Country Canada Founded August 4, 1860 Area 34.73 km² Local time Thursday 2:39 AM | Amalgamation January 1, 1998 Population 11,947 (2011) Area code Area code 506 | |
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Weather -10°C, Wind NW at 37 km/h, 59% Humidity | ||
Rothesay (/ˈrɒ.seɪ/ or /ˈrɒθseɪ/) is a town located in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a suburb of Saint John along the Kennebecasis River.
Contents
Map of Rothesay, NB, Canada
Geography
Located along the lower Kennebecasis River valley, Rothesay borders the city of Saint John to the southwest, and the neighbouring town of Quispamsis to the northeast. It is served by a secondary mainline of the Canadian National Railway, though there is no longer any passenger service on the line.
History
The town developed first as a shipbuilding centre and later as a summer home community for Saint John's wealthy elite with the arrival of the European and North American Railway in 1853. There is a commonly known story that the new town was named in honour of the visiting Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, in 1860 because the area was said to have reminded him of Rothesay, Bute, in Scotland, however, an entry made in the diary of William Franklin Bunting, of Saint John, during the same visit refers to the Rothesay train station. It is unlikely that the name would have taken hold less than a day after the prince's passage through the settlement, and it therefore likely predates the visit or was specifically bestowed on the town in the prince's honour as Duke of Rothesay. In 1870, a Saint John-owned ship named Rothesay made a famous voyage when a 20-year-old woman named Bessie Hall took command of the fever-stricken ship and sailed it from Florida to Liverpool, England.
Present day
Rothesay contains many historical landmarks, such as the Rothesay Common, the Rothesay Yacht Club, the former train station (one of the last remaining examples of early railway architecture in Canada), many homes that pre-date Confederation, public parks and modern amenities. The community provides numerous schools, places of worship and recreation areas, along with the convenience of local retail and large-scale commercial developments in the nearby city of Saint John.
Amalgamation
In 1996, the proposition that Grand Bay and the other Kennebecasis Valley communities amalgamate with Saint John was publicly opposed. Concern that a new city would compete with Saint John for government funding and business came after the province began discussing an amalgamation of the Kennebecasis Valley communities in 1997. On January 1, 1998, the former incorporated villages of East Riverside-Kingshurst, Fairvale, and Renforth; the town of Rothesay; and part of the community Wells in the local service district of the parish of Rothesay were amalgamated to form the town of Rothesay as part of a province-wide rationalization of municipal-level governments. The town motto, Quinque luncta In Uno (Five United In One), represents the joining together of the five founding communities.
Occasional discussion about the possibility of further amalgamating Rothesay with Quispamsis has not proceeded beyond the discussion phase, though the two municipalities do collaborate extensively to share services and facilities.