Transportation of Goods to the Market: The Era of the Sloven

By Connor DeMerchant - 24 September 2026

Often thought to have been invented in Saint John, starting in the 1860s, slovens, a type of low wagon, trundled throughout the city transporting goods. Although their origins are unclear, it is evident that this type of wagon was used predominantly in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and was virtually unheard of elsewhere.[1] It was by this method, whether coming from Market Slip, Indiantown, or locales further afield, that produce and goods arrived at the City Market to be sold to the public.

A 1962 newspaper article, published as the last slovens were disappearing from Saint John, offers a glimpse into their former role in the city. The article recalled how, in the early decades of the twentieth century, mornings often found Market Square at the foot of King Street filled with slovens and their horses. The wagons stood in long lines, waiting for delivery commissions from local merchants or for mixed cargoes solicited from private citizens. A typical load might include a barrel of apples, a half-barrel of oysters, or boxes of pickled herring, all bound for different destinations in the city. The horses, accustomed to the routine, seemed to know when to move forward and when to patiently wait their turn while their loads were being prepared. Slovens were also closely associated with the waterfront, where they waited on Market Slip while ships were being unloaded, carrying away goods brought into the city by water. Their design was particularly suited to hauling heavy loads. 

By the mid-twentieth century, however, the sloven's days were numbered. Sailing vessels had largely disappeared from the waterfront, and motor trucks with mechanized handling equipment had taken over much of the work once performed by horses and wagons. In 1962, as the Saint John Municipal Home prepared to close, the last two slovens in the city, along with the horses that pulled them, were offered for auction. Their sale brought an end to approximately a century of the sloven's presence in Saint John, marking the disappearance of a distinctive form of transportation that had once been a familiar sight around the City Market and throughout Saint John. [2]

[1] “Slovens Slipping Out.” The Evening Times-Globe. 3 February 1962, Pg. 13.

[2] “Stop Your Shovin’! Get Yourself a Sloven.” The Evening Times-Globe. 27 January 1962, Pg. 32.

Photos: (above) A horse and sloven on Prince William Street, c. 1910 (PANB P210\1722); (below) Sloven and team of horse in Saint John, c. 1950s. (published in the Evening Times Globe, 1962).