Marysville (The good old days )

Marysville is a Canadian suburban neighbourhood in the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Located in the northeast end of the city, Marysville is situated on the Nashwaak River 5 kilometres north of its confluence with the Saint John River.FREDERICTON The huge brick cotton mill, brick tenements lining the streets and elaborate mansions looking down from the hill in Marysville, N.B., open a rare window into life in a 19th-century industrial town. It's been described as one of the best examples in Canada and one of the very few in North America to remain so complete; and, for visitors, it's clear from first view Marysville was carefully planned for a common purpose. "Marysville is there for only one reason and that's Alexander (Boss) Gibson," said Alex Forbes, a city planner in Fredericton and member of the Marysville Heritage Committee. "He came there in 1862 and bought a lumber mill. He was a genius for using technology and could see opportunities that they weren't exercising to increase production and make a lot of money." The mill was on the banks of the Nashwaak River — a tributary of the St. John River — and not far from New Brunswick's capital city of Fredericton. Gibson built dams on the Nashwaak to control the flow of water and ensure a year round ability to move logs. He also started two rail lines as a way to move lumber and acquire land. "He received 1,647,000 acres of Crown land," Forbes said. "He was given 10,000 acres per mile for building and operating a narrow gauge railway ... he was very savvy." Gibson later sold one of the rail lines for $800,000 and used the money to build what is now the cornerstone of the community he named after his wife. He enlisted architects from Boston to design a modern cotton mill next to the river as well as 58 tenements for workers. Rather than buy bricks, Gibson opened his own brick yard. "You can immediately tell by the architecture that the entire area is tied together," Forbes said. "The roof line of the mill ties into the roof line of the tenements. There's a little building on the corner of River Street and Bridge Street which was the former hotel. You can tell that all of the buildings are interconnected because of the brick, and the window design is all the same." Today, the mill is a government office complex and the company-owned tenements are private family homes. Forbes said most similar mills across North America were built within cities and were torn down as part of urban renewal in the 1960s. "By virtue of where Marysville was ... it's still on the periphery of Fredericton ... it didn't go through the urban renewal and, as a result, it's still standing," said Forbes. Marysville was amalgamated with Fredericton in 1973 but the area's historical significance has not gone unnoticed. The cotton mill has been declared a national historic building, while the Marysville area, with about 100 buildings, has been designated a national historic district. Alexander Gibson, who died in 1913, has been declared a person of national significance. Much has been done in recent years to highlight the history of the area. Visitors will find plaques and information pods along the walking trails and along Canada Street, in the area known as Knob Hill where mansions for the Gibson family and mill managers were built. "The information pods have a panel with a picture of that particular area and a little story on the structure or area," said Terry Arnold, cochairman of the Marysville Heritage Committee. The mill and the homes of the workers were built on the east side of the river, while mansions were on the hill on the west side of the river where they could keep an eye on the operation. Arnold said visitors are encouraged to wander through the community, and he says the best place to start is the old cotton mill itself — now known as Marysville Place. "In their lobby they have quite a few old pictures of the mill's interior and some of the other buildings that were in Marysville," he said. "People can go in during business hours, and there's a cafeteria with some huge pictures." As well, Fredericton Heritage Trust has produced an audio tour of Marysville. The tour can be downloaded in MP3 format from its website or borrowed free from the Fredericton Public Library, 12 Carleton St., or from the Nashwaaksis Public School Library, 324 Fulton Ave. The tour has a detailed route coded to what you will hear on the audio guide. You can print a map from the website or get one from the library. The tour takes about an hour; take note, there are a number of steep hills   / 89872503120