I was walking through the market this weekend when I seen taking with elderly ladies talking with the clerk at Baleman’s in the Saint John City Market holding this article. It was nice to see the interest as I have been working with the authour on her website at http://www.ursj.ca.
Book revisits urban renewal era
Published Tuesday September 23rd, 2008
History City native’s book shows how the 1960s began a period of transformation
BRUCE BARTLETT
TELEGRAPH-JOURNALSAINT JOHN – Most schoolchildren learn something about how the Great Fire of 1877 changed the look of the city, but how many are aware of events closer in time that have had a far greater impact on the landscape of the city?
Soon, such information will be readily available, thanks to the efforts of Brenda Peters McDermott.
The Saint John native has put together a collection of photographs and documents showing just how much the urban renewal projects of the 1960s through the 1980s made the city what it is today.
Her book, Urban Renewal Saint John: A City Transformed, shows the tremendous impact the project had on the old east end, north end and city centre, culminating with the opening of Market Square in 1983.
An urban renewal study in 1956 discovered that out of 13,000 dwellings in the city, 4,000 needed to be immediately demolished and another 8,000 were in fair to poor condition, leaving only 1,000 that could be described as good, said McDermott. continue reading…
