The History of River John

    The area surrounding the mouth of the river, calledby the Micmacs, Cajje-Boogwek (flowing through a wilderness) was not permanentlysettled until 1785 though the Aboriginal people certainly camped in thearea and there is a tradition that French traders set up a seasonal tradingpost about one mile upriver.
    In the middle of the eighteenth century, two eventsin Europe led directly to the founding of the village of River John. InFrance, the Protestant inhabitants (Huguenots) of the Duchy of Wurtemburgwere subjected to religious persecution and in England, the governmentdecided to send settlers out to populate the newly acquired colony of NovaScotia. An invitation was extended to Protestants living on the continentand a large number of Huguenots responded, landing in Halifax in 1753.From there they went to Lunenburg where they found the land poor and difficultto farm but in 1771, they were offered better farmlands in the area aroundTatamagouche. These lands had been granted to Colonel Jean DesBarres, anotherHuguenot, after the expulsion of the Acadians and he persuaded eleven familiesto move to his property. However, he would not sell any land and when landgrants were available for the asking in Pictou County it is not surprisingthat in 1785 four families left Tatamagouche to settle on land describedas: "Lying on a river and bay known by the name of Deception River, nearCap Jean, beginning about a mile north from the entrance of the said riveron the west side." Soon the name of the river was changed and the settlementreceived its' permanent name, River John. The settlers erected a blockhouseon a point of land and built their first log houses close by. From herethey went out each day to clear their lands and sow their first crops.The first white child, a girl Phoebe Patriquin was born the following year.Each passing year brought more families, still of Huguenot origin and speakinga German-accented French dialect.
    Scottish immigrants now began to take up land grantson the east bank of the River and on Cape John but, as there was no bridgeand the first point at which the river could be crossed was over a mileupriver, the two groups remained separate for some time. However, by theend of the century, the settlers had coalesced into a community and in1797 had appointed Town Officers; an overseer of roads, an overseer offisheries, a constable, an assessor and an overseer of fences and thistles.

    The new century saw the Emperor Napoleon establishinghimself as a new Julius Caesar and fighting wars throughout the continent.War in Europe meant prosperity in North America with a tremendous demandfor lumber and ships. Farmers in Nova Scotia who had scratched out a subsistencefrom their farms, now found they could get unheard of prices for the timberfrom their wood lots and ships were needed to convey this wood to the markets.
    The village of River John partook of this prosperityand grew rapidly. A wooden bridge linked both sides of the river. Thismade it easier for residents to gather for worship or social occasions. In 1808 they secured the services of a clergyman and the congregation joinedthe Presbytery of Pictou the following year. On June 18, 1815, the veryday that the Battle of Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon's career, Canada'searliest church of the Disciples of Christ, made its' beginning in RiverJohn. In 1818 the first school was built and children were sparedfrom work in the fields so that they might learn the basic 'three Rs'.
    A local merchant, Robert Mackay decided to copyhis colleagues in other sea- side communities and start a shipyard. He builtRiver John's first ship in 1825 but by this time the boom years had passedand before long he lost his business. The bankrupt's assets were purchasedby an up-and-coming young Scot, Alexander Mackenzie ...a cousin and namesakeof Alexander Mackenzie, the great explorer who first crossed the continentby land and discovered the mighty river that bears his name. Young Mackenzieprospered as did his brother-in-law, Charles McLennan who had also settledin River John. By 1835 when the post-war depression was coming toan end, MacKenzie had started a shipyard in River John as had theHon. George Smith and Kenneth MacLean. All seemed set fair for the villageas it approached it's half century mark. The old meeting house was toosmall for its' congregation and the construction of a new one was begun.A Methodist chapel and a small Anglican church were built.
    By 1842 hard times had again returned. Smith andMacLean both failed in business. The new Presbyterian church was neverfinished and the Anglican church was used as a carpenter shop and a cattleshed. The school house was unoccupied. A letter to the newspaper statedbaldly, "Times are so bad that we can't afford to pay for preaching and teaching." As so often in the past, European wars came to the rescue. In 1853the Crimean war broke out in southeastern Europe and once again shipswere needed. Two new ship builders appeared upon the scene, James Kitchenand John Mockler and from this time dated the glory days of River Johnas a shipbuilding centre. Prosperity brought expansion to the village.A stagecoach connected it with the town of Pictou and news from abroadarrived via the wires of the Western Union Telegraph Company which establishedan office in the village. A newspaper started. Two inns were built forthe accommodation of visitors. A foundry, tannery and sawmillswere established and their products supplied the needs of the shipyards.When several ships were being built at the same time, there were not enoughskilled workers in the village to carry out the work and men used to comefrom as far as Lunenburg County for the seasonal work. There were no accommodationfor these workers and they erected shanties and lean-to from scrap lumberfrom the shipyard. These shacks were built in a part of the village justwest of the shipyard, an area that became known as Slabtown. Some of theseitinerant workmen stayed in River John and although the quality of theirdwellings improved, the unflattering name stuck.
    The shipbuilders were canny businessmen and didnot depend on shipbuilding alone to make their fortunes. All had storesand paid their workmen, not in money, but in credit notes which were onlygood at their own mercantile establishments, insuring that monies paidout to the workers came straight back to their own coffers.
    By 1863 River John was important enough to figureon the itinerary of Edward, Prince of Wales. Queen Victoria's son arrivedby stagecoach and was then taken in Charles McLennan's brand new carriagefor a drive around the community. The stagecoach would disappear as the railway came to Pictou County. When Charles McLennan heard thatthe proposed Intercolonial Railway station was to be located seven milesfrom River John at West Branch, he exercised all of his considerable politicalinfluence to ensure that line was rerouted to bring the station closer.This was done despite the fact that it entailed building a large and expensiverailway trestle to span the river..
    The bustling prosperity of these years brought newbuilding in the village. Three new churches were built, two Presbyterianand one Anglican. To take advantage of the visitors the new trainwould bring, McLennan built a large and handsome hotel, the Riverside andanother merchant, John MacKenzie constructed the only brick built commercialbuilding outside of the County towns. The social needs of the villagerswere accommodated in a Town Hall and several meeting halls for variousfraternal organizations. In the winter, a temporary enclosed skating rinksprouted on the riverside and patrons skated to the music of the villagebrass band. In 1885 the wooden road bridge spanning the river in the villagecentre was replaced by a double span, steel truss bridge and in that sameyear the two greatest vessels ever built on the North Shore slipped downthe ways of the Kitchen and MacKenzie yards.
    Despite all this activity, by the end of the centuryit was obvious that steel and steam were replacing wood and wind and theera of the great square riggers was at an end. Only smaller, fore and aftrigged vessels were economical and the demand for them was sporadic. Theold ship yards were abandoned, the wharves deserted and the village againlanguished.

