Saint-Louis-de-Kent, New Brunswick

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

Saint-Louis-de-Kent^[a] is a former village in Kent County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023 and is now part of the town of Beaurivage.

Saint-Louis-de-Kent Saint-Louis de Kent
A huge Acadian flag dominates St-Louis' skyline
Seal
Motto:  Le berceau du drapeau acadien
Saint-Louis-de-Kent Location within New Brunswick
Coordinates: 46.738°N 64.974°W / 46.738; -64.974
Country	Canada
Province	New Brunswick
County	Kent County
Town	Beaurivage
Founded	1797
Village	November 9, 1966
Area [1]
• Land	1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	981
• Density	494.6/km2 (1,281/sq mi)
• Change (2016–21)	14.6%
Time zone	UTC−4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−3 (ADT)
Area code	506

Often shortened to simply Saint-Louis, the village is situated on the Kouchibouguacis River at the main entrance to Kouchibouguac National Park. It is considered as the birthplace of the Acadian Flag. A local park, parc des forgeron, celebrates the birth of this flag in 1884.

History

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

Saint-Louis-de-Kent was founded by Joseph Babineau in 1797.^[2] L'Académie Saint-Louis was founded in 1874 by Father Marcel-François Richard. The Congregation of Notre-Dame of Montréal founded a convent in 1879. The academy became a college in 1876, but it was closed in 1882 by Bishop James Rogers. Additional facilities included a telephone line between Quebec and Halifax.

A religious Grotto and Calvary was erected next to the Kouchibouguacis River between 1878 and 1882, and remains an important Acadian pilgrimage site. It was declared a Heritage Site in 2005.^[3]

The Saint-Louis Caisse Populaire was founded in 1938. L'École Mgr-Marcel-François-Richard was opened in 1978.

On 1 January 2023, Saint-Louis-de-Kent amalgamated with the town of Richibucto and all or part of for local service districts to form the new town of Beaurivage.^[4][5] The community's name remains in official use.^[6]

Demographics

The Kouchibouguacis River flows through St. Louis de Kent. This bridge was replaced with a modern structure over a 3-year construction period, and opened in 2016.^[7][8]

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Louis de Kent had a population of 981 living in 424 of its 452 total private dwellings, a change of 14.6% from its 2016 population of 856. With a land area of 1.98 km² (0.76 sq mi), it had a population density of 495.5/km² (1,283.2/sq mi) in 2021.^[1]

Population trend ^[9][10]

Census	Population	Change (%)
2021	981	14.6%
2016	856	8.0%
2011	930	3.1%
2006	960	3.2%
2001	991	2.4%
1996	1,015	0.6%
1991	1,009	8.4%
1986	1,101	5.9%
1981	1,166	N/A

Religious make-up (2001) Religion Population Pct (%) Catholic 865 94.54% Protestant 15 1.64% Christian, N.I.E 30 3.28%

Income (2006) Income type By CAD Per capita income $16,190 Median Household Income $33,214 Median Family Income $36,650

Mother tongue language (2011) Language Population Pct (%) French 715 86.14% English 95 11.44% English and French 20 2.41%

Notable people

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

See also

• List of communities in New Brunswick

Notes

1. Written Saint-Louis de Kent in successive regulations defining the province's municipalities, the common form with three hyphens was normally used even by other provincial government departments.