In 1871 City Camp, a lumber camp served by the New Brunswick and Canada Railway (St. Andrews-Quebec line) became known as McAdam Junction with the opening of the European and North American Railway (Maine-Saint John line). In a short time, McAdam Junction became an important railroad centre with a population of approximately 400 people most of whom were railway workers and their families. The junction remained an important railway hub throughout the First and Second World Wars, but declined thereafter due to many technological advances in transportation – mainly the introduction of the diesel engine. By the 1960s, the golden age of the railway had passed in McAdam and the yards, once bustling with close to 650 workers, were now empty, save a few.
The Station at McAdam
At the peak of the railway boom in the 19th century, New Brunswick had more miles of railway per capita than most places on Earth. . . Every settlement and town in our province wanted a rail connection to the outside world and McAdam was at the centre of this exciting time in New Brunswick . . .
The McAdam Skyscraper
There were many building and structures that could have been called Skyscrapers in this Railroad town ; the coal shed, the many water towers, any of the three story houses built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However all these are pretenders to the title, ” the Skyscraper" . . .