Acadians first settled the head of the Bay of Fundy in the 1670s. The first reference to the "Petcoucoyer River" was on the De Meulles map of 1686. Settlement of the Petitcodiac andMemramcook river valleys began about 1700, gradually extending inland and reaching the site of present day Moncton in 1733. The first Acadiansettlers in the Moncton area established a marshland farming community and chose to name their settlement Le Coude (The Elbow).
In 1755, nearby Fort Beausejour was captured by English forces under the command of Lt. Col.Robert Monckton. The Beaubassin region including the Memramcook and Petitcodiac river valleys subsequently fell under English control.
Later that year, Governor Charles Lawrence issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the Acadian population from Nova Scotia (including recently captured areas of Acadia such as le Coude). This action came to be known as the "Great Upheaval".
The reaches of the upper Petitcodiac River valley then came under the control of the Philadelphia Land Company and in 1766 Pennsylvania Dutch settlers arrived to re-establish the pre-existing farming community at Le Coude. The Settlers consisted of eight families; Heinrick Stief (Steeves), Jacob Treitz (Trites), Matthias Sommer (Somers), Jacob Reicker (Ricker), Charles Jones, George Wortmann (Wortman), Michael Lutz (Lutes) and George Koppel (Copple). There is a plaque dedicated in their honour at the mouth of Hall's Creek. They renamed the settlement "The Bend". The Bend remained an agricultural settlement for nearly 80 more years. Even by 1836, there were only 20 households in the community. At this time, the Westmorland Road became open to year round travel and a regular mail coach service was established between Saint John and Halifax. The Bend became an important transfer and rest station along the route. Over the next decade, lumbering and then shipbuilding would become important industries in the area.
The turning point for the
