Grand Falls, New Brunswick
|
|
Grand Falls (French: Grand-Sault) is a town in New Brunswick, Canada and is also the location of a series of rock ledges over which the St. John River falls in excess of 20 metres. In 1686, Monsignor de Saint-Vallier (of Quebec) was the first known person to mention in writing the magnificent falls for which Grand Falls is named. His words describing the area can be found on a monument erected at the mouth of Davis Park in 1986. The first governor of New Brunswick, Thomas Carleton, established a military post in the area in 1791. The settlement was known as Colebrooke until 1890, when its name was changed to Grand Falls.
The present town is a local service centre for Victoria County with significant manufacturing industry provided by a McCain frozen food plant.
Grand Falls is the most billingual town in Canada at 81.5% speaking English and French and is only one of two municipalities in Canada with an official bilingual name, the other is Greater Sudbury. (fr: Grand-Sudbury)