Alright, to elaborate a bit on my hometown. Here's a typical shot of the Uptown skyline:
A fancy aerial shot, too.
Saint John is Canada's oldest and first incorporated city, becoming incorporated in 1785.
Some "notable firsts" of Saint John:
Quote:
- Canada's first public museum, 1842. Originally known as the Gesner Museum, named after its Nova Scotian founder Abraham Gesner, the inventor of kerosene. The museum is now known as the New Brunswick Museum.
- First quarantine station in North America, Partridge Island. It greeted sick and dying Irish emigrants arriving to the New World with inhospitable conditions.
- The first chartered bank in Canada, 1830, the Bank of New Brunswick.
- Canada's oldest publicly-funded high school, Saint John High School
- The world's first foghorn as invented by Robert Foulis.
- First penny newspaper in the Empire, Saint John News, established in 1838 (tri-weekly) by George E Fenety.
- Canada's first Y.W.C.A. established in 1870 by Mrs. Agnes A. Blizzard, in a house on Germain Street.
- First police union in the world was formed in Saint John in 1919.
- First Miss Canada Mrs. Harold Drummie (nee Winnie Blair) - 1923.
- First public playground in Canada which was started by Miss Mabel Peters. This playground is known as the Allison Ground Playground in Rockwood Court.
- First Minister of Health of the British Empire, W. F. Roberts, M.D.
- First Knights of Pythias in British Empire.
- First monitor top railroad cars in the world invented by James Ferguson. The original model is in the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.
- First orchestra to accompany a silent moving picture on the North American continent was by Walter Golding in the old nickel theater, May 1907.
- First clockwork time bomb developed in 1880.
- First steam powered fog horn was invented in the city
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Saint John is also the birthplace of the Marco Polo, Stompin' Tom, Louis B. Mayer of "MGM Grand" fame, Donald Sutherland, Matt Stairs, and "The Paris Crew".
It is home to
Harbour Station (seating capacity of 6,200), where the Saint John Flames played for 10 seasons and which is now the home rink of the QMJHL's Saint John SeaDogs. Harbour Station has hosted the 1997 AHL All-Star Game, an NHL exhibition game between the Calgary Flames and the Hartfor Whalers, the 1999 Ford World Curling Championships, the 2002 East Coast Music Awards, the 2006 Canadian Country Music Awards, the 2001 Calder Cup Finals, as well as concerts by artists such as Garth Brooks and Aerosmith.
Saint John is also pretty much owned by the Irving family, who own and operate the largest oil refinery in Canada as well as a pulp & paper mill on the city's West Side.
I guess I'm the exception, but I really love the city of Saint John, and am really proud to live here. Sure it has its problems and drawbacks, but I seriously doubt I could live anywhere else.
Also, a
photo gallery for those interested in seeing the rest of the city.
Oh, and this picture basically sums up the weather in Saint John:
