When Moncton, New Brunswick, was named regional headquarters for the Intercolonial Railway, its rise to prominence as one of the region's main industrial centres was assured. Located on the Petitcodiac River, near the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border, it had been a quiet service centre for surrounding farm communities before the arrival of the rail road. Well placed to service the entire region by rail, it soon hosted a number of regional firms and attracted national distributors anxious to penetrate Maritime markets. Its many warehouse facilities offered a wide range of employment, and its success during this period of industrialization earned it the nickname, "the Hub of the Maritimes."
Moncton's machine shops and railway yards employed one of the larger concentrations of skilled workers in the region. It quickly became a centre for labour organization and a regional focal point for nationally based railway unions.
