"My Memories of Fairvale" by Vera Stephenson
September 2005
Before the Second World War, Fairvale consisted of a community mainly populated by summer homes plus several year round homes owned by such families as the Banks, Monteith, Dobbin, Henderson, Smith, Gale, Seaton and Chamberlain. In upper Fairvale there were the families Carter, Cathline, Dykeman, Burgess, Lynch and Vincent.
When I first went to school in Rothesay, the Clark Road had only four houses on it. These were owned by Cecil Slocum, Fred Gilliland, Albert Coates and Charles Rapley. The opposite side of the road was woodland mostly owned by the Banks family who kept the trees trimmed. In fact, Mr. Banks wanted the land to be a park, but I believe this land now houses about 40 families,
The Marr road didn’t exist-it was just a trail to the blueberry fields.
There was no Vincent Road-it was just a trail through the woods called “Dog Patch.”
When my husband returned from overseas, places to rent were like hen’s teeth but we did manage to rent a house owned by the Chamberlain estate on condition we board the bachelor heir, Bill Chamberlain, who was a cook at Rankine’s Bakery in Saint John.
When Mr. Chamberlain died in 1949, we tried to buy the house through the D.V.A., but were refused because they considered that there was insufficient land. The irony is that there are now four houses on that same property.
We then bought a property, on a double lot of land with a partially built house in an area then called Fairvale Heights, then Elm Street and now called Salmon Crescent-where I lived for 55 years.
When we moved to Fairvale there was excellent bus service, 4 trains a day, including a jitney train in the evening that ran as far as Hampton.
There was a train station near the Fairvale underpass, which was well patronized.
Near the railway track was the Frog Pond, now filled in, where the children of the community enjoyed skating and hockey games every winter.
The entertainment center for the community was the Fairvale Community Centre, where annual summer fairs, picnics, suppers and wedding receptions were held. Church services were also held there during the summer.
Benny Hamilton ran a grocery store and the post office was run by Gertrude McIlwaine. These were at the River Road entrance with the post office just up the street.
By the late 50’s the population had increased to the extent that the Fairvale Elementary School was built, with Marion Cosman as the first principal. I was amongst the first teachers there along with Miriam Gillis, Hattie Dobson, Marion Rogers, Beatrice Reed, Thelma Hatt and Marion Allaby.
When I taught there, we had a very active Home and School Association that sponsored several successful entertainments that featured such successful entertainers as Tommy Heinkes, now a famous performer in Stuttgart, Germany and Kenny Tobias.
In the early 50’s our Anglican minister, Canon Markham, wanted to build an Anglican church in Fairvale. A meeting was held, but we vetoed the building of a church, as too expensive and opted to form a Fairvale branch of the A.C.W. that existed for 47 years. We supported the St. Paul’s Church in its missionary efforts and various community projects by holding rummage sales, dinners, wedding receptions and bring and buy sales. Our highest membership was 40. The surviving members of this group still meet as the Thursday Club, which meets once a month.
When we lived in Fairvale we patronized Hamm’s Grocery Store in Rothesay, where we got free delivery of groceries.
At that time there were dairy farms, owned by Eric Roberts, in what was then called Hillhurst Farms. George Phillips had a dairy farm in Quispamsis and later Campbell MacKay had a dairy farm in Kingshurst. We had a house delivery of milk in recyclable glass bottles at ten cents a quart. There were also peddlers selling fish and apples. Several of the bakeries delivered as well. You could buy apples for two dollars a bushel.
I found an old grocery bill for a weeks groceries from this period when I moved. It included a roast, cheese at forty cents a pound, sugar at five cents a pound, bread for eleven cents-the whole bill for the week was eight dollars. Our family at that time (1946) consisted of my husband, my two boys, myself and our boarder, Mr. Chamberlain.
When we had our first stove, which used fuel oil, we paid sixteen cents a gallon to Jiggs Miller. I can also remember when we used hard coal for a self-feeder stove paying seventy-seven dollars for four tons, which lasted for the winter.
When we first lived in Fairvale almost all the mothers were stay at home mothers, like myself.
Only a few families had cars.
There was a very friendly atmosphere in the whole community, with people enjoying coffee parties, card parties, square dancing and cookie exchanges in their homes. In the spring we chipped in to buy fireworks, which we set off in our backyard with the fathers “supervision.” It was a much friendlier place to live than it is now. Newcomers now apparently prefer to keep to themselves. Fortunately for me, I still correspond with many of our former neighbours who have moved very far away.
In 2004, I reluctantly sold my house in Fairvale and moved to the Wesleyan Manor, where I now live.
Sadly, Fairvale no longer exists. Rothesay amalgamated Fairvale, Renforth, Kingshurst, and East Riverside into Rothesay only.
After the War, we had a one-man police force, capably carried out by Harry Miller, with his Dutch born wife handling the phone calls.
Geoffrey Sayre with his wife, the late Beverly Sayre handling the phone calls and a volunteer fire fighting crew, also capably managed our fire fighting.
We had one school, the Rothesay Consolidated School in Rothesay from which I graduated in 1935. At that time there were a little over 300 pupils in the whole eleven grades. Now with the rapidly increasing population we have three high schools, plus several elementary and middle schools. The graduation classes alone far exceed what we had then at Rothesay.
I was very disappointed this year when I tried to drum up interest in the fact that Rothesay Consolidated School, which was built in 1915 had been in existence for ninety years by proposing that a one time only scholarship be awarded this year to a graduating student in memory of this birthday. I only got three replies.
