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{{about|the town|the geographic parish, former local service district, and rural census subdivision|Woodstock Parish, New Brunswick}}{{short description|Town on the Saint John River, western New Brunswick, Canada}}

factoids

| population_total = 5,553| population_density_km2 = 371.1| population_blank1_title = Change (2016–21)| population_blank1 = {{increase}} 6.2%Atlantic Standard Time Zone>AST| utc_offset = -4Atlantic Standard Time Zone>ADT| utc_offset_DST = -346.16176region:CA-NB|display=inline}}| elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 36 to 85| elevation_ft = 118 to 279| postal_code_type = Canadian Postal codeList of E Postal Codes of Canada>E7MArea code 506>506| blank_name = Telephone Exchange(s)| blank_info = 328, 325, 324, 612, 594National Topographic System>NTS Map214}}Geographical Names Board of Canada>GNBC Code| blank2_info = DAWNWweblink}}}}Woodstock is a town in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada on the Saint John River, 103 km (65 miles) upriver from Fredericton at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River. It is near the Canada–United States border and Houlton, Maine and the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Trans-Canada Highway making it a transportation hub. It is also a service centre for the potato industryWEB, Woodstock (NB),weblink The Canadian Encyclopedia, 7 January 2017, and for more than 26,000 people in the nearby communities of Hartland, Florenceville-Bristol, Centreville, Bath and Lakeland Ridges for shopping, employment and entertainment.WEB,weblink Welcom, www.gwcc.ca, Greater Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, 2017-01-07, Woodstock was possibly named after Woodstock, Oxfordshire.BOOK, Ketchum, TCL, A short history of Carleton county, New Brunswick, 1923, Woodstock, NB, Canada, 978-1331465379,weblink 6 January 2017, The name is Old English in origin, meaning a "clearing in the woods". New Brunswick historian William Francis Ganong believed the parish (and later town) was named in honour of Viscount Woodstock, a junior title of the Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of Great Britain when the Loyalists arrived in New Brunswick.BOOK, Ganong, William F.,weblink 12 April 2021, Additions and Corrections to Monographs on the Place-Nomenclature, Cartography, Historic Sites, Boundaries and Settlement-origins of the Province of New Brunswick, 1906, Royal Society of Canada, 54, On 1 January 2023, Woodstock expanded in all directions, annexing all or part of six local service districts.WEB, Local Governments Establishment Regulation – Local Governance Act,weblink Government of New Brunswick, 21 January 2023, 12 October 2022, WEB, RSC 12 - Western Valley Regional Service Commission,weblink Government of New Brunswick, 31 January 2022, 21 January 2023, Revised census figures have not been released.

