The theme for 2024 New Brunswick Heritage Week is “Discover Our Innovations”.
February 12th to the 19th is Heritage Week in New Brunswick. “Discover Our Innovations” as we celebrate history and heritage through the lens of the “change makers”. Albert County has led the way in innovation for centuries. Many innovative people born in Albert County changed the course of history not only in New Brunswick and Canada, but in many ways around the world.
Invention involves creating something entirely new. Innovation is not inventing something for the first time. Innovation is the process of making changes to improving the existing invention or finding new ways for it to be used. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and granted his telephone patent on March 7, 1876. Since Bell made the first-ever telephone call to Watson, a zillion innovations have changed this vital creation for communication. Could you imagine Bell’s reaction to the Apple iphone 15 Pro Max!
Discover Albert County’s Innovations!
Albert County has led the way in innovation for centuries. Many innovative people born in Albert County changed the course of history, not only in New Brunswick and Canada, but in many ways around the world. Here is the Albert County Heritage Week Top 12 List!
1. Invention of Kerosene. The development of commercially viable kerosene from a coal-like mineral named “Albertite” was an invention of geologist Abraham Gesner in 1846. This invention led directly to the petroleum age in the modern world, and indirectly to saving the whales.
2. Sir George Robert Parkin is born in Parkindale near Salisbury in 1846. Parkin was a graduate of Oxford University, a leading scholar and educator in Canada, and the founding secretary of The Rhodes Scholarship. He was also an author and President of the Geographical Association.
3. Mining of Gypsum in Hillsborough. Gypsum mining and processing was Hillsborough's primary industry for over a century. The Albert Manufacturing Company mined, processed, and shipped Albert County gypsum from its founding in 1854 until its mines closed in 1980. The mine site is now the White Rock Recreation Area.
4. Richard Bedford Bennett is born in 1870. Hopewell is the birthplace and hometown of Canada's 11th Prime Minister RB Bennett who served from 1930 to 1935. While in office, Bennett founded the Bank of Canada, the CBC, Canadian Wheat Board, Employment Insurance and numerous other important Canadian institutions. He was appointed a member of the British Parliament House of Lords in 1941 and died in England in 1947. He is buried in Mickelham, England, near his Juniper Hill estate.
5. Veneer Factory at West River, Albert County. The Aptus Veneer Factory was the only factory of its kind in Canada during its years of operation in early 1900s. The veneer was made from birch and maple and shipped throughout all of Canada and even to England.
6. Forming the New Brunswick Teachers' Association. The NBTA can trace its roots to the formation of the Albert County Teachers’ Institute (1902), which then became the New Brunswick Teachers’ Union (June 1903) to include the entire province. The name was changed to New Brunswick Teachers’ Association (December 1903). Today NBTA represents over 8,500 teachers, ensuring that they have a collective voice as they work to educate students and leaders of tomorrow!
7. The Double Jeopardy Law. The Tom Collins murder trials and his conviction in 1907 led directly to the Supreme Court of Canada hearing and upholding the Double Jeopardy law. This law forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same or similar charges following a legitimate acquittal.
8. Molly Kool is born in Alma in 1916. Kool became the first licensed female Sea Captain in North America. This forced changing the Canadian Shipping Act Law in 1939 to include women as Master Mariners, opening the door for many women who have followed their passion for a life at sea!
9. WWI War Trophies delivered in 1920. Albert County won the Victory Loans Competition of 1919 by raising a greater percentage over their set goal than anywhere else in New Brunswick in a fundraising effort to bring Canadian troops home from Europe. The county raised $347,600 with a goal of $110,000 - triple the amount! In today's dollars that is $6.2 million!
10. The Peck Memorial Hall. Built in Hillsborough, it was the first building erected in Canada in memory of a fallen soldier from the Great War 1914-1918. Mr. John L. Peck fulfilled the request made by his only son, Lt. George Peck, that if he died in war, his inheritance would be used to benefit the community, especially the young people. The Peck Hall was built in 1921 and dedicated in memory of Lt. George Peck and the other Albert County heroes who sacrificed their lives. For many years the hall served the community by hosting events and being a center for youth groups and sport activities.
11. Brenda (Tubb) Robertson is born in 1929. Elected in the riding of Albert in 1967, Robertson was the first female MLA in New Brunswick, and was re-elected four times. She was the first female Cabinet Minister, was a Canadian Senator and a recipient of the Order of Canada. In 2023, the new bridge joining Riverview and Moncton was named “The Honourable Brenda Robertson Bridge”.
12. Founding of Fundy National Park in 1948. Fundy National Park is one of the most popular parks in all of Canada – nearly as busy as Banff and Jasper National Parks. Join ACHS on Family Day on Feb. 19th at the Salt and Fir Centre from 10am to 2pm for the last day of NB Heritage Week.