ST. STEPHEN — The rise in patriotism prompted by a hostile U.S. president is renewing focus on everything Canada has given the world, and a small New Brunswick mill town wants people to know the sport of basketball belongs on that list.
A brick building nestled between an empty lot and a sports bar in St. Stephen, N.B., is claimed to house the world's oldest surviving basketball court, with records of a game being played there on Oct. 17, 1893.
For years, locals have been trying to get the site properly recognized and converted into a museum, and now there is hope that the surge in Canadian pride will make the dream a reality. It is time, they say, for Canadians to have a new shrine to the sport invented by Canadian-born James Naismith while he was an instructor at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass.
"A Canadian invented the game, and the world’s oldest court where the game was first played in Canada is sitting in St. Stephen, N.B.," said Tom Liston, a transplanted New Brunswicker who works as a tech investor in Toronto. "I think people are starting to think about that fact more and more."
It was Lyman Archibald, a Nova Scotia-born protege of Naismith, who brought the sport to St. Stephen when he was assigned to be director of the local YMCA. Over the years, the building was used as a recruiting centre during the First World War, a dance hall, a meeting place for the Oddfellows Society and the first pharmacy in the province.
In 2010, a fire swept through the building, and the cleanup uncovered the original hardwood gymnasium floor, which had been hidden under carpet. The "world's oldest" status has been disputed, with some historians saying the Paris YMCA has the oldest basketball court in its original state, although the first game documented there was two months after Archibald imported basketball to Canada.
Today, a fruit basket hangs from one wall, a reminder of the original baskets used by Naismith, but it has been more than a century since the gym's birch floor was used for a game. The powder-blue paint on the walls is peeling, and during a recent visit a smoke alarm was repeatedly chirping.
Liston belongs to a non-profit group, Canada 1st Basketball, that is hoping to transform the building into what it calls an “experience centre" that would feature a hall of fame, interactive displays and a theatre. It would also host events and youth programming.
The project aims to raise a total of $18 million, seeking $6 million from private and corporate donors, and $6 million each from the provincial and federal governments. Liston said the money would go toward refurbishing the gymnasium and building on the adjacent empty lot, as well as purchasing artifacts from private collectors and creating exhibits.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt attended a recent event in Toronto to raise money for the gymnasium’s redevelopment, but her office did not respond to a query about whether the province will provide funding. Liston said the group has already raised about $3.5 million from private donors, which was used to buy the property.
Miranda Ayim, a Canadian basketball player and flag-bearer for the Olympic Games in 2021, said she has visited the court in St. Stephen several times and is always excited by the sense of history.
That a game invented by a Canadian to help keep men active is now embraced as one of the most watched and played sports around the world speaks to the beauty and simplicity of the game, Ayim said.
"It's a wonderful game. It keeps you active, but also beyond that, it brings people together regardless of background," she said. "All you need is a ball and a basket."
David Ganong, executive vice-chair of the St. Stephen chocolate maker Ganong Bros. and a member of Canada 1st Basketball, said the tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration — Maine lies just across the St. Croix River from St. Stephen — mean the time is right to push ahead.
"We've got a great spark of Canadian patriotism coming on right now, and I think this fits in extremely well with that," he said of the basketball project.
Richard Fulton, another member of the group, sees the centre as giving Canadians something to feel good about. "We're part of the world, but we also have an identity and a character that's Canadian only ... but we need a focal point for that," he said.
"So (the court) can be that focal point, not just locally for the community, but nationally, to say … 'This is ours.' We need to be proud of those kinds of things in the same way as we're proud of the lobsters and polar bears."
St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern said being home to the world's oldest basketball court means the town shares a responsibility to preserve it and show it to others.
"The political climate — it's been a crazy world — and that is all the more reason why we need something like this to dream about and to enjoy," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2025.
Hina Alam, The Canadian Press
