ST. JOHN, the capital of St. John county, New Brunswick, Canada, in 45° 14' N., and 66° 3' W., 481 m. from Montreal.
Pop. (1931), 47,514. It is situated at the mouth of the St. John river on a rocky peninsula. With it are incorporated the neigh bouring towns of Carleton and Portland.
St. John was visited in 1604 by the Sieur de Monts (156o—c. 163o) and his lieutenant Champlain, but it was not until 1635 that Charles de la Tour (d. 1666) established a trading post, called Fort St. Jean (see Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada), which existed under French rule until 1758, when it passed into the hands of Britain. In 1783 a body of United Empire Loyalists landed at St. John and established a city, called Parr Town until 1785, when it was incorporated with Conway (Carleton), under royal charter, as the city of St. John. It soon became and has remained the largest town in the province, but for military reasons was not chosen as the capital. (See FREDERICTON.) Its growth has
been checked by several destructive fires, especially that of June 1877. It has since been rebuilt of stone.
The river enters the harbour through a rocky gorge, which is passable by ships during each ebb and flow of the tide. St. John is the Atlantic terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and one of the termini of the Canadian National Railways, and joins with Halifax in being one of the chief winter ports of the Dominion, the harbour being deep, sheltered, free from ice and always accessible, with 32 ft. of water at low tide and 58 to 6o ft. at high tide. It is the distributing centre for a large district, rich in agricultural produce and lumber. It has also an important fishery trade. There are textile works and engineering shops. Among the exports are timber, pulp, fish, cattle, apples, dairy produce, metal manufactures and motor cars.