Lincoln and Council History

When the Loyalist moved from the American Civil war to Canada, Captain Benjamin Glazier moved in Mar of 1776 to this area and named this area Lincoln, as that is where he came from in Massachusetts, and there was created a Lower and Upper Lincoln. Then on 18 May 1785 was proclaimed as the Official Birthday of Lincoln. The latter, Upper Lincoln became part of the City of Fredericton, but Lower Lincoln is now only Lincoln, and is a Local Service District. A Local Service District ( L.S.D. ), elects a Advisory committee and advices the Min of Municipal Affairs of what the Citizens would like to have as far as Bylaws and Codes are concerned. As Lincoln has a big Tax Base, due to the Airport etc. we are not too bad off. Now there is talk about the Airport being taking over by a Private Committee, made up of different organizations who have a vested interest in the airport. Talks of this Committee is about enlarging the runway so that the Military in Base Gagetown could use it for their troop movement, rather then go to Moncton, which they have to do now.

This increased use, and the increased size of the airport is going to increase the noise level, and make living in Lincoln less desirable. At present we are in a growth area and we are leading the province with a 7.6 % growth rate and just this year 1998 more land has been made available in Lincoln and part of Fredericton, neighbouring on that part of Fredericton

Although we are in between the City of Fredericton and the Town of Oromocto, we are easy accessible as the future Trans Canada Highway, will form the boundary on the south. For years Lincoln was just a small 1 street community, but in the 1950's the Nevers road was upgraded from a dirt road, and houses started to appear. Now it is growing so tremendous that on the last Election, 2 extra polls had to be added, and about 1400 family's are registered and growing daily.

That was in 1998 and now in 1999 in the Federal election we had to add an other poll. We now have the main pipeline from Sable Island to New England States coming right through Lincoln, Yes it crosses the St John River in Lincoln and the main distribution point of natural gas going to Fredericton and Oromocto is by the Lions Club. Just up the road we now have an call center for Star Choice which employs over 400 people and an addition is planned

Most Catholics living in Lincoln either belonged to St Dunstans Church in Fredericton or St Vincent de Paul Church in Oromocto. In the 1980's, a new Parish was created, St Francis of Assisi in Lincoln on a site of 200 acres, bought from the Payne Family, and the community started to go to Mass in their old farm house. As soon as the Parish was formed, a Committee was formed to make plans for a new Church to be build on this 200 acre lot

While they were doing there planning, an other Committee was formed to lay out a cemetery, and both Committee worked hard on it and in 1983 the new Church was official opened and blessed by Bishop Gilbert. The Church was only build on 3/4 of its size, but the other 1/4 can be build on anytime in the future, and only the Altar has to be changed. In the basement of the Church is a large hall, capacity of 400 people as well as a kitchen, to cook meals, a canteen/bar and washrooms. It is being used by the Knights for their meetings and other special events, 2 times a year for parish suppers, weddings etc,

Then in the winter season of 1986-87, a group of Knights in our Parish decided to form a Knights of Columbus Council, and when we had 35 members, new and transfers, we received our Charter on 28 February 1987, and we have been growing, not so much in numbers but more in programs, events and assistance to our Community, and our Council and its works are well known throughout the Province of New Brunswick. In the last few years we have made a drive on getting new members and that has resulted our numbers that stand at 83 as of 1 January 2001

Since that time we have been active in many things, all the time working on getting our own building but we could find nothing that was available to use, as we had decided not to go into the red, ie Mortgage, bank loans etc, but we kept looking never the less, and then in 1995, the local school board decided to dispose of some old mobile class rooms. The price was decent and the moving of them to our parish properties was granted by the Parish council, and we purchased 2 of them and put them on the edge of the Church parking lot.

The building then was named "COLUMBUS HOUSE" and work started in earnest and we concentrated on the outside as much as possible before the winter weather started, during the whole winter we worked on the inside and the official opening of that portion was on 3 March 1996. Then we started getting ready for the 3rd mobile in the summer. As soon as it arrived we installed a pitch shingled roof on all 3 of them and we are now getting into the inside of this one, with a completion date of 28 Feb.1997.

We will have then 2040 sq.feet of floor space broken down in 3 wings. The first is our council Chamber, permentaly set up and it holds all K of C trophies, awards, flags and our robes. The second wing is the social part where we can listen to music, play cards and have a drink, and the 3rd wing will hold the Council office, washrooms and games area.

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Thom Joordens Web Master Council 9496 Lincoln

24 Jan 2001