St. Croix, New Brunswick
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St. Croix is a rural community in
York County, New Brunswick York County (2021 population 105,261) is located in west-central New Brunswick, Canada. The county contains the provincial capital, Fredericton. Outside the city, farming and forestry are two major industries in the county, which is bisected by ...
, Canada. The community derives its name from the St. Croix River which flows along its western boundary; this river also forms the
Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...
and the community is opposite
Vanceboro, Maine Vanceboro is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The town was named after landowner William Vance. The main village in town is located at the eastern terminus of Maine State Route 6. Vanceboro is across the St. Croix River from ...
to the west. St. Croix is located 8 kilometres west of the village of McAdam. The western terminus of Highway 4 is at the border on the
Saint Croix–Vanceboro Bridge The Saint Croix–Vanceboro Bridge is an international bridge, which connects the communities of St. Croix, New Brunswick in Canada and Vanceboro, Maine in the United States, across the St. Croix River. The bridge consists of three reinforced ...
over the St. Croix River, where it connects with the eastern terminus of
Highway 6 Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * AH6 (highway), Asian Highway 6 * European route E6 * European route E006 Albania * :de:Nationalstraße 6 (Albanien), National Road SH6 Argentina * P ...
in Maine. The
New Brunswick Southern Railway The New Brunswick Southern Railway Company Limited is a Canadian short line railway owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company Limited, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglo ...
crosses the river using the Saint Croix–Vanceboro Railway Bridge. The
Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; , ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border guard, border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and Customs, customs services in Canada. ...
maintains a customs station in St. Croix immediately east of the bridge, this border crossing isn’t 24 hours since August 24, 2022 due to train traffic.


History


Railway history

During the 1800s, St. Croix developed as an isolated lumbering settlement, however in the 1860s the community was selected for the crossing point for the European & North American Railway (Western Extension) which was constructing a line from Saint John to Vanceboro. At Vanceboro, a sister company's line had opened through to Bangor in 1869. An iron railway bridge on stone piers was constructed over the St. Croix, measuring approximately 30 metres (100 feet) in length. The opening ceremony in 1871 of the railway line between the two countries was attended by
Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...
Lord Lisgar and President of the United States
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
. During the 1870s, financial difficulties saw the line from Saint John to St. Croix sold to the
New Brunswick Railway The New Brunswick Railway Company Limited (NBR) is currently a Canadian non-operating railway and land holding company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick that is part of Irving Transportation Services, a division within the J.D. Irving L ...
(NBR). At the same time, the
Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad was a United States, U. S. class 1 railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expand ...
(MEC) leased the E&NA from Vanceboro to Bangor; it would purchase the line in the 1950s. In 1889 the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
(CPR) purchased the NBR and constructed the
International Railway of Maine The International Railway of Maine was a historic railroad constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) between Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and Mattawamkeag, Maine, closing a key gap in the railway's transcontinental main line to the port of Sai ...
to connect
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 ...
to the ice free winter port of Saint John, leasing trackage rights over the section owned by the Maine Central between Vanceboro and
Mattawamkeag Mattawamkeag is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, located where the Mattawamkeag River joins the Penobscot River. The population was 596 at the 2020 census. The village of Mattawamkeag is in the southwestern part of the town. ...
. In 1974, CP Rail purchased this section, completing its ownership of a transcontinental railway from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific. St. Croix had a customs facility operated by the Government of Canada to inspect trains entering New Brunswick as well as a small passenger station, however the opening of the major station in McAdam would soon see the majority of residents using that facility, leaving St. Croix as a "run through" point. CPR passenger services operated daily through the community from 1889 until they passed to
Via Rail Canada Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...
in 1978; its primary train ''The Atlantic Limited'' was renamed to the ''Atlantic'' at that time. Under Via, the ''Atlantic'' operated until it was discontinued in 1981 only to be resurrected in 1985. The train would pass through St. Croix daily until it was cut back to 3 days per week in 1990 and then permanently discontinued in 1994. In 1988, CP Rail placed all of its lines east of Montreal, including the mainline through St. Croix and Vanceboro under a separate business unit called
Canadian Atlantic Railway The Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a Canadian and U.S. railway that existed from 1988 to 1994. The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail (CPR) to serve the Maritime Provinces and the state of Maine. Its creation ...
. The line was sold in 1995 to
J.D. Irving Limited J. D. Irving Limited (JDI) is a privately owned Conglomerate (company), conglomerate company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a part of the Irving Group of Companies and consists of various s ...
and it is operated by subsidiary
New Brunswick Southern Railway The New Brunswick Southern Railway Company Limited is a Canadian short line railway owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company Limited, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglo ...
.


1915 sabotage attempt

During World War I, the CPR line became infamous for being the sabotage target of a
German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
officer. The United States was still a neutral country at that point and CPR was not permitted to transport war material and troops across US soil on the way to Saint John (most war goods were transported in Canada on the government-owned
Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...
using an all-Canadian routing instead). However Imperial Germany was convinced that CPR's route across Maine was being used for the war effort and sought to destroy the Saint Croix–Vanceboro Railway Bridge crossing the St. Croix River between Vanceboro and St. Croix. The officer travelled to Vanceboro and stayed in the local hotel, then laid explosives which detonated but did not damage the bridge. He was arrested and then jailed by the US and then Canada.


Notable people


See also

*
List of communities in New Brunswick This is a list of communities in New Brunswick, a province in Canada. For the purposes of this list, a community is defined as either an incorporated municipality, an Indian reserve, or an unincorporated community inside or outside a municipal ...


References

{{coord, 45.564244, N, 67.425928, W, display=title Communities in York County, New Brunswick