History

Little is known of the area before it was settled by disbanded veterans of De Lancey's Brigade following the American Revolutionary War.WEB, Town of Woodstock,weblink Carleton County Historical Society, Inc, 6 January 2017, The veterans moved there in late 1783.BOOK, Wright, Esther Clark, The Loyalists of New Brunswick, February 1972, Moncton Pub. Co. Ltd., Canada, 180–181, 2nd., The Process of Possession, Block 8, Woodstock, 1st DeLancey's, grant to Robert Brown and 119 others, October 15, 1784, Esther Clark Wright, The 26,000 acres grant was to 110 men. Not all took up the offer, and of those who did, not all stayed. By 1790 only 23 families were present, and by 1804 only 10 of the original men had possession of the land. According to the diaries of Frederick Dibblee mills were present from 1805. Export of timber via the Saint John river began about this time.When Carleton County was created in 1831, Woodstock was made county seat, and a jail, court house and registry office were installed. From 1837 William Teel Baird operated a pharmacy. The first steamboat from Fredericton reached Woodstock in 1837 and a regular service was established in 1845. By 1847 the population was at 2,000 and the town had four churches, a bank, and a grammar school.On The Twelfth (Orangemen's Day) of July 1847BOOK, Baird, William T., William Teel Baird, Seventy years of New Brunswick life: autobiographical sketches,weblink 28 March 2013, Reprint, 1978, St. Annes Point Press, 978-0-920762-00-4, 156–162, a riot took place at the corner of Victoria and Boyne streets near the site of the Orange Hall,WEB, Campbell, John, Orange Hall - Woodstock,weblink 25 June 2012, built in 1848 and now a vacant lot.BOOK, Connell, Allison, A view of Woodstock : historic homes of the nineteenth century, 1988, New Ireland Press, Fredericton, N.B., 0920483194, 19, It was a conflict between Protestant Irish immigrants of the Orange Order and Catholic Irish immigrants.WEB,weblink The Battle of Woodstock, Bell, D. G., Carleton County Historical Society, 3 November 2010, Around 250 Orangemen clashed with an equal number of Irish Catholics, leading to 10 deaths and many more injuries. It was a result of years of tensions. Subsequently, only Catholics were brought to trial.WEB, Orange Riot Site,weblink Canada's Historic Places, 7 January 2017, According to the 1851, census there were 488 inhabited houses, and nine places of worship. Immigration was important, with the majority coming from Ireland.The town was the first in New Brunswick to be incorporated, in 1856. The first mayor was Lewis P. Fisher. He made provisions in his will for the building of several educational institutions, among them the first Agricultural and Vocational School in Canada, and the L. P. Fisher Public Library.In 1861, the newly built railway between St. Andrews and Woodstock was seized by several hundred navvies, angry at not being paid.BOOK, Journals of the House of Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick, 1863, G.E. Fenety, 114–116,weblink New Brunswick. House of Assembly, A peaceful settlement was later made personally by Arthur Hamilton-Gordon.Seventy Years. pp.217-218The first telephone was installed in 1885 by H.V. Dalling, a homemade telephone whose wires ran between his home and shop. The Bell Telephone Company later opened a small telephone exchange in his store.BOOK, Thompson, Colleen Whitney, Roads to Remember: The Insider's Guide to New Brunswick, 1994, 0-86492-160-8, 58, Goose Lane Editions, In 1887, Tappan Adney, visiting Woodstock, learnt birchbark canoe construction from a Maliseet, preserving and document the building process.The headquarters for the New Brunswick Railway were here from 1870 until it ceased functioning.The first dam at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River was built in 1886. In the 1880s Woodstock had two small electric companies related to the Small & Fisher and Connell Brothers iron foundries. These were superseded by the Woodstock Electric Railway Light and Power Company which in 1906 built a dam and a powerhouse on the Meduxnekeag for distribution of power to the town.WEB, in the beginning - electricity comes to New Brunswick,weblink NB Power, 7 January 2017, The first hydro-electric station in New Brunswick,WEB, Meduxnekeag Heritage,weblink Meduxnekeag River Association, 7 January 2017, the Hayden dam and its power stationWEB, Campbell, John, Power House and Dam,weblink 25 June 2012, was destroyed by a freshet in 1923, which also washed out the bridge that crossed the Meduxnekeag.WEB, Campbell, John, 1923 Flood,weblink 25 June 2012, (File:NB Woodstock2 tango7174.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Sunset on Main Street)

Culture & recreation

In 1995, the Town of Woodstock opened the Carleton Civic Centre. The multipurpose complex houses a 25-metre (27 yard) indoor swimming pool, an 846-seat arena, a fitness centre, and community meeting rooms. The Woodstock Slammers of the Maritime Junior Hockey League played previously at the Ayr Motor Centre.The annual Woodstock Old Home Week activities are centered around Woodstock and the fair grounds at Connell Park. Activities include parades and fireworks, a gospel concert, 4-H activities, Miss New Brunswick talent show & pageant, beautiful baby contest, horse pulling, harness racing, and a demolition derby.WEB,weblink Woodstock Old Home Week, 5 January 2017, The Dooryard Arts Festival is four days of music, art, theatre, stories, workshops and an open-air market.WEB, Info,weblink Dooryard Arts Festival, 5 January 2017,

Economy & infrastructure

Education

A campus of the New Brunswick Community College, Townsview School (Grades K-8), Meduxnekeag Consolidated School (Grades K-8), and Woodstock High School.

Transportation

Woodstock is located on New Brunswick Route 2, an alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway. The shorter New Brunswick Route 95 extends westward from Woodstock to the Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing, where it continues into the United States as Interstate 95.The small public Woodstock Airport is in nearby Grafton, New Brunswick.

