URBAN RENEWAL SAINT JOHN - raw material for a fresh perspective

For a few years ELLEN DREWERY was the compassionate face of the resettlement initiative during Saint John's Urban Renewal

I first wrote about Ellen Drewery in December of last year. It was a pleasure to share a few memories of a U.N.B. Sociology teacher who left a lasting impression on her students. Some of her words have stuck with me over the years, and it is not hyperbole when I say that I have quoted one of her most forceful lines to hundreds of students in my turn. On the subject of human sexuality I can still hear Ellen's simple (I think Steinbeckian) explanation for homosexuality, incest and a host of sexual fetishes: "People have sex with the people they're with." You can read my initial comments about Prof. Drewery, posted November 25, 2007, here.

I never borrowed $$ for university tuition but to stay within my comfort zone I did my first two years at U.N.B.S.J. That's where I encountered Prof. Drewery. Then. when I moved on to U.N.B. Fredericton to finish a history major I lost track of her. If she had mentioned in class her experience of working with displaced Urban Renewal families, I forgot about it. Only two years ago, I learned she had in fact been an important voice in dealing with the displaced during the forced evictions and demolitions which removed whole neighborhoods from Saint John's landscape.

Below I am sharing a news story from 1968 which introduced Drewery to the Saint John public. Like any introduction it is polite in tone. In a future blog article I will discuss the rockier side to Ellen Drewery's tenure with the City of Saint John.

The Urban Renewal Field Office at 509 Main Street, near the foot of Elm Street. To the left was the Main Brace Naval Veteran's club, which still exists. Ellen Drewery began work at the Field Office in August of 1968.

The Evening Times-Globe, October 3, 1968
“Personal Touch’ For Urban Renewal

The Saint John Urban Redevelopment Office has added the “personal touch” in carrying out its massive north end renewal scheme. Miss Ellen Drewery, a full time, on-the-job sociologist, has been dealing first-hand with the problems facing families affected by the project since August.

“The trend today is toward more and more emphasis on the personal touch, rather than just the bricks and mortar aspect of urban redevelopment,” says Assistant Redevelopment Officer Guy Spencer. “There has been a growing awareness that the technical people can’t do a sociologist’s job, a vital part of any renewal project.”

Mr. Spencer said the move to broaden the scope of what he calls “people planning” within the project started last year with the hiring of a relocation officer.
“Now the picture has been rounded out with a highly trained person to deal sympathetically and understandingly with the sociological aspects.”

Miss Drewery, who has had wide and varied experience in dealing with people, both before and during her studies at the University of Western Ontario in London, arrived here in August.

Meeting Families

Now, from her office at 509 Main Street, she is meeting with members of relocated families, helping them adjust to new conditions, assisting those uncertain about an upcoming move and dealing with those already moved but unhappy in a new setting.

“Saint John has, I think, a very advanced urban renewal program – forward-looking enough to want a sociologist,” says Miss Drewery. “To many of these people life has always been a struggle. They lack knowledge of approaching and dealing with authorities. They have been more dealt with, than dealing.”

Mr. Spencer said problems of a business nature will continue to be handled by Redevelopment Officer Donald Buck. Miss Drewery will be the “ear” to hear personally the problems of the bewildered and uncertain.

Not all the problems they bring to the office are within her field. But since her arrival she has established herself as a co-ordinator with various agencies in the city and is prepared to refer people to specialized help for full discussion of their special difficulty.”

By the late 1970s the Urban Renewal Field Office had itself been torn down, exposing the red brick wall of the old bank building next door. See the red (X) above. The bank still enjoys a second life as the HQ of the Main Brace Naval Veterans club. It was my grandfathers daily hangout.

ANNOUNCEMENT - Due to the fact that some visitors (most of them academics or students of urban planning) are interested in Saint John as an examples of a city which underwent Urban Renewal, but are not interested in the broader history, I have created a separate blog to collect S.J.U.R. articles in one place. That mirror site is SAINTJOHNURBANRENEWAL.blogspot.com/ and I have added it to the list of resources in "Links to Discovery". I am enthused by the fact that much "raw material" about U.R.- S.J. has recently surfaced, and feeling better armed as an historian to support my thesis that too much was destroyed, and far too quickly. There are many ghosts in all that rubble, and I enjoy searching for their stories.