Celebrate Sussex / Celebrez le Sussex


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Sussex is Atlantic Canada's Mural Capital!
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Timeline

Early history

1604   First European settlement of New Brunswick (St. Croix Island)

1640  Francoise-Marie Jacquelin (aka Marie de La Tour) becomes engaged to Charles de La Tour

1645   Marie de La Tour defends Fort La Tour from Charles de Menou d'Aulnay


1750s to 1830   Industrial Revolution

1755   Acadian Expulsion; with some returning 1764


1761   Loomcrofters building, Gagetown, believed to have been built

1776    American Revolution


1783    First Loyalists arrive from New England


1784    Creation of Province of New Brunswick


1790   A census showed 57 families living in the area

1791   George Leonard opens area's first trading post

late 1790s to 1826   Indian School in operation
1797 approx    Spicer's Inn built at Pleasant Valley, later Sussex Corner


1800s


1812   War of 1812


1822    Landmark Pitfield Elm, Spicer Inn, Sussex Corner, believed to have been planted

1829 January    University of New Brunswick opens in Fredericton

1839   Scuba tank invented in Saint John

1841   Sussex and Studholm Agricultural Society established

1842   Gesner's Museum of Natural History, the founding base of the New Brunswick Museum, opens in Saint John. The collection became the New Brunswick Museum in 1929

1843 approx.   Sussex House (aka Stagecoach Inn) started, Sussex Corner

1847 April 7   The Great Horse Race, between Hugh McMonagle's Livingstone and George Gilbert's Retriever in Saint John, earns McMonagle the $5,000 wager. Bookies laid down $25,000.

1847   Irish famine

1848    Eighth Hussars regiment formed


1850s

Sportsman Hugh McMonagle introduces the Morgan Horse to New Brunswick


1851    Tall ship "Marco Polo" built in Saint John

1852    Susanna Moodie's book, "Roughing it in the Bush", published

1852   Marco Polo makes record 76-day trip between Liverpool, England, and Port Phillip, Australia and return trip in the same time for first such journey in fewer than 6 months

1853
January 4   Activist Ella Hatheway born in Saint John
Sept 14   Sod turning on both ends of new railway between Saint John and Shediac

1859 Nov 10   Arrival of first train in Sussex from Saint John

1860 Aug 1   Completion of railroad between Sussex and Moncton
1860    The Sussex Times newspaper launched

1861   Provincial Exhibition building, measuring 175-feet by 72-feet, built, and torn down the following year
1864   Scientist Louis Pasteur discovers pasteurization, a process where foods are heated to reduce bacteria that leads to liquid foods such as milk spoiling


1867   Canadian Confederation
1867   Nov 6 First meeting of Parliament in Ottawa; First cheese factory opens in Sussex

1869   Red River Rebellion, Manitoba
1869 Oct 4-5   Saxby Gale

1873   Ganong Chocolates started in St. Stephen, making it Canada's oldest candy company. It also sold the world's first chocolate bars, later called "Pal-o-Mine" starting in 1910.

1875   Salvation Army launched in Sussex


1876   Saint John City Market, Charlotte Street, opens


1877   Kings County Record newspaper started
1877   Opera house with skating rink constructed
1877   Saint John fire

1878   Goold's Flowers established

1879    Princess Louise visits Sussex, lends name to local regiment
1879 Nov 11   Feminist and farm leader Violet McNaughton born in Kent, England


1880    Activist and health pioneer May Best born in Shediac


1883   J Clark and Sons (originally a dealer in sleighs and farm machinery) is the oldest Chevrolet dealer in Canada
July 25   Marco Polo wrecks at Cavendish, PEI


1884   First creamery in New Brunswick opens in Sussex


1885   Sussex Military Camp established on 300 acres at eastern edge of town

1887   Kings County Record newspaper begins publication
1887   Fire on Broad and Queen Streets destroys 16 buildings

1888   George Francis Train launches three-month local fight against pauper auctions
1888   Historian Grace Aiton born

1889 Oct 10   Hugh McMonagle, prominent Sussex Vale businessman and sportsman, dies at 89 years old
1889   Sussex Cheese and Butter started

1890   Shoe factory burned

1891   The first telephone company begins operating with six subscribers

1893   Wallace Funeral Home opened
1893   Volunteer fire department started
1893   Sussex Grammar School, later the high school, built at 119 St. George St. by Fenwick and Wallace

1895   Town of Sussex incorporated
1895   Sussex Gingerale Company begins bottling mineral water

1896    Mercantile Block was completed
1896    First Kings County Agricultural Fair held
1896    Fire destroys Broad Street


1897    Sharps Drug Store, Broad Street, starts


1898    Sussex Vale became Sussex
1898    Sussex Cheese and Butter started

1899 - 1902 Boer War


1900s

1904 April 20   Town of Sussex officially proclaimed a town with a population of 1700. Town name means "South Saxons", tracing back to its British roots.

