Quote:
Originally Posted by sailor734
This is great news for Moncton. As a lifelong Saint Johner I always thought Moncton lacked any kind of cohesive "downtown". Recent developments seem to be moving to correct this and build towards that critical mass in one. Congrats! Exciting times to be a Monctonian.  |
I don't disagree with your characterization of the existing downtown core of Moncton.
The difference in the character of downtown Moncton (compared to SJ, Halifax, Freddy and Charlottetown) goes all the way back to the founding of each of these communities.
Each of the other significant Maritime cities were developed as
planned communities.
Freddy, Charlottetown and Halifax are all capital cities, and were planned with street grids, and land set aside specifically for significant buildings such as cathedrals, court houses and legislatures. Development proceeded accordongly along those plans.
Saint John is a little different. It did serve transiently as colonial capital before Freddy inherited the mantle, but SJ was the main port of NB at a time when all commerce was shipborn, and received a huge influx of population in 1783 as a result of the expulsion of the Loyalist population from the new US. It was therefore assumed that SJ would be NB's metropolis, and was planned as such, with a proper street grid (at least for the uptown peninsula).
Moncton on the other hand is the accidental city.
There has been near continual European settlement in Moncton for a very long time (since 1733), but, Moncton began as a farming settlement, and remained as such for well over a century. It was only with the arrival of shipbuilding, and then the railway, that population growth began to happen. In many ways, Moncton didn't really take off until the 1890s. Up to that point, a single downtown main street was more than enough to service the community.
Even though continual growth in Moncton has become the norm, and the CMA is now the largest in the province, it is difficult for the city to escape it's roots. Happily this is beginning to happen.
I have always felt that physiographically, Moncton has more in common with cities in western Canada than with it's Maritime brethren. Many cities in the Prairies and BC also began to mature in the 1890s and early 20th century, and also were not planned communities. Growth in many of those cities are similar to Moncton's. The largest of these (like Saskatoon) have broken out of the "glorified Main Street" mode, and have developed a cohesive downtown core. I think the same thing is about to happen to Moncton, especially given the opportunity to develop the lands south of Main Street.
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