Moncton

The original aboriginal inhabitants of the Petitcodiac river valley were the Mi'kmaq. French Acadians first settled the area in 1733 and established a farming community called Le Coude (The Elbow). Following the deportation of the Acadians in 1755, the settlement remained empty until a group of eight immigrant families arrived from Pennsylvania in June 1766. They were armed with a land grant issued by the Philadelphia Land Company, one of the principal investors of which was Benjamin Franklin. A township gradually grew on the site with the new community initially being named The Bend of the Petitcodiac. The community would ultimately receive its present name to honour Lt.-Colonel Robert Monckton, the British military officer who had led the capture of nearby Fort Beausejour in 1755 and then subsequently oversaw the deportation of the Acadians from the Petitcodiac and Beaubassin regions. Due to a clerical error at the time that the community was named, the "k" from "Monckton" was omitted creating the spelling that is used today.

The Bend initially was a farming community but later flourished as a centre for ship-building and was incorporated as the town of Moncton in 1855. Two years later on August 20, 1857 the European and North American Railway opened its line from Moncton to the nearby Northumberland Strait port of Shediac; this was followed by the E&NA's line from Moncton to Sussex and on to Saint John opening in 1859. The arrival of the railway however initially didn't have a significant impact on Moncton as the E&NA was headquartered in Shediac, where it maintained its locomotive shop.

At about the same time, steam-powered iron ships began to replace clipper ships on the ocean's sea routes and this forced an end to the era of wooden shipbuilding. The industrial collapse that developed from this caused Moncton to surrender its civic charter in 1862.

Moncton's economic depression did not last long and a second era of prosperity came to the area when Moncton was selected to be the headquarters of the Intercolonial Railway of Canada in 1871. The ICR merged the existing E&NA and the Nova Scotia Railway into its system and Moncton would become the hub of the ICR with the following rail lines connecting to the city:

The E&NA system merged into ICR, containing the Moncton-Saint John and Moncton-Shediac routes.
A newly-built ICR line was constructed between Truro and Painsec Junction (east of Moncton on the E&NA's line to Shediac). This connected to the NSR at Truro which went to Halifax and to Pictou.
A newly-built ICR line was constructed from Moncton north to Newcastle, Bathurst, Campbellton and on into Quebec to link with the Grand Trunk Railway at Riviere-du-Loup. It was the construction of this route which cemented Moncton's place as the most important economic centre for servicing northern New Brunswick - a relationship which continues to this day.
The coming of the ICR to Moncton was a seminal event for the community. For the next 120 years, the history of the city would be inextricably intertwined with that of the railway.

Moncton was able to reincorporate as a town in 1875 with the motto "Resurgo" (I rise again). One year later, the ICR line to Quebec was opened. The railway boom that emanated from this and the associated employment growth allowed Moncton to achieve city status on April 23, 1890.