1905   John Peters Humphrey born in Hampton
1905   Albert Einstein's Miracle Year
1907   Vortex-flushing toilet bowl invented in Saint John

1909    Pilot and Capt. James Wade of Sussex Corner born in England

1910    Castle Bridge, Main Street, built
1911   First Women's Institute created in New Brunswick in Andover

1912 August 15   Chef Julia Child born

1913  Current train station built

1914   Women's Institute formed, some of the most notable accomplishments was opening the Sussex library with 6,000 books and raising funds for the local cenotaph to honour WW1 veterans

1914 to 1918   First World War


1916   4H in New Brunswick starts in Sussex

1916   First sidewalks built in Sussex

1916 February 23   Molly Kool, first North American female sea captain, born in Alma; she died Feb. 25, 2009 in Bangor, Maine

1918 May 24  Women earn the right to vote in federal elections

1919 April 17  Women earn the right to vote in New Brunswick elections

1920   Dump truck boxes invented in Saint John

1921   Agnes Macphail is first woman elected to House of Commons

1922   Moffetts Hardware established

1923 June   Fire destroys 20 buildings on Main Street

1923 Feb 10  Winnifred Clair of Saint John named first Miss Canada 

1924   Irving Oil founded

1924 February   Naturalist Mary Majka born

1925   First hospital erected at 11 Pitt St., closed during WW2 when doctors were called up for service

1926   Sussex fire station built

1928   Sussex Branch 20 of Royal Canadian Legion founded

1928   First Canadian Olympic team to include female athletes (track and field)

1929   Women recognized as "persons" in Canada

1929   Wallace Turnbull's variable pitch propeller patented

1930   Town purchases O'Connell Park

1932   Mineral fountain on Church Avenue erected

1936   First Canadian Tire store outside Ontario launched in Sussex

1939 

Sussex Lions Club established

Sept 27   The first Queens County Fair opens, Gagetown


1939 to 1945   Second World War


1943   James Daniel O'Connell, "the Picnic King" dies


1945   Approximate date M. Patricia Jenkins moves her historic British building and opens Loomcrofters studio, Gagetown 1948 Nov. 14 Prince Charles born. Edna Steel is elected as first female councilor to Saint John council

1950   King Hotel razed

1953   Queen Elizabeth II ascends the throne


1956   CBC names Sussex "typical small town of Canada"

1957   McCain French Fries established in Florenceville

1958   CFB Gagetown opens 1959 Port Elgin elects Dorothy McLean as New Brunswick's first female mayor


1960s

Trans Canada Highway built


1961   The Knoll, Church Avenue, razed

1962   Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is published

1963 June 11   Historian Grace Aiton dies

1965 Feb 15   First official appearance of the Canadian flag

Feb 24   New Brunswick proclaims its flag


1965    Sept 18 Bethany Bible College, now Kingswood University, opens in Sussex. It was founded in Woodstock, NB, in October, 1945.

1966   Barbour Foods moves to Sussex

1967    Grace Aiton's book The Story of Sussex and Vicinity published as part of community's celebrations for Canada's centennial
1967   Approximate date Blowhard the Broken Down Racehorse sculpture built, Animaland, Penobsquis

1968 June 1   Kings County Museum opens, Hampton


1969  Official Languages Act established in NB


1969    Neil Armstrong is the first man on the moon


1970    Princess Louise and Burton Parks acquired from the Department of Defense

1971   Nova Scotia starts sending an annual Christmas tree to Boston


1972 Nov 18    New Brunswick Federation of Naturalists formed at meeting in Sussex

1973   Eighth Hussars arena built


1974 January   Pilot and Capt. James Wade dies at his Saint John home
1974  RCMP hires its first female officer


1977 June 28   Opera singer Measha Brueggergosman born in Fredericton


1977 Nov 2   Rotary Club of Sussex chartered

1978   Gateway Mall built

1980 April 12 to Sept 1   Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope
1980  April 27   First meeting of New Brunswick Morgan Horse Club in Sussex

1983   Dairytown Products started
1983   Prince Charles and Diana visit Sussex
1983   Shepody potato released by Agri-Food Canada after being developed in Fredericton. Now the main potato used for French fries

1984   New Brunswick bicentennial

1985    Prince Andrew visits Sussex
1985 September   First Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta launched


