Historic Ground: Reminiscences of the Market Square

Year
1884
Month
8
Day
18
Article Title
Historic Ground: Reminiscences of the Market Square
Author
-----
Page Number
3
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
HISTORIC GROUND. Reminiscences of the Market Square. The Changes of a Century on the Spot Where the Loyalists Landed. When the Loyalists who had left the populous city of New York in 1783 arrived in St. John, they could not have been greatly inspired with the fitness of the place chosen for them to found a city. True, their future home was at the mouth of a great river, the land along which, they were informed, was well fitted for agriculture, a fact since successfully demonstrated. But the site of Parr Town gave no evidence of the vast wealth which the forests contained, or of the agricultural resources of the country, its mines or its fisheries. All that could be seen from the decks of the vessels, as they floated in the harbor, was a high rocky promontory covered with a thick growth of stubby cedar and spruce. The greater part of the harbor front was of bold rocks, against which the tides swept fast and strong. In contrast to this were two beautiful coves, one at the southern extremity of the point of land on which St. John now stands, and the other well up to the northern end called the Upper Cove. After viewing the ground, the vanguard of the loyalists determined to make their landing at the Upper Cove. The vessels were accordingly brought to an anchor in the eddy in front of the cove, and the precious freight of men, women and children, who were TO BE THE FOUNDERS OF A CITY, were brought ashore. There were no market wharves then, no long lines of schooners, to add interest to the scene, but only a waste of trees and dangerous-looking cliffs to welcome the new comers. But they were not of the class of people easily discouraged and they had no sooner reached the shore than they commenced clearing the ground where the Market square now is. The point that had been selected for landing was where Dock Street now joins the Market square. It was then a picturesque spot. The beach was shelving and clean, while behind it was a frowning cliff rising almost straight out of the water for a distance of sixty feet. High hills, densely wooded, surrounded the cove on every side, leaving only a small open space of beach and low shrubbery. When the city was first laid out, this spot was marked on the plan as a public landing. It was here that the Loyalists pitched their tents prior to building houses. In one of these was born the first female child after the landing. The cliff above the square was for many years the only signal station in the Province. THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES of the spot for a market place attracted the Loyalists to it, and when they had anything to barter or sell the trade was effected on the open ground at the head of the cove. As the months passed by the farmer or fisherman, after reaping the harvest of the land and sea, came to the public landing at the head of the cove. There he soon found a purchaser. Shops naturally grew up about such a place, and in a year or two the Market square, a name it soon obtained, was by all means the most important locality of the city. It was not only the center of the trade for Parr Town, but it was a so the center of fashion of the whole Province. The first of the Loyalists landed May, 1783. Two years later the city of St. John obtained its charter and the Common Council commenced its existence. The cost of road making and other necessaries to a growing city kept the corporation of St. John poor for several years after its first settlement, but when it was decided early in 1797 to erect a city hall, it is little wonder that the site selected was the Market square. Three sides of the square were at that time lined with stores and Prince William Street in the direction of Reed's Point was the fashionable locality for residences. Here lived nearly all the local and provincial dignitaries of the day, who maintained an exclusive society to which only the first people of the place were admitted. The social lines were even more distinctly drawn than now, especially so among the ladies of the community. With the men it was different, for exclusive as they might be in their own homes the citizens met on a common level at the old Coffee House, which for many years had the largest patronage of any tavern in the city. Like all the institutions of the city it was on the Market Square, occupying the corner of King and Prince William streets, where the Domville Building now stands. When the business of the day over, the merchant and the professional man MET AT THE COFFEE HOUSE to discuss the events of the day over a social glass of punch or whiskey toddy. For years the Coffee House continued to be something of a mercantile exchange, bar association and news room, until it was torn down. Here too were held the corporation dinners, a species of civic dissipation, which is no longer indulged in. The aldermen in those days, if tradition be correct, were Epicureans who could appreciate a good dinner, and these feasts were of no common order, but were arranged on an extensive scale and considered events of the season which, alas, for some did not come half often enough. To be an alderman in those days required not only executive ability but strong digestive organs. With the growth of dyspepsia and temperance sentiment, both the aldermanic feast and aldermanic rotundity have passed away, and now those who sit around the council board and discuss the destiny of the city often find the chairs supplied too large to be comfortable. It is the “lean and hungry” kind who “think much” and talk more, who offer for civic emolument and dispense civic “patronage” in these days. But well known and famous as the Coffee House was, by far THE MOST NOTABLE BUILDING on the Market Square was the old city hall already referred to. It was a comparatively large wooden structure and answered not only the purposes of a city hall, but was also the court house, market and lock-up for disorderly characters. The cells were in the basement fronting the public landing; the market occupied the whole of the ground floor, having its entrance at the foot of King Street. The council chamber and court room were on the upper floor and were reached by an outside stairway running up the King Street end of the building, which terminated at a verandah on the southern side of the edifice. Many an unfortunate has ascended this stair, knowing full well that he would descend it again either a free man or condemned to death , or what was almost equivalent, the whipping post or the pillory. Sentences of this nature were of common occurrence for the first half century of the city’s history, when stealing was punished by the death penalty, assault revenged at the whipping post and crimes of a disgusting nature by confinement in the pillory. This latter relic of barbarism ornamented the Market Square for several years and had an occasional occupant. Among the most notorious was a man who had held a high position in the community, until it was discovered that he was guilty of a nameless crime, A LARGE CROWD OF CITIZENS assembled on the square to see the miserable creature punished. Many of these had brought with them dozens of rotten eggs, with which they pelted him until it was almost impossible to tell whether the object shackled in the pillory was human or not. Imagine in these days of advanced civilization, a man securely fastened by both legs and arms in the center of a square, surrounded by a mob of outraged citizens, who had perfect liberty and license to throw what they chose at the prisoner. What a spectacle it would be for a humanitarian, or a member of the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. WHEN THE NEW COURT HOUSE was completed in 1830, the Council Chamber and Courts were moved thither, but the old building was still used as a public market until 1837, when it was torn down to give place to the brick building destroyed by the fire of 1841. The civic offices were continued in the new building, the lower portions being used as a market place and lock-up. With the destruction of the new market house a change came over the Square. A few years afterwards the country market was established within the block between Charlotte and Germain streets, and a separate place provided for the sale of fish at the foot of Duke street, on the harbor front. The Square was then given up entirely as a public stand for cart men and trackmen; but great changes have taken place in the classes of public vehicles during the past twenty years. Short carts and long unwieldy drays were quite common a few years ago, but latterly they have gone out of use altogether. Until two or three years ago a dray was occasionally met on the streets, but the more convenient slovenly has now displaced all of them. So long as cordwood continues a staple article for fuel the short cart will have an existence in St. John. When this era is passed, doubtless some less unwieldy vehicle will be devised for the transport of coal. Hand carts were also quite common a few years ago, and a long line of HANDCART-MEN USUALLY LINGERED AROUND the square, awaiting engagement. Their principal business was delivering small parcels. And since the advent of delivery wagons for dry goods and grocery stores, their business has been ruined, and now only one or two who stand near the country market are left. Directly in line with the handcart-men were the buck-sawyers, another very numerous class twenty years ago. One or two still remain, but they are no longer found on the Market Square. Said an old fellow, the other day, who was supplied with the usual accessories of buck, saw and knee pad, as he cast a lingering look at the Market Slip, which was entirely bare of wood-boats: "There used to be twenty of us when I bought my saw-mill, but now I’m the only one left. They are all dead." Great changes have certainly taken place on the Market Square during the past century, but it still remains the business center of the city, as it doubtless will while the tide continues to flow and ebb in the harbor.