ 302 coastal vessels entered-- 98,023 tons exported (value $ 797,179).
In 1881, the value of bank deposits was $133,118.
Chatham was incorporated as a town in 1896. A large wooden hotel, The 'Adams House' operated from 1884 to the 1950's. The four storey, brick 'Touraine Hotel' was opened in 1908.
It was on a branch line of the
Canadian National Railways.
Heyday
Chatham in its prime (1880- 1919) had extensive wharves, a pulp mill, three large sawmills, a fish packing plant, a large foundry/shipbuilding facility with a repair yard for small vessels, an
armoury, several sizeable hotels, a Catholic hospital (Hotel Dieu), St. Joseph's Nursing Home, three secondary schools, a Catholic Liberal Arts college, the county poor house( the County Home), a race track, an indoor rink, a golf club, facilities for an agricultural exhibition and several notable churches. The Anglican Church and Rectory were especially beautiful wood structures. Alas, they burned down in 1960.
The Town was a service and shopping centre for the surrounding lands, especially the areas further down the bay. Students boarded at the Catholic girls and boys schools and the Catholic college in Town. During the period, 1880 to 1960, the Catholic Church was a major employer in Chatham, being especially important after the mills began to close.
A ferry boat crossed the Miramichi River at Chatham except for winter freeze up until the opening of the
Centennial Bridge in 1967.
Catholic Religious Centre
The Town is dominated by a large Roman Catholic church,
St. Michael's Basilica. This neoGothic structure was formerly a cathedral. Next to it, in the same style, is the former bishop's residence, now a
convent. From 1860 to 1938 Chatham was the centre of a large
diocese covering the northern part of New Brunswick. The
Diocese of Chatham was moved to Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1938. Chatham is noted for the many priests and nuns it produced.
A Catholic religious order, the
Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph, long had a significant presence in the town, operating a large elementary/secondary school (St. Michael's Academy), a hospital and a nursing home. The nuns are still present (2005) but in sadly diminished numbers, with plans to leave soon.
The
Basilian Fathers operated a small liberal arts college, which was later taken over by the Diocese. It evolved into
St. Thomas University, now located in
Fredericton.
Ethnic and Religious Composition
Historically, Chatham has been a majority Catholic town, with smaller United Church, Anglican, and Presbyterian congregations. Various other Protestant denominations have come and gone, though the Pentecostals are holding their own. The town long had several Jewish families, though numbers have dwindled in recent years. Ethnic backgrounds are Irish, Scottish, English, and French with the latter gaining somewhat in recent years. There has long been a Catholic Lebanese presence (originally called by locals "Assyrian") and several Norwegian families. A few retired military have settled there adding to the mix.
Slow Decline
Chatham achieved peak prosperity during the years immediately prior to
World War I, but even then its main export was people. During the war, many young men from Chatham joined the 132 Battalion of the
North Shore Regiment and many were killed or wounded at
Vimy Ridge and on the
Somme.
The depression of 1919 hit the town, resulting in a major employer, the
Snowball sawmill, closing permanently. Young men and women moved to New England to seek work where many had relatives.
World War Two saw the opening of
RCAF Station Chatham, providing an economic stimulus for the town until its closure in
1996. During the
1960s and
1970s, the base, renamed
CFB Chatham in 1968, was an important staging ground for
CF-101 Voodoo fighter interceptors which were under command of
NORAD to interdict Soviet nuclear bombers that would challenge Canadian airspace in Atlantic Canada.
The post war baby boom of the
1950s enabled the town to reach a peak population of 8,600 in
1961. The loss of
St. Thomas University in 1964, which moved to Fredericton, and the closure of CFB Chatham in 1996 have contributed to a slow decline.
The provincial government imposed an amagamation of all incorporated municipalities in the lower Miramichi River valley in 1996, creating the city of
Miramichi.
In
1998 the federal government opened the Canadian Firearms Centre in Chatham, an office dedicated to implementing the Canadian Firearms Act, which is intended to hold the records of all registered firearms in the country. The office employs several hundred civil servants and has helped to offset employment losses created by the base closure.
The Finished Export
Over the years emigrants from Chatham have moved to where the jobs were. In the mid to late nineteenth century, some left for lumbering opportunities in
Maine,
Wisconsin and
Washington state, but the majority went to Boston up to the 1930's. Few left during the hungry thirties (better to be among friends when there is no work). Right after World War Two,
Montreal seemed to offer opportunities, but this was soon replaced by
Toronto and other parts of
Ontario.
Fredericton and
Moncton were also work destinations from the 1950's onwards, with
Halifax becoming more important after 1965. In recent years,
Alberta has attracted more Chatham residents.
Famous residents
Francis Peabody of England was the founder of the town in 1800, and a successful businessman. He named the community after
William Pitt the Elder,
Earl of Chatham.
Joseph Cunard (1799-1865) of Halifax, brother of
Samuel Cunard, founder of the famous steamship line, settled in Chatham as a young man and became a prosperous businessman, with a large sawmill, ships and a merchantile business, centered in Chatham, but with interests across the Province. His era was from the 1820's to the late 1840's, when he was bankrupted and left Town. He died in England.
John Mercer Johnson (1819-1868) was born in
Liverpool, England but moved to Chatham at the age of two. He started practicing law in town in 1840 and in 1850 was elected to the
House of Assembly of the Province. A Liberal, he was variously
Solicitor-General,
Postmaster-General,
Speaker of the House and
Attorney-General of New Brunswick. He is a
Father of Confederation and was a
Member of Parliament of the new
Dominion of Canada from 1867 to his death in 1868.
Jabez Bunting Snowball was a prominent entrepreneur and
Lieutenant-Governor of
New Brunswick.
W.S. Loggie was a
Member of Parliament and a preeminent Chatham merchant of his era ( 1880-1925).
Richard Bedford Bennett,
prime minister of Canada during the early 1930's once operated a law practice here and was an
alderman of the town. Max Aitken, later
Lord Beaverbrook, was his office boy.
Another Prime Minister,
Brian Mulroney attended high school here in the late 1950's at the boarding school attached to St. Thomas University.
Frank McKenna, sometime premier of
New Brunswick and later Canadian Ambassador in Washington, was the member of the
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick for Chatham from the early 1980's until his resignation as premier. Originally from the south of the Province, he moved to Chatham in the early 1970's to open a law practice.
Raymond Fraser, novelist, poet, biographer. His books include "The Black Horse Tavern", "Rum River", "The Fighting Fisherman: the Life of Yvon Durelle", "The Bannonbridge Musicians" and "In a Cloud of Dust and Smoke".
Today
Chatham is now known for its annual Irish festival. It also has become something of a retirement community, offering good quality affordable housing (the married quarters of the former military base) at bargain rates in a peaceful setting.
External links
★
Miramichi History
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