west of the city are the object of far-reaching plans which will materially increase St. John's terminal and manufacturing facilities.
At the top of Germain Street's aristocratic incline, looking toward the north, stands the stolid Church of St. John's with its broad stone base and old-fashioned steeple dating back ninety years. The aspect of this rising lane of substantial stone buildings capped by the sombre self-contained temple is the most typical in the city. In contrast with the ancient edifice is the domed and porticoed Library Building erected ten years ago by the bounty of the Scot whose name is chiselled over the doorway. In 1883, St. John founded the first free library in Canada. Among its 30,000 volumes is a collection presented by the British Museum from its duplicate books. The wall bears a tablet placed in honour of Samuel de Champlain and Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts,[1] on the three hundredth anniversary of the day the harbour and river were first entered by the explorers of the Bay of Fundy.
An old house in this neighbourhood offered hospitality to the Duke of Kent, and also to his grandson, Edward, Prince of Wales. A short walk west of the Library brings one to the Museum of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick which contains a creditable array of Abenaki curios and
- ↑ Champlain was born at Brouage, Province of Saintonge, 1567 and died at Quebec on Christmas Day, 1635. De Monts also born in Saintonge, in 1560, died at Paris, 1611.
