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Fredericton’s Forgotten Founders Celebrated During Black History Month
Fredericton (February 8, 2010) – The City of Fredericton is celebrating Black History Month by adding two historically significant sites to its Local Historic Places Register in honour of the contributions made by the city’s first black settlers.
“I am very pleased to proclaim February as Black History Month in Fredericton,” said Mayor Brad Woodside. “It is an appropriate and long overdue opportunity to recognize and honour the contributions that our first black residents made to our community.”
The two properties with deep roots to the city’s black founding community include St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Springhill on the western outskirts of the city and a parcel of land on Howe Street in Fredericton North which has served as a family homestead and burial ground for 
generations of Fredericton’s Howe family since the late 1800s.
St. Peter’s Anglican Church was originally built in 1838 and consecrated in 1840. It is one of the oldest surviving wooden churches still in continuous use in New Brunswick.
Black families from the Springhill area were highly involved in the church from the beginning, making up about a third of the congregation. They served the church as sextons, members of the choir, and gravediggers.
The Leek family was among the first blacks in the area to help build and maintain St. Peter’s Anglican Church. George Leek worked on the structure with his sons George Jr. and William. George Jr. served for many years as Sexton of the church. This contribution to the church is reflected in its stained glass windows.
The adjacent burial ground was consecrated in September 1849. From the beginning, black and white members of the church were buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery.
The heritage value of the Howe property in Fredericton North is associated with the generational ownership and occupancy by the Howe family. It is also the site of the Howe Family Cemetery, an 84 square metre plot where about 30 members of the Howe family are interred, including John Howe and his wife, Mary Ann (McIntyre) Howe. John Howe died in 1926 but his legacy lives on in the community. In 2002, the City named Howe Street in honour of the family.
Fredericton City Council established the Local Historic Places Register in 2003. The Register is designed to raise awareness of historic places and encourage heritage conservation.
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Media Contact: Juan Estepa, Manager, Heritage & Cultural Affairs, City of Fredericton (506) 460-2062.