Mining

Regional geology consists of shales over a Late Ordovician to Early Silurian formation.Iron-manganese and iron ore occurrences were reported in 1836 during a geological survey conducted by the state of Maine.BOOK, New Brunswick. General Assembly. Legislative Council, Journal of the Legislative Council of the Province of New Brunswick ...,weblink April 1864, 55–59, Report on Mines and Minerals: Woodstock Iron Works, Early Canadiana Online, subscription, The Woodstock Iron Works ran from 1848 to 1884, closing because of competition from the United States.Today Minco owns 100% of an 880 hectare (3½ sq. mi.) manganese claim, about 6.3 km (4 miles) northwest of Woodstock. Samples were taken in 2010, 2011,WEB, Houlton Woodstock Zone - Manganese,weblink GLOBEX, 7 January 2017, and 2013. Minco plans to produce manganese well below the typical cost for the industry. The manganese would be used in the production of stainless steel.WEB, Woodstock Project, New Brunswick,weblink 7 January 2017,

Media

Woodstock's radio station is CJCJ-FM.NEWS, What's in a name, Dean, Katelin, May 1, 2009, Bugle-Observer (Weekend), A3, The weekly newspapers are the Bugle-Observer and the River Valley Sun.

Architecture

Many of the original wooden buildings have not survived into modern times. Calamities over the years included a hurricane in 1836,NEWS, Terrifick Hurricane at Woodstock,weblink The Evening Post, New-York, 25 Aug 1836, 2, newspapers.com, and fires in 1860,NEWS, Destructive Conflagration,weblink Nashville Union and American, 19 Apr 1860, newspapers.com, and 1911,WEB, Campbell, John, Hayden's Saw Mill,weblink 25 June 2012, As a result, much of downtown was rebuilt in the brick that remains today.WEB, History,weblink Town of Woodstock, 7 January 2017, Before the arrival of the railway, businesses faced the river banks, since they provided transportation, energy, and water. With the switch to rail and road traffic buildings face roads instead.The George Frederick Clarke house, built in 1905, is a provincial historic site valued as a rare example of residential Regency architecture.The Old Carleton County Court House was built in 1833. When new court house was constructed, the old one was used as a horse barn from 1911 to 1960 when it was purchased by the Carleton County Historical Society.BOOK, Eiselt, Marianne, Discovering New Brunswick, 2002, Formac Pub., Halifax, N.S., 0887805566, 11,weblink registration, Old Carleton County Court House., Eiselt, H.A., It was the site of the George Gee trial, and that of Minnie Bell Sharp who ran the Woodstock School of Music in the early 1900s.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Woodstock had a population of {{val|5553|fmt=commas}} living in {{val|2486|fmt=commas}} of its {{val|2622|fmt=commas}} total private dwellings, a change of {{percentage|{{#expr:5553-5228}}|5228|1}} from its 2016 population of {{val|5228|fmt=commas}}. With a land area of {{convert|14.96|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it had a population density of {{Pop density|5553|14.96|km2|sqmi|prec=1}} in 2021.The Maliseet Woodstock First Nation is about 9 km (5 miles) south of the town on 426 acres with an on-reserve population of 291 and an off-reserve population of 721.WEB, History,weblink Woodstock First Nation, 5 January 2017, {{Historical populations| state = collapsed|type=Canada|percentages=pagr600158143003000364438563380 325935933996 4305484646494549478250924631523151005113525452285553|footnote=}}