1986   Daisy the giant cow built; her calf Buttercup built 1987, Four Corners

1986   Agricultural Museum of New Brunswick created


1986   Oct 9    First performance of Phantom of the Opera

1987   Sussex lawyer Frank McKenna sweeps NB Legislature
1987   Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation formed to support visual arts in NB

1990 to 1991    Persian Gulf War

1990   Patricia Allen named the first female president of the Sussex and District Chamber of Commerce; the second female in the role was Wendy Osborne in 2000

1991 

January 1   Sussex Vale Transition House founded

September 10  Sculptor Winston Bronnum dies


1992    Oldfield covered bridge depicted on New Brunswick quarter as part of Canada's 125th birthday celebrations
1992    Astronaut Roberta Bondar is the first woman in space


1994   Margaret Norrie McCain appointed as first female Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick


1995 April 15   Champion Lippitt Morgan stallion Amadeus Mozart Ara-Li foaled

John Peters Humphrey dies, and is buried in Hampton

1997
Golden Jubilee Hall, Princess Louise Park, built
Sussex Regional Library moves from Main Street to Magnolia Avenue
Aug 31   Princess Diana dies
Sept 5    Mother Teresa dies

1999    Town of Sussex named one of top 10 places to live in Canada by Chatelaine magazine


2000s

2000    Princess Louise Park Show Centre opens for its first season
Order of New Brunswick created

2001   Large natural gas deposit discovered in Penobsquis

April 27   Sussex bus crash
Aug 8    Author Winnfred Thomson dies at 85 years old
Sept 11   Terrorist attack on Twin Towers, New York

2002
Saint John hosts East Coast Music Awards
Feb 9   Princess Margaret dies at 71 years
March 30   Queen Mother dies, aged 101 years

July   First Kings County Covered Bridge Festival held
October   Trans Canada route changes
Oct. 12   Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubillee visit

2003
June   Covered Bridge Visitor Information Centre, Youngs Cove, opens

August    Sussex Area Community Foundation incorporated


September   Hurricane Juan hits Nova Scotia


Sept 26   Adventurer David Hempleman Adams launched his world-record flight from Sussex in an open hot air balloon. He and his Rozière balloon safely landed in Blackpool, England, 83 hours after he left Canadian shores.

November        Dairytown wins award for world's best unsalted butter

2004  
Life Magazine declares Sussex to be one of top 10 drives in Canada
May 25   New Sussex Corner municipal office opens
June   Military museum at Sussex train station opens
Covered show ring at Princess Louise Park Show Centre opens
August 13   Chef Julia Child dies


2005 

Celebrate Sussex project launches; web site follows in 2006

Author Beth Powning publishes The Hatbox Letters

March 8   Frank McKenna named US ambassadorearly December 12   Queen Bee/Hobby Horse building, 606 Main Street, burns


2006
First group of murals painted in Sussex and Sussex Corner
Wal-mart opens in Sussex
White-nose syndrome decimates brown bat population between 2006-2011


2007
UNESCO Fundy Biosphere designated
Second group of Sussex area murals created

May  Potter Erica Deichmann Gregg dies.

July   Frank and Ella Hathaway Labour Centre, Saint John, opens
 
2008
Port Elgin elects first all-female council in New Brunswick August   Canadian Agility Dog Championships held in Sussex
Summer   Canadian Tire store opens in Gateway Mall
Summer   Kings County Big Brothers/Big Sisters winds down
September   Saunders Irving Chapel, Bethany Bible College, holds first service. College is renamed Kingswood University.

2009
Nov 2   Author and journalist Sally Armstrong visits Sussex
Nov 24   Olympic Torch visits Sussex enroute to Vancouver Olympics

2010
Dawn Arnold awarded the Order of New Brunswick for her leadership of the Northrup Frye Festival, Moncton
Dr. Ruth Stanley, former First Lady of New Brunswick, receives the Order of New Brunswick for her tireless advocating for health, youth, arts and community

Jan 12   Haiti earthquake
Feb 12 to 28   Vancouver Olympics

April   Historic Sussex by Elaine Ingalls Hogg published (Nimbus Publishing) ISBN-10: 1551097524; ISBN-13: 978-1551097527

Eighteen white spruce seedlings from Sussex nursery are part of a 30-day experiment studying tree growth on the International Space Station

May   Casino NB opens in Moncton

Aug 13   Post Road, Sussex Corner house explosion

Sept 10 to 12   25th anniversary Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta

Sept 27 New Brunswick election

October   Fight to keep Sussex courthouse open successful; Stonehammer Geopark announced

Oct 12   33 Chilean miners rescued
Oct 23 Marco Polo: The Musical Largest dramatic production in New Brunswick held at Harbour Station, Saint John

