Saint-Léonard, New Brunswick

This article is about the former town. For the geographic parish, former local service district, and rural census subdivision, see Saint-Léonard Parish, New Brunswick.

Saint-Léonard (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ leɔnaʁ] ^ⓘ) is a former town in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada.^[2] It held town status prior to 2023 and is now part of the town of Vallée-des-Rivières.

Saint-Léonard St. Leonard
Coat of arms
Saint-Léonard Location of Saint-Léonard in New Brunswick
Coordinates: 47.1625°N 67.925°W / 47.1625; -67.925
Country	Canada
Province	New Brunswick
County	Madawaska
Parish	Saint-Léonard
Town	Vallée-des-Rivières
Settled	1789
Town Status	1920
Electoral Districts    Federal	Madawaska—Restigouche
Provincial	Restigouche-La-Vallée
Area [1]
• Land	5.34 km2 (2.06 sq mi)
Elevation	150 to 171 m (492 to 561 ft)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	1,322
• Density	247.8/km2 (642/sq mi)
• Change 2016–21	1.7%
Time zone	UTC-4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (ADT)
Postal code(s)	E7E
Area code	506 Area exchanges: 421 423
Dwellings	603
Median Income*	$48,512CDN
NTS Map	021O04
GNBC Code	DAADY
Website	www.saint-leonard.ca
Median household income, 2005 (all households)

History

See also: History of New Brunswick and List of historic places in Madawaska County, New Brunswick

Saint-Léonard was once a popular town during Prohibition in the United States as it was easy to smuggle alcohol to Van Buren.

The town's economy is driven by potato farming and a J.D. Irving Limited sawmill. Saint-Léonard is officially bilingual but it is predominantly a Francophone community.

On June 30, 2008, a truck carrying 12 million bees overturned near Saint-Léonard. This accident was the first of its kind in New Brunswick.^[3]

On 1 January 2023, Saint-Léonard amalgamated with the village of Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska and parts of four local service districts to form the new town of Vallée-des-Rivières.^[4][5] The community's name remains in official use.^[6]

Geography

It is located on the east bank of the Saint John River opposite Van Buren, Maine, to which it is connected via the Saint Leonard–Van Buren Bridge.

Climate

The town has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), even for this type of climate the warm season can be milder for a non-coastal city like Saint John, because the Great Lakes and Appalachians hold much of the heat. that come from the Gulf of Mexico and the interior of the United States. But winters are substantially cold with spring and fall with pleasant temperatures.^[7]

Climate data for Saint-Léonard (Saint-Léonard Aerodrome), elevation: 241 m or 791 ft, 1981-2010 normals, extremes 1985-present
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high humidex	12.2	13.0	16.8	29.1	33.8	41.3	42.3	41.9	38.6	30.6	21.9	13.4	42.3
Record high °C (°F)	11.7 (53.1)	14.4 (57.9)	17.7 (63.9)	28.1 (82.6)	34.6 (94.3)	34.0 (93.2)	34.2 (93.6)	34.6 (94.3)	33.4 (92.1)	26.7 (80.1)	18.7 (65.7)	13.17 (55.71)	34.6 (94.3)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−7.1 (19.2)	−5.5 (22.1)	0.7 (33.3)	8.1 (46.6)	16.6 (61.9)	21.6 (70.9)	24.0 (75.2)	23.1 (73.6)	18.0 (64.4)	10.3 (50.5)	3.0 (37.4)	−3.9 (25.0)	9.1 (48.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−12.6 (9.3)	−11.3 (11.7)	−4.9 (23.2)	2.9 (37.2)	10.0 (50.0)	15.1 (59.2)	18.0 (64.4)	16.8 (62.2)	12.0 (53.6)	5.4 (41.7)	−1.2 (29.8)	−8.6 (16.5)	3.5 (38.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−18.1 (−0.6)	−17.0 (1.4)	−10.4 (13.3)	−2.5 (27.5)	3.4 (38.1)	8.6 (47.5)	11.9 (53.4)	10.4 (50.7)	5.8 (42.4)	0.4 (32.7)	−5.3 (22.5)	−13.2 (8.2)	−2.2 (28.1)
Record low °C (°F)	−38.8 (−37.8)	−33.4 (−28.1)	−33.6 (−28.5)	−19.3 (−2.7)	−5.6 (21.9)	−2.6 (27.3)	2.7 (36.9)	−0.2 (31.6)	−6.3 (20.7)	−9.6 (14.7)	−23.2 (−9.8)	−33.9 (−29.0)	−38.8 (−37.8)
Record low wind chill	−46	−43	−42	−30	−11	−4	0	0	−8	−13	−28	−42	−46
Average precipitation mm (inches)	91.5 (3.60)	67.5 (2.66)	77.5 (3.05)	77.1 (3.04)	87.4 (3.44)	98.2 (3.87)	119.3 (4.70)	101.4 (3.99)	94.9 (3.74)	100.4 (3.95)	98.3 (3.87)	90.5 (3.56)	1,104 (43.47)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	24.3 (0.96)	9.4 (0.37)	20.9 (0.82)	50.2 (1.98)	84.7 (3.33)	98.2 (3.87)	119.3 (4.70)	101.4 (3.99)	94.9 (3.74)	92.4 (3.64)	65.0 (2.56)	31.5 (1.24)	792.2 (31.2)
Average snowfall cm (inches)	78.2 (30.8)	64.4 (25.4)	59.6 (23.5)	26.0 (10.2)	2.2 (0.9)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	6.7 (2.6)	32.3 (12.7)	65.5 (25.8)	334.9 (131.9)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	16.1	12.5	13.0	13.9	15.0	14.7	15.9	13.9	13.2	15.2	14.8	15.3	173.5
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	3.3	1.8	4.6	9.5	14.7	14.7	15.9	13.9	13.2	14.1	8.6	4.3	118.6
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)	15.3	12.1	10.7	6.3	0.85	0	0	0	0.04	2.1	8.4	13.9	69.69
Average relative humidity (%)	74.7	71.3	67.8	57.7	50.2	55.4	59.8	58.7	60.6	64.3	75.6	77.8	64.5
Source: Environment Canada[8]

• 
  Saint-Léonard, 1918
• 
  Saint-Leonard railroad station
• 
  J.D. Irving sawmill

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Léonard had a population of 1,322 living in 567 of its 625 total private dwellings, a change of 1.7% from its 2016 population of 1,300. With a land area of 5.34 km² (2.06 sq mi), it had a population density of 247.6/km² (641.2/sq mi) in 2021.^[1]

Saint-Léonard, NB Historical populations Year Pop. ±% 1941 1,095 —     1951 1,419 +29.6% 1961 1,666 +17.4% 1991 1,545 −7.3% 1996 1,450 −6.1% 2001 1,385 −4.5% 2006 1,352 −2.4% 2011 1,343 −0.7% 2016 1,300 −3.2% [9][10][11][12]

Mother tongue language (2006)[13] Language Population Pct (%) French only 1,165 89.62% English only 70 5.38% Other languages 55 4.23% Both English and French 10 0.77%

Education

It has a single school, École Grande-Rivière.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Madawaska County, New Brunswick

See also

• List of communities in New Brunswick