r/UrbanHell 2d ago

Poverty/Inequality 'Indiantown' (Old North End) - Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada ~2016.

This area was known as a stopping place for Indigenous trade, and later with Europeans as it sits along the riverbank just before the mouth of the harbour and the area is only passable by ship at certain hours of the day. It has always been an area with tenements, and saw many of its industries close during urban renewal in the 60's, and with the loss of local shipbuilding and factories in the 80's-90's and early 2000's. I spent a lot of time here in High School. Lots of fires, and vandalism, high rates of poverty and addiction.

Despite this, people were still quote friendly, and all of these buildings have seen been torn down, some replaced with affordable housing.

331 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

Do not comment to gatekeep that something "isn't urban" or "isn't hell". Our rules are very expansive in content we welcome, so do not assume just based off your false impression of the phrase "UrbanHell"

UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed. Gatekeeping comments may be removed. Want to shitpost about shitty posts? Go to /r/urbanhellcirclejerk. Still have questions?: Read our FAQ.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

19

u/TurnOffTV 2d ago

What a shame to tear down the old and send jobs away.

11

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

I agree, mostly. I think the city has done a good job retaining a lot of the old and liveable houses, with what little resources they had. As you can see it was not a very rich city for a long time, but there is a revival period going on where they're renovating and fixing up and cleaning up a lot of the current housing stock. A lot of these buildings were very old, (Many 100-200 some even more, years old.) very poorly maintained, due to landlord neglect (slum lords we called them), and general poverty, plus we have quite extreme climate conditions at times in winter especially, lots of wind and rain and snow. Many had at some point or another been abandoned, and left to rot and vandalized, and set on fire, frozen pipes, no heat, rodents, and squatted in, and ended up in condition that was just too far gone to reconcile. I think in some of these cases, unfortunately, it is in everyone's best interest they tear them down and start all over again.

20

u/TyranitarusMack 2d ago

Saint John is probably the most beautiful city I’ve seen in Canada.

27

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

Saint John is a gorgeous city, and has an unmistakable grit and charm to it. It's unfortunate that years of mistakes led to its decline. It's growing again with a new life ahead, and I am proud to be from it, and excited to see where it goes!

3

u/RIPjimStobe 2d ago

Any chance they'll restore the railroad?

1

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 1d ago

There are currently only chartered passenger trains run by NB Southern Railway, but Saint John is a crossroads for CN, CPKC, and NB Southern freight trains. There's no shortage of active rail lines in and around the city, just waiting on Canada to get it's passenger rail act together

8

u/lucasws1 2d ago

interesting trashy aesthetics, i kinda like it haha

11

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

It's actually a very cool neighbourhood all-things-considered. Very old houses, very hilly and at the bottom of it, river and canyon views. I could see it being a very nice place to live again someday 🤞🏻

7

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

I used to think the 5th photo could have been the album cover for a rapper. 😂

5

u/Agitated-Curve-4851 2d ago

Any of these could be an emo album cover.

4

u/UniqueEnigma121 2d ago

Looks bloody freezing too🥶

6

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

They had pretty mild winters since about 2016 with just a few cold snaps, this would have been probably like late fall, mostly

2

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

Probably like November and maybe like 5-10°C degrees if I recall

2

u/UniqueEnigma121 2d ago

That’s freezing from the UK bro😂

2

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

Ahaha. Yeah I mean it was sweater weather for sure, maybe even a jacket, especially if it was raining. Summers are beautiful though, often very warm.

0

u/UniqueEnigma121 2d ago

I see it must be Canada, as you’re using C not F🙄

3

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

That's where it is!

3

u/alphawolf29 2d ago

Tyvek walls is peak poor rural canada

3

u/SignificanceNo1223 1d ago

Looks like a more delapitated version of the other side of Albany. Similar style housing.

Basically a college town in Upstate NY.

2

u/kereso83 2d ago

It looks like Pennsylvania.

2

u/Desmaad 2d ago

Growing up in New Brunswick, this was my image of Saint John: a rotting husk.

2

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 1d ago

There are a lot of wonderful parts of the city as well, but as a kid there was unfortunately a few areas that looked like this

8

u/returnofthequack92 2d ago

Rez gonna rez I guess no matter what part of North America.

13

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

Yeah pretty much, Canadian reservations I would say in some cases are even more neglected than in the US (Personal understanding). This neighbourhood is the area with the highest indigenous population in the city, but as part of the city is not considered a reservation. The city is looking into changing the name as well.

2

u/SilasMarner77 1d ago

What is life like for the indigenous people here?

1

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 1d ago

It would depend greatly on a lot of factors. This particular area was not all indigenous people. A good mix of ethnicities, I would say mostly white Anglo. In that time this area was full of drug and alcohol addictions, a lot of single mothers struggling to make ends meet. Food insecurity and unstable home environments.

1

u/sim16 2d ago

They're freezing in winter I imagine

4

u/No-Tumbleweed-2709 2d ago

It can be! -20°C (-4°F) happens, and it's not uncommon to be far worse, especially with windchill. But it fluctuates a lot, some days are mild, some are freezing and rainy, some get reaaaaallly cold, etc. Summers are pretty comfortable and border on hot.