    By the beginning of the 20th century the great 'braindrain' from Nova Scotia had begun. As if to facilitate it, in 1902 a fine,new school building was built in the centre of the village and dominatedits landscape for the next seventy years. In the nineteen sixties an elderlywoman recalled that in the first decade of the century she shared a traincoach with seventeen university students, all returning to River John fortheir Christmas holiday. Of those seventeen, not one returned to RiverJohn to pursue a career and only two remained in Nova Scotia.
    The telephone came to the village at the turn ofthe century and by 1908 there were 28 telephones in service. By 1917 there were manyMaritime Telephone and Telegraph subscribers but a much larger networkof small companies fanned out from the village.
    Charles McLennan was the only shipbuilder constructingships in the first years of the century and these were schooners of lessthan 500 tons. He lost his entire fortune in a stock market crash in 1910and it seemed that shipbuilding in River John was at an end. Then camethe great war and an unparalleled destruction of British and allied shipping.Vessels were in desperately short supply and there was even a market forwooden ships. While a great many of the young men of the village were servingin the army overseas, there were still a few aged ship carpenters livingin the village and there were still men in the hills who knew how to getout the knees, planking and hardwood timber. Archibald MacKenzie builtthe "Cambrai," named for one of the great battlefields of the war and Charles McLennan sold one of his few remaining assets, a woodlot and withthe proceeds built a small schooner, the "Cyril T" and then the larger "MaryF. Anderson." This was the last wooden ship to be built in River John.
    After the war, when the men returned, there werea few fairly good years, the country in general was prosperous, and there waswork to be had. There were ten lobster factories (canneries) in River Johngiving seasonal work to local women and providing a market for the localfishermen. In 1921 the first bank opened in the village, a branch of theBank of Nova Scotia. At the end of this decade the great stock market crashof 1929 plunged the entire continent into the depths of the great depression.In River John matters were not helped by a disastrous fire in November1930 that wiped out three retail businesses. Prices for lobsters plungedand though no one starved, many families knew what it was to go hungry.It was hard to blame some of the fishermen if they turned to rum runningto make a few dollars.
    Hard times continued throughout the thirties untilthe outbreak of World War II . Many young men immediately joined the armedforces while the older men and women found work at Ferguson Industriesin Pictou, building steel ships. Once again the economy of the villagewas saved by war and shipbuilding.
    The second half of this century has seen this villagebecome a bedroom community. Fishing is the now the major industry whilethe remainder of the citizens work in the neighbouring towns or in theservice sector.