2011
Sussex competes in Communities in Bloom
Author Beth Powning publishes The Sea Captain's Wife

March   Sussex Mall sold
Sussex and Studholm Agricultural Society marks 170 years

March 11 Japanese earthquake
April - Orange Hall, Main Street, torn down
Renovations to Sussex Courthouse

April 29 Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

May 2   Federal election

June 30 to July 8   Prince William and Katherine tour Canada, visit PEI on July 4

July 21   US Space program concludes

Aug 2   US reaches debt deal

early August   Sussex Main Street repaved

Aug 8   World stock markets drop

Aug 10   Sussex Corner outdoor rink building torn down

Sept 1   Emergency 911 Act proclaimed in NB Legislature

Oct 1   25th anniversary visit of Rick Hansen's Man in Motion tour
October   Author Ann Scott commissioned to write "The Boy Who Was Bullied", the story of John Peters Humphrey of Hampton

2012
Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee
Ann Marie Tingley of Quispamsis receives the Order of New Brunswick for her work with the mentally challenged


April 15   Boston Marathon bombing


July   Bronze sculpture of Northrop Frye created by Sussex artists Darren Byers and Fred Harrison unveiled in Moncton

July 27 to Aug 12 London 2012 Summer Olympics

Sept 4   Broad Street fire destroys businesses, apartments
Oct 19   Author Stephen King visits Sussex high school

Dec 19 to May 13, 2013 Commander Chris Hadfield tour in International Space Station

July 22   Prince George born

Oct. 23   Prince George's christening

Oct 24 - 27  Skate Canada International in Saint John


Dec 5   Nelson Mandela dies


December   Long power outage around much of NB over holidays due to heavy snowfall


2013

Sussex wins national Communities in Bloom title

Taste and See and Stable Grounds restaurant opens

Photographer Freeman Patterson of Kingston Peninsula is awarded the Order of New Brunswick


2014
Musician Ivan Hicks awarded the Order of New Brunswick

January   Blacks Fashions closes

January 12   Flooding in Sussex Corner

February   Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia
February   Naturalist Mary Majka dies at 90 years old

March   Ford World Women's Curling Championships, Saint John
Canada finishes 12-year mission in Afghanistan

Mar 7   Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappears

Mar 27   Dairytown Products announces merger with Agropur of Quebec

April   PotashCorp mine switch over from Penobsquis mine to Picadilly mine

April 16   Worst flooding ever in Sussex and Sussex Corner, village declares state of emergency, damages estimated between $14 million and $18 million

April 20   Sussex marks 110th anniversary of incorporation


June 4    Moncton shooting that resulted in 3 RCMP officers killed, and 2 badly injured


July    Christian Meier of Knightville is the first New Brunswick cyclist to compete in the Tour de France

August    AAC National Championships, Sussex

early December    Queens County Heritage moves Loomcrofters studio to Tilley House, Gagetown


December 9   Poley Mountain ski lodge burns to ground
Dec 10   120 mm rain falls in area

2015
Winter 2015 includes record snowfall amounts after late start
Author Beth Powning publishes A Measure of Light
Sushie Joe's restaurant opens downtown

April    Announcement of Sussex courthouse closure
April 23   Last of Cassidy Lake potash mine demolished

May 2   Princess Charlotte born to Prince William & Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge

June   FIFA Women's World Cup comes to Moncton
June 2 and 3   RCMP Musical Ride appears in Sussex

June 6    American Pharoah wins Triple Crown

July    Sussex Co-op closes grocery store

July 1    Sussex Rotary amphitheatre opens

Sept 11    101 mm rain
Sept 24   Last day of court in Sussex
Sept 30   150 mm rain falls in 7 hours / 160 mm in Belleisle area

October 19   Justin Trudeau Liberals take majority in federal election; Alaina Lockhart elected MP for Fundy Royal; female candidates for riding (3) outnumber male candidates (2)

October    Toronto Blue Jays make it to the World Series

Nov 9   Plebiscite on joining Sussex and Sussex Corner is narrowly defeated (11 vote difference)

Nov 30    Last day of operation for Penobsquis potash mine after 32 years (1983 opened)

Dec 1    Fire destroys Hampton Pizza Delight and Red Brick Corner (building built in 1881).

mid Dec   Syrian refugees begin arriving in Canada; Mother Teresa declared a saint; Canadian dollar hits record lows near 71 cents US; gasoline selling around 95 cents a litre

Dec 14   Paris climate change agreement

Dec 18   Poley Mountain lodge reopens; Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie record opening weekend

2016

January 2   Author and journalist Dorothy Dearborn dies
January 9   Sussex farmer and businessman John Robinson dies
January 19   Potash Corp closes its Picadilly mine
January 23   Official opening of new Poley Mountain lodge