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
