History of Marysville

This article is about the history of the Fredericton borough of Marysville.One of the communities annexed to Fredericton in 1973, Marysville, has a unique and distinctive history of its own. Marysville is located on the Nashwaak River - a tributary of the Saint John River - just North of pre-1973 Fredericton. The community is distinguished by its 19th century mill and historic buildings which include nineteenth century company houses and buildings which are patterned after that of many British industrial towns.

Marysville can be described as a prime example of a nineteenth century mill town. In the 1830s, a saw mill was built on the site of Marysville by two local entrepreneurs. However, the saw mill frequently changed ownership and never showed a profit. It was Alexander Gibson (popularly referred to as "Boss Gibson") who turned this situation around and built a prosperous industrial town. In 1883, under the direction of Gibson, construction began of a cotton mill which was state of the art for its time. Boss Gibson hired architects from Boston and used his own brick quarry to complete construction of the mill in 1885. As an example of the mill's state of the art status, it was equipped with electric lighting, this was only a few years after Thomas Edison had petented his incandescent light bulb.

"Boss" Gibson named the company town, that grew up around the mill, Marysville in honour of his wife. Gibson was known to show great concern for his employees cancelling debts at the local store during hard economic times and passing out candy to children.Fact|date=February 2007

In 1908, having faced financial problems, Gibson sold the mill to a Montreal-based company which, in turn, sold it to Canadian Cottons Ltd. After World War II, foreign competition devastated the mill's business and it ceased operations in 1954. There were numerous attempts to re-open the mill however, in 1980, it closed its doors permanently.

The mill was renovated and re-opened in 1985 as provincial government offices. The mill still remains the dominant feature in the Marysville skyline.

"Boss" Gibson's Legacy

Gibson's status (and some residents would say legendary status) is epitomized in the following poem which was written during a period of mill closure and high unemployment:

I dreamed last night the Boss came back;
Alexander was his name
He strolled around the town he built
And muttered 'What a shame'.
I wonder if St. Peter would give me right to leave;
They need me here, the sight I see
Just makes my poor heart grieve,
Now darn it all,
There's something wrong
With this present generation
Why, I provided men with work
Before Confederation
We had not departments then,
of Economic Growth and Labour,
No federal funds to build our mill;
We got no welfare favour
Oh, Peter, let me stay down here,
in My town of Marysville;
I know I'd find the answer
To the problem of my mill.

References

Dallison, Robert L. "A Tour of Boss Gibson's Marysville: A Nineteenth Century Mill Town." Fredericton Heritage Trust, 1991.