Before the Second World War, Fairvale consisted of a community mainly populated by summer homes plus several year round homes owned by such families as the Banks, Monteith, Dobbin, Henderson, Smith, Gale, Seaton and Chamberlain. In upper Fairvale there were the families Carter, Cathline, Dykeman, Burgess, Lynch and Vincent.
When I first went to school in Rothesay, the Clark Road had only four houses on it. These were owned by Cecil Slocum, Fred Gilliland, Albert Coates and Charles Rapley. The opposite side of the road was woodland mostly owned by the Banks family who kept the trees trimmed. In fact, Mr. Banks wanted the land to be a park, but I believe this land now houses about 40 families,
The Marr road didn’t exist-it was just a trail to the blueberry fields.
There was no Vincent Road-it was just a trail through the woods called “Dog Patch.”
When my husband returned from overseas, places to rent were like hen’s teeth but we did manage to rent a house owned by the Chamberlain estate on condition we board the bachelor heir, Bill Chamberlain, who was a cook at Rankine’s Bakery in Saint John.
When Mr. Chamberlain died in 1949, we tried to buy the house through the D.V.A., but were refused because they considered that there was insufficient land. The irony is that there are now four houses on that same property.
We then bought a property, on a double lot of land with a partially built house in an area then called Fairvale Heights, then Elm Street and now called Salmon Crescent-where I lived for 55 years.
When we moved to Fairvale there was excellent bus service, 4 trains a day, including a jitney train in the evening that ran as far as Hampton.
There was a train station near the Fairvale underpass, which was well patronized.
Near the railway track was the Frog Pond, now filled in, where the children of the community enjoyed skating and hockey games every winter.
The entertainment center for the community was the Fairvale Community Centre, where annual summer fairs, picnics, suppers and wedding receptions were held. Church services were also held there during the summer.
Benny Hamilton ran a grocery store and the post office was run by Gertrude McIlwaine. These were at the River Road entrance with the post office just up the street.
By the late 50’s the population had increased to the extent that the Fairvale Elementary School was built, with Marion Cosman as the first principal. I was amongst the first teachers there along with Miriam Gillis, Hattie Dobson, Marion Rogers, Beatrice Reed, Thelma Hatt and Marion Allaby.
When I taught there, we had a very active Home and School Association that sponsored several successful entertainments that featured such successful entertainers as Tommy Heinkes, now a famous performer in Stuttgart, Germany and Kenny Tobias.
In the early 50’s our Anglican minister, Canon Markham, wanted to build an Anglican church in Fairvale. A meeting was held, but we vetoed the building of a church, as too expensive and opted to form a Fairvale branch of the A.C.W. that existed for 47 years. We supported the St. Paul’s Church in its missionary efforts and various community projects by holding rummage sales, dinners, wedding receptions and bring and buy sales. Our highest membership was 40. The surviving members of this group still meet as the Thursday Club, which meets once a month.
When we lived in Fairvale we patronized Hamm’s Grocery Store in Rothesay, where we got free delivery of groceries.
At that time there were dairy farms, owned by Eric Roberts, in what was then called Hillhurst Farms. George Phillips had a dairy farm in Quispamsis and later Campbell MacKay had a dairy farm in Kingshurst. We had a house delivery of milk in recyclable glass bottles at ten cents a quart. There were also peddlers selling fish and apples. Several of the bakeries delivered as well. You could buy apples for two dollars a bushel.
I found an old grocery bill for a weeks groceries from this period when I moved. It included a roast, cheese at forty cents a pound, sugar at five cents a pound, bread for eleven cents-the whole bill for the week was eight dollars. Our family at that time (1946) consisted of my husband, my two boys, myself and our boarder, Mr. Chamberlain.
When we had our first stove, which used fuel oil, we paid sixteen cents a gallon to Jiggs Miller. I can also remember when we used hard coal for a self-feeder stove paying seventy-seven dollars for four tons, which lasted for the winter.
When we first lived in Fairvale almost all the mothers were stay at home mothers, like myself.
Only a few families had cars.
There was a very friendly atmosphere in the whole community, with people enjoying coffee parties, card parties, square dancing and cookie exchanges in their homes. In the spring we chipped in to buy fireworks, which we set off in our backyard with the fathers “supervision.” It was a much friendlier place to live than it is now. Newcomers now apparently prefer to keep to themselves. Fortunately for me, I still correspond with many of our former neighbours who have moved very far away.
In 2004, I reluctantly sold my house in Fairvale and moved to the Wesleyan Manor, where I now live.
Sadly, Fairvale no longer exists. Rothesay amalgamated Fairvale, Renforth, Kingshurst, and East Riverside into Rothesay only.
After the War, we had a one-man police force, capably carried out by Harry Miller, with his Dutch born wife handling the phone calls.
Geoffrey Sayre with his wife, the late Beverly Sayre handling the phone calls and a volunteer fire fighting crew, also capably managed our fire fighting.
We had one school, the Rothesay Consolidated School in Rothesay from which I graduated in 1935. At that time there were a little over 300 pupils in the whole eleven grades. Now with the rapidly increasing population we have three high schools, plus several elementary and middle schools. The graduation classes alone far exceed what we had then at Rothesay.
I was very disappointed this year when I tried to drum up interest in the fact that Rothesay Consolidated School, which was built in 1915 had been in existence for ninety years by proposing that a one time only scholarship be awarded this year to a graduating student in memory of this birthday. I only got three replies.