The prosperity engendered by the wooden shipbuilding industry allowed The Bend to incorporate as the town of Moncton in 1855.
Two years later on August 20, 1857 the European and North American Railway opened its line from Moncton to the nearby Northumberland Strait port of Shediac; this was followed by the E&NA's line from Moncton to Sussex and on to Saint John opening in 1859.