Geography & climate

Woodstock experiences a humid continental climate (Dfb). The highest temperature ever recorded in Woodstock was {{convert|39.4|C|0}} on 18 August 1935. Woodstock, along with Five Rivers and Nepisiguit Falls share the record for New Brunswick's highest recorded temperature.{{Weather box| collapsed = collapsed |location = Woodstock, 1981–2010 normals, extremes 1886–present|metric first = yes|single line = yes|Jan record high C = 13.5|Feb record high C = 16.5|Mar record high C = 26.0|Apr record high C = 31.5|May record high C = 35.6|Jun record high C = 35.6|Jul record high C = 36.7|Aug record high C = 39.4|Sep record high C = 34.4|Oct record high C = 30.0|Nov record high C = 22.8|Dec record high C = 16.1|year record high C = 39.4|Jan high C = -6.0|Feb high C = -3.3|Mar high C = 2.2|Apr high C = 9.4|May high C = 17.6|Jun high C = 22.9|Jul high C = 25.3|Aug high C = 24.7|Sep high C = 19.4|Oct high C = 12.0|Nov high C = 4.4|Dec high C = -2.3|year high C = 10.5|Jan mean C = -11.5|Feb mean C = −9.5|Mar mean C = -3.4|Apr mean C = 3.7|May mean C = 10.9|Jun mean C = 16.3|Jul mean C = 19.0|Aug mean C = 18.4|Sep mean C = 13.2|Oct mean C = 6.6|Nov mean C = 0.3|Dec mean C = -7.0|year mean C = 4.8|Jan low C = -17.0|Feb low C = -15.6|Mar low C = -8.9|Apr low C = -2.0|May low C = 4.1|Jun low C = 9.6|Jul low C = 12.6|Aug low C = 12.0|Sep low C = 6.9|Oct low C = 1.1|Nov low C = -3.9|Dec low C = -11.7|year low C = -1.1|Jan record low C = -43.5|Feb record low C = -43.9|Mar record low C = -37.2|Apr record low C = -23.3|May record low C = -9.4|Jun record low C = -6.7|Jul record low C = -1.1|Aug record low C = -1.0|Sep record low C = -6.7|Oct record low C = -13.3|Nov record low C = -25.0|Dec record low C = -40.6|year record low C = -43.9|precipitation colour = green|Jan precipitation mm = 104.0|Feb precipitation mm = 71.6|Mar precipitation mm = 91.2|Apr precipitation mm = 80.4|May precipitation mm = 94.2|Jun precipitation mm = 91.0|Jul precipitation mm = 100.2|Aug precipitation mm = 100.6|Sep precipitation mm = 95.7|Oct precipitation mm = 95.3|Nov precipitation mm = 103.2|Dec precipitation mm = 103.2|year precipitation mm = 1130.6|rain colour = green|Jan rain mm = 27.5|Feb rain mm = 24.2|Mar rain mm = 36.9|Apr rain mm = 61.6|May rain mm = 93.6|Jun rain mm = 91.0|Jul rain mm = 100.2|Aug rain mm = 100.6|Sep rain mm = 95.6|Oct rain mm = 92.1|Nov rain mm = 81.9|Dec rain mm = 53.2|year rain mm = 858.2|Jan snow cm = 76.6|Feb snow cm = 47.4|Mar snow cm = 54.3|Apr snow cm = 18.8|May snow cm = 0.7|Jun snow cm = 0.0|Jul snow cm = 0.0|Aug snow cm = 0.0|Sep snow cm = 0.1|Oct snow cm = 3.2|Nov snow cm = 21.3|Dec snow cm = 50.0|year snow cm = 272.3|source 1 = Environment CanadaWEB,weblink Woodstock, 1981–2010 Canadian Climate Normals, 25 September 2013, Environment Canada, 29 May 2016, WEB,weblink March 2012, Canadian Climate Data, 31 October 2011, Environment Canada, 29 May 2016, |date=May 2016}}

Government

{{see also|List of mayors of Woodstock, New Brunswick}}Woodstock elects a mayor and a town council every four years. All councilors are elected at-large. The last election was November 2022.WEB, Mayor & Council,weblink Town of Woodstock, December 8, 2022, The chief administrative officer and the administration department is responsible for the town financial matters, record keeping, implementation of policies and directives, and providing support to all other departments and the town council. The position of chief administrative officer was formerly known as town manager. Woodstock was the first town in New Brunswick to have a manager-council form of government.WEB, Administration,weblink Woodstock, Town of Woodstock, January 24, 2015, The current mayor of Woodstock is Trina Jones who has held the position since 2022.WEB,weblink Woodstock Mayors, June 13, 2023, {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"! colspan="3" | Town Managers/Chief Administrative OfficersWEB,weblink List of Past Town Managers, Town of Woodstock, January 24, 2015, ! # !! Manager/CAO !! Term|1st |R. Fraser Armstrong |1919–1923|2nd|Michael J. Rutledge|1923–1927|3rd|Blake Allen|1927–1929|4th|Gordon MacPhail|1929–1931|5th|A. Gordon Bailey|1931–1941|6th|George B. Kilpatrick|1941–1944|7th|Carl W. Groman|1944–1946|8th|Douglas MacBride|1946–1947|9th|Avard J. Bird|1947–1947|10th|Oliver H. Manuel|1947–1949|11th|Wesley H. Steeves|1949–1952|12th|James R. Calkin|1952–1959|13th|George B. Kilpatrick|1959–1966|14th|Thomas L. Everett|1967–1983|15th|Edward L. Dickinson|1983–1996|16th|Kenneth C. Harding|1996–2017|17th|John Pinsent|2017–2019|Acting|Andrew Garnett|2019|18th|Ken Anthony|2019–2022|Acting|Andrew Garnett|2022|19th|Andrew Garnett|2022-PresentThe Woodstock's other town departments are Business Development, Development & Inspectional Services, Fire, Police, Public Works, Recreation, and Tourism.

References

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External links

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{{coord|46.152222|-67.598333|display=title}}{{Subdivisions of New Brunswick|towns=yes}}{{Saint John River}}{{Authority Control}}