Grand Lake, New Brunswick

Grand Lake was incorporated on January 1, 2023 via the amalgamation of the former villages of Minto and Chipman as well as the concurrent annexation of adjacent unincorporated areas.[1]

• 
  The memorial stone of five who died in an abandoned mine shaft in 1932, Grand Lake, New Brunswick, Canada.
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  The inscription (1982) on the Minto Memorial Stone.

The need of transporting coal brought the railway to Grand Lake, and was to make the area "the most prosperous place in Canada." The New Brunswick Central Railway ended at Chipman (about 15 miles (24 km) north-east of Grand Lake) and in 1901[2] the railway was planned to be completed by constructing through the village to Fredericton, and connect with the Canadian Pacific railway. By 1904 the railway was completed as far as Minto, merging with the existing Central, however by 1905 completion to Fredericton was abandoned and the remaining railway was not built until 1913.

Although the railway lines through Minto have since been completely removed, the railway station continues on as a local museum. By the end of 2010, coal mining in Minto ended when the last coal mining company, NB Coal, closed.

The Grand Lake Generating Station as seen in May 2010.

During the early years of the Great Depression, the New Brunswick Power Corporation built the province's first thermal generating station south of the village on the shores of Grand Lake. Opened in 1931, the Grand Lake Generating Station accessed coal from nearby deposits. An NB Power subsidiary, NB Coal, was the only mining company left in the Minto area and performed strip mining. NB Power closed the Grand Lake Station when its operating license expired in June 2010.[3] As the Station has been NB Coal’s only customer since 2000, NB Coal closed in December 2009. On April 19, 2012 the Grand Lake Generating Station was demolished,[4] and by this time all coal mining in Minto had ended.

During the Second World War, the largest internment camp in eastern Canada was located in the hamlet of Ripples, 10 km west of the village of Minto. Originally it was home to German and Austrian Jews who had fled the Nazis to England.[5] Some youths later became notable, including theologian Gregory Baum, chemist Ernest Eliel and physicist Walter Kohn.[6] Later after these Jewish refugees had been released into Canadian life, it became a camp mostly for German prisoners of war,[5] as well as some sympathizers such as Canadian fascist Adrien Arcand. Its most notable prisoner at this time was the anti-conscriptionist mayor of Montreal, Camillien Houde.[7]

This internment camp is now a protected site visited by tourists. The only structure remaining at the site is the base of a water-tower where a plaque stands, visible from the highway. A walking trail leads into the forest where a few ruins of the camp and posted signs describing the area may be found. There is a small museum dedicated to the camp located within Grand Lake's municipal building.[5][8]

Though Grand Lake is a very small community, there are recreational activities that take place year-round. It has the Minto Centennial Arena,[10][11] lighted and unlighted ball parks, two family parks, nature trails, mountain bike trails,[12] and hunting and fishing resources.

Each year there are two festivals in Grand Lake. In summer the Minto Coal Mining Festival[13]) is celebrated in June–July,[14] first run in 1972.[13] The Santa Claus Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony[15] is celebrated in November–December, with the first annual parade held in 2010.

Once a year mountain bike racers[16] descend on the village of Grand Lake for a race[17] known as 'The Coal Miner's Lung'.[18][19][20] The endurance race covers 20 km, 40 km or 60 km of Grand Lake single track.

Minto Gazebo in Veterans Park summer 2013 in Grand Lake, New Brunswick.

This is the front corner of the Minto Memorial High School in Grand Lake, New Brunswick, Canada

There are two schools in Grand Lake: Minto Elementary and Middle School, and Minto Memorial High School. Both schools offer extracurricular activities including sports clubs, destination conservation, peer helpers and student government. While Minto Elementary and Middle School is a newer building, Minto High has required some updates since the school was founded in 1939; the gym on the main floor has recently been renovated into a theatre (which MEMS has) and got a new gym located in the basement along with a shop room. In 2011 the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) Fredericton campus established a satellite campus[21] the Minto Regional Delivery Site.[22]

• Elizabeth Brewster, CM SOM (1922–2012) was a poet, author, and academic.
• Marjorie Taylor Morell (1918-2004), author of Of Mines and Men; 1995 recipient of United Nations Community Service Award

• List of communities in New Brunswick
• List of municipalities in New Brunswick