In 1686,
Monsignor de Saint-Vallier (of
Quebec) was the first known person to mention in writing the magnificent falls for which Grand Falls is named. His words describing the area can be found on a monument erected at the mouth of Davis Park in 1986. He recounts his trip to the region in 1686. He writes: "On May 16 we arrived at a place called Grand Sault St-Jean-Baptiste. Here the river falls madly from a height of 60 feet, forming a huge waterfall that thick fog envelops the tumult of the falls far warns mariners descended in canoes. It also notes the presence of some French settlers in the region. In 1695, the territory between Grand Falls and Médoctec was granted the manor in Sieur Rene D'Amours. The French missionaries,
Récollets, visited Great Falls in 1691 and
Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac mentioned the presence of a fort in 1693. The latter was used to supply the passengers, who became more numerous from the
Seven Years' War. In 1763, the region fully passed into British hands and its French population diminished due to the
Expulsion of the Acadians. In 1783, the
Loyalists settled in Acadia and the province of
New Brunswick was created the next year. In 1785, the
Acadians in
Fredericton and nearby were evicted from their land and in June 1785, a group decided to establish the region of Grand Falls and the rest of
Madawaska and this with the agreement of the
Maliseet people. In 1791,
Thomas Carleton, then Governor of New Brunswick, built a fort at Grand Falls. The Madawaska region was then disputed between Quebec, New Brunswick and the United States. The
War of 1812 showed that the area's roads were not safe and in 1875, the colonial government of New Brunswick decided to build a road from
Woodstock to Grand Falls. In 1816, the government gave a grant to two settlers to settle between Grand Falls and
Presque Isle. The territorial differences culminated in the
Aroostook War in 1838 and
Webster–Ashburton Treaty in 1842, gave Grand Falls to the province of New Brunswick. In 1838,
James Brown and George Hayward visited Grand Falls and mentioned the presence of a sawmill owned by
John Caldwell staffed by French Canadians and Acadians. In 1840, Lieutenant
Cavalié Mercer, an Englishman stationed in Woodstock, made the first paintings of the city. In 1842, Grand Falls was included in Colebrook Township, named in honour of the Governor of New Brunswick,
William MacBean George Colebrooke. The first survey was done for the British army in 1844 by the Deputy Gordon, while Colonel Beckwith designed the town plan. The survey was made from a large
elm to the west, which has now disappeared. The lots were in turn divided into 1847 by the engineer C. Inches. In 1904,
Van Morrell, originally from the State of Maine, crossed the falls on a tightrope. The ring to which this rope was attached can still be found in O.B Davis Park ==Geography==