Hillsborough is a former village in

Albert County Albert County (2021 population 30,749) is New Brunswick's third-youngest county, located on the Western side of the Petitcodiac River on the Chignecto Bay in the Bay of Fundy; the shire town is Hopewell Cape. The county was established in 1 ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

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 an incorporated village prior to 2023 but is now part of the much larger incorporated village of Fundy Albert. Hillsborough is on a hill overlooking the

Petitcodiac River The Petitcodiac River () is a river located in south-eastern New Brunswick, Canada. Local tourist businesses often refer to it as the "chocolate river" due to its distinctive brown mud floor and brown waters. Stretching across a meander length o ...

near the intersection of Route 910 and Route 114. It is the largest settlement in Hillsborough Parish.

History

Originally established around 1700 as "Blanchard's Village" by Acadian farmers, they lived here for sixty years, building dykes that are still in use. Before the

Great Expulsion The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal of inhabitants of the North American region historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764 by Great Britain. It included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Br ...

of the

Acadians The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...

in 1755, the area was almost 100% French. Now, few Acadians live there, though there are several Acadian settlements on the opposite bank of the Petitcodiac River, such as Pre d'en Haut, New Brunswick. On September 4, 1755, the

Battle of Petitcodiac The Battle of Petitcodiac was an engagement which occurred during the Bay of Fundy campaign of the French and Indian War. The battle was fought between the British colonial forces from Massachusetts and Acadian militiamen led by French officer ...

was fought near Hillsborough. After the capture of

Fort Beausejour A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, in an attempt to gain control over the region, the British sent a

punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beha ...

consisting of two companies of British colonial troops into the

Valley to destroy the Acadian settlements located there. While the main body finished their operation on the eastern bank, a detachment was dispatched to the western bank. When the detachment under Major Joseph Frye approached Blanchard's Village, located near where Hillsborough now stands, it encountered French forces under the command of Captain Charles Deschamps de Boishébert and was driven off with heavy losses. The site is marked by a National Historic Sites and Monument plaque. On July 1, 1763, a group of settlers from Pennsylvania arrived in the area, led by Matthias Somers, Michael Lutz, Jacob Trietz (Trites), Charles Jones, and Heinrich Stieff (Steeves). Heinrich Steeves had seven sons and the name Steeves is still common among residents. On 1 January 2023, Hillsborough amalgamated with the villages of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

and

Riverside-Albert Riverside-Albert is a disincorporated village in Fundy Albert, New Brunswick, Canada. It resides in the geographic parish of Hopewell in Albert County. Riverside-Albert is located on the north of Shepody River on upland above the marsh. The ...

and parts of five local service districts to form the new village of Fundy Albert. The community's name remains in official use.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Hillsborough had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Places of note

*Hillsborough is home to the Albert County Chamber of Commerce and the historic New Brunswick Railway MuseumNew Brunswick Railway Museum website
/ref> and the Hon. William Henry Steeves House Museum. *Grays Island is a cemetery. *

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

was amalgamated into Hillsborough.

Education

Caledonia Regional High School Caledonia Regional High School is a Canadian secondary school in Hillsborough, New Brunswick. It is a “Centre of Academic Excellence” according to the local news media and the least populated high school in all of Anglophone East School Dis ...

* Hillsborough Elementary School

Notable people

William Steeves William Henry Steeves (May 20, 1814 – December 9, 1873) was a merchant, lumberman, politician and Father of Canadian Confederation. Early life and education William Henry Steeves was born on May 20, 1814, in Hillsborough, New Brunswic ...

, one of the

Fathers of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference, Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference, 1864, Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conf ...

* Hugh McMonagle * William James Lewis * Neil McNeil, former Catholic archbishop of Toronto, was a native of Hillsborough. *

Burpee L. Steeves Burpee Laban Steeves (July 7, 1868 – October 23, 1933) was a Republican politician from Idaho. Steeves served as the ninth lieutenant governor of Idaho from 1905 to 1907 during the administration of Governor Frank R. Gooding. External link ...

Lieutenant Governor of Idaho

References

External links

Village of Hillsborough
{{coord, 45, 55, N, 64, 39, W, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, name=Hillsborough, display=title Communities in Albert County, New Brunswick Former villages in New Brunswick Communities in Greater Moncton Mining communities in New Brunswick 2023 disestablishments in New Brunswick