Grand Lake (officially Municipality of Grand Lake) is an incorporated

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

, straddling the boundary of Sunbury County and Queens County,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, Canada. It was formed through the

2023 New Brunswick local governance reform Local governance reform in the Canadian province of New Brunswick was implemented on January 1, 2023. This resulted in a significant reorganization of the local government entities in the province, including a reduction in the number of entiti ...

s by amalgamating the villages of Chipman and

Minto Minto may refer to: Places Antarctica *Mount Minto (Antarctica) Australia *Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Minto railway station * Minto County, Western Australia * Parish of Minto, New South Wales Canada * Minto City, British ...

, and certain previously unincorporated areas of Northfield Parish, Canning Parish, Sheffield Parish, and Harcourt Parish, contiguous to the area. The municipality is divided into four wards.

History

Grand Lake was incorporated on January 1, 2023 via the amalgamation of the former villages of

and Chipman as well as the concurrent annexation of adjacent unincorporated areas.

Coal Mining Industry

File:Minto Memorial Stone 2013, Minto, New Brunswick.jpg, The memorial stone of five who died in an abandoned mine shaft in 1932, Grand Lake, New Brunswick, Canada. File:Minto Memorial Stone Inscription, Minto, New Brunswick.jpg, The inscription (1982) on the Minto Memorial Stone. The Grand Lake Coal Mining industry began in the 1630's when French settlers, called Acadians, learned about surface deposits of coal in the Coal Creek area now called Chipman, NB. The French used coal in their fort at the mouth of the Saint John river and in 1639 began selling coal to the British colony in the area now known as Boston, USA. This commercial trade in coal has been recognized as a National Historic Event and the First Export of Coal in America, by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Parks Canada.The need of transporting coal brought the railway to Grand Lake, and was to make the area "the most prosperous place in Canada." The New Brunswick Central Railway opened a railroad from Saint John to Chipman in 1889, and in 1904 the railroad was extended to Minto. The rails were extended to Fredericton in 1913, Although the railroad lines through Minto have since been removed, the railroad station continues on as a local museum/gift & flowers shop. By the end of 2010, coal mining in Minto ended when the last coal mining company, NB Coal Ltd, closed. During the early years of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the New Brunswick Electric Power Commission built the province's first thermal generating station at Newcastle Creek on the shores of Grand Lake. Opened in 1931, the Grand Lake Generating Station accessed coal from nearby deposits. NB Power closed the Grand Lake Station when its operating license expired in June 2010. As the Station has been NB Coal’s only customer since 2000, NB Coal closed in December 2009. On April 19, 2012 the Grand Lake Generating Station was demolished, and by this time all coal mining in New Brunswick had ended.

World War II internment camp

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the largest

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

in eastern Canada was located in the hamlet of

Ripples Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electr ...

. Originally it housed German and Austrian Jews who had fled the Nazis to England. Some youths later became notable, including theologian

Gregory Baum Gerhard Albert Baum (June 20, 1923 – October 18, 2017), better known as Gregory Baum, was a German-born Canadian priest and theologian in the Catholic Church. He became known in North America and Europe in the 1960s for his work on ecumenism, ...

, chemist Ernest Eliel and physicist

Walter Kohn Walter Kohn (; March 9, 1923 – April 19, 2016) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the un ...

.Jones, Ted ''Both sides of the wire: the Fredericton Internment Camp'' (Volume 1, New Ireland Press 1988) Later after these Jewish refugees had been released into Canadian life, it became a prison for German prisoners of war, as well as some sympathizers such as Canadian fascist

Adrien Arcand Adrien Arcand (October 3, 1899 – August 1, 1967) was a Canadian fascist politician, writer, and journalist. He founded and led the far-right National Unity Party of Canada from 1934 until his death in 1967. During his political career, he procl ...

. Its most notable prisoner at this time was the anti-

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

ist mayor of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Camillien Houde Camillien Houde (August 13, 1889 – September 11, 1958) was a Quebec politician, a Member of Parliament, and a four-time mayor of Montreal. He is of the few Canadian politicians to have served at all three levels of government. During Worl ...

.Jones, Ted ''Both sides of the wire: the Fredericton Internment Camp'' (Volume 2, New Ireland Press 1988) This internment camp is now a protected site, because it is in a Game Reserve created after the war. The only structure remaining at the site is the base of a water-tower where a plaque stands, visible from the highway. A walking trail leads into the forest where a few ruins of the camp and posted signs describing the area may be found. There is a small museum dedicated to the camp located on the basement level of Grand Lake's municipal building, at 420 Pleasant Drive, Minto."Remnants of Second World War internment camp remain in rural N.B."
''CTV News Atlantic'', October 30, 2013, accessed April 15, 2014.

Climate

Recreational activities

Although Grand Lake is a wide-spread community, there are recreational activities that take place year-round. It has the Minto Centennial Arena and the Chipman Arena, lighted and unlighted ball parks, family parks, nature trails, mountain bike trails, and hunting and fishing resources. Each year there are two festivals in Grand Lake. In summer the Minto Coal Mining Festival
, Village of Minto, accessed December 10, 2011. is celebrated in June–July, first run in 1972. The Santa Claus Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony is celebrated in November–December, with the first annual parade held in 2010. Once a year mountain bike racers descend on the village of Grand Lake for a race known as 'The Coal Miner's Lung'. The endurance races covers 20 km, 40 km or 60 km of Grand Lake single track.

Education

There are four schools in Grand Lake: Minto Elementary and Middle School, Minto Memorial High School, Chipman Elementary School and Chipman Forest Avenue High School. All schools offer extracurricular activities including sports clubs, destination conservation, peer helpers and student government. While Minto Elementary and Middle School is a newer building, Minto High has required some updates since the school was founded in 1939; the gym on the main floor has recently been renovated into a theatre (which MEMS has) and got a new gym located in the basement along with a shop room. In 2011 the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) Fredericton campus established a satellite campus the Minto Regional Delivery Site."NBCC Annual Report 2010-2011"
March 11, 2010 p.10. Retrieved January 22, 2014.

Notable people

* Elizabeth Brewster, CM SOM (1922–2012) was a poet, author, and academic.

References

{{Subdivisions of New Brunswick, towns=yes, villages=yes, rural communities=yes, regional municipalities=yes, counties=yes, state=expanded 2023 establishments in New Brunswick 2023 New Brunswick local governance reform Populated places established in 2023 Villages in New Brunswick