The
City of Halifax (est.
1841) was the capital
of the province of Nova
Scotia
and shire town of
Halifax County, and was
the largest city in Atlantic Canada
until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional
Municipality
in 1996. It is no longer an incorporated
city and is a community of HRM.
The
Town of Halifax was founded by British
government
under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the
command of Governor Edward Cornwallis in 1749. After a
protracted struggle between residents and the
Governor, the
City of
Halifax was incorporated in 1841.
On April
1, 1996, the government of Nova Scotia dissolved the City of
Halifax, and amalgamated the four municipalities within Halifax
County and formed Halifax Regional Municipality, a single-tier regional government covering that
whole area.
Today the area of the former City of Halifax is now referred to as
an unincorporated "provincial
metropolitan area" by the provincial
government's place name website and the area is referred to as
"Halifax, Nova Scotia" for civic addressing and as a
placename.
The area
is now administered as two separate community planning areas by the
regional government for development, Halifax Peninsula
and Mainland Halifax
. It forms a significant part of the Halifax urban
area
. Residents of the former city are referred
to as "Haligonians".
History
Map of Town of Halifax, 1750
The
Mi'kmaq called the area "Jipugtug",
(anglicised as "Chebucto"), which means "the biggest harbour", in
reference to present-day Halifax Harbour
. There is evidence that bands would spend the
summer on the shores of the Bedford Basin
, moving to points inland before the harsh Atlantic
winter set in. Examples of Mikmaq habitation and burial
sites have been found throughout Halifax, from Point Pleasant Park
to the north and south mainland.
Acadian period
Chebucto
did not have a sizable permanent Acadian
settlement, the closest being the settlements of Minas
(later Windsor) and Pizquid. French warships
and fishing vessels, requiring shelter and a place to draw water,
certainly visited the harbour.
The territory, which included much of the
present-day Maritimes and Gaspé
Peninsula
, passed from French to English and even Scottish
hands several times. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia
was relinquished to England, however the boundaries of the
ceasefire were imprecise, leaving England with what is today
peninsular Nova Scotia, and France with control of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
The colonial capital chosen was Annapolis
Royal
. In 1717, France began a 20-year effort to
build a large fortified seaport at Louisbourg
on present-day Cape Breton Island
which was intended as a naval base for protecting
the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
and extensive fishing grounds on the Grand Banks
.
In 1745,
Fortress of
Louisbourg
fell to a New England-led force. In 1746
Admiral Jean-Batiste, De Roye de la Rochefoucauld, Duc d'Enville,
was dispatched by the King of France in command of a French Armada
of 65 ships. He was dispatched to undermine the English position in
the new world, specifically at Louisbourg, Annapolis Royal, and
most likely the eastern seaboard of the Thirteen Colonies.
The fleet was to meet in (Halifax Harbour) on British-held
peninsular Nova Scotia after crossing the Atlantic, take water and
proceed to Louisbourg. Unfortunately, two major storms kept the
fleet at sea for over three months. Poor water and spoiled food
further weakened the exhausted fleet, resulting in the death of at
least 2,500 men, including Duc d'Anville himself, by the time it
arrived at Chebucto. After a series of calamities the fleet
returned to France, its mission unfulfilled. 1016 men were left
behind, buried along the western shore of the Bedford Basin.
The ghost
of Duc d'Anville is said to haunt George's
Island
, his original burial place, to this
day.
British settlement
Between the
Treaty of Utrecht in
1713 and 1749, no serious attempts were made by Great Britain to
colonize Nova Scotia, aside from its presence at Annapolis Royal
and infrequent sea and land patrols. The peninsula was dominated by
Acadian residents and the need for a permanent settlement and
British military presence on the central Atlantic coast of
peninsular Nova Scotia was recognized, but it took the negotiated
return of Fortress Louisbourg to France in 1748 to prod Britain
into action. British
General Edward Cornwallis was
dispatched by the Lords of Trade and Plantations to establish a
city at Chebucto, on behalf of and at the expense of the Crown.
Cornwallis sailed in command of 13 transports, a sloop of war,
1,176 settlers and their families.
Halifax was founded on June 21, 1749 below a glacial
drumlin that would later be named
Citadel Hill. The outpost was named in honour
of
George
Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was the
President of the British Board
of Trade.
Halifax was ideal for a military base, with
the vast Halifax
Harbour, among the largest natural harbours in the world, which could be well protected
with batteries at McNab's
Island
, the North West Arm
, Point Pleasant
, George's Island and York
Redoubt
. In its early years, Citadel Hill was used
as a command and observation post, before changes in artillery
which could range out into the harbour.
Seven Years War
The town
proved its worth as a military base in the Seven Years War as a counter to the French
fortress Louisbourg
in Cape Breton. Halifax provided the base
for the capture of Louisbourg in 1758 and operated as a major naval
base for the remainder of the war.
The Sambro Island Lighthouse
was constructed at the harbour entrance in 1758 to
develop the port city's merchant and naval shipping. A
permanent navy base, the
Halifax Naval Yard was
established in 1759. For much of this period in the early 1700s,
Nova Scotia was considered a frontier posting for the British
military, given the proximity to the border with French territory
and potential for conflict; the local environment was also very
inhospitable and many early settlers were ill-suited for the
colony's virgin wilderness on the shores of Halifax Harbour.
The
original settlers, who were often discharged soldiers and sailors,
left the colony for established cities such as New York
and Boston
or the lush
plantations of the Virgina's and Carolina's. However, the
new city did attract New England merchants exploiting the near-by
fisheries and English merchants such as Joshua Maugher who profited
greatly from both British military contracts and smuggling with the
French at Louisbourg. The military threat to Nova Scotia was
removed following British victory over France in the Seven Years
War.
With the addition of remaining territories of the colony of Acadia,
the enlarged British colony of Nova Scotia was mostly depopulated,
following the
deportation of Acadian
residents. In addition, Britain was unwilling to allow its
residents to emigrate, this being at the dawn of their
Industrial Revolution, thus Nova
Scotia invited settlement by "foreign
Protestants".
The region, including its new capital of
Halifax, saw a modest immigration boom comprising Germans
, Dutch
, New Englanders
, residents of Martinique
and many other areas. In addition to the
surnames of many present-day residents of Halifax who are descended
from these settlers, an enduring name in the city is the "Dutch
Village Road", which led from the "Dutch Village", located in
Fairview
. Dutch here referring to the German
"Deutsch" which sounded like "dutch" to Haligonian ears.
The American Revolution
Halifax's fortunes waxed and waned with the military needs of the
Empire. While it had quickly become
the largest
Royal Navy base on the
Atlantic coast and had hosted large numbers of British army
regulars, the complete destruction of Louisbourg in 1760 removed
the threat of French attack. With peace in 1763, the garrison and
naval squadron was dramatically reduced. With naval vessels no
longer carrying the mail, Halifax merchants banded together in 1765
to build the
Nova Scotia
Packet a schooner to carry mail to Boston, later
commissioned as the naval schooner
HMS Halifax, the first warship
built in English Canada.
Meanwhile Boston and New England turned
their eyes west, to the French territory now available due to the
defeat of Montcalm at the
Plains of
Abraham
. By the mid-1770s the town was feeling its
first of many peacetime slumps.
The
American Revolutionary
War was not at first uppermost in the minds of most residents
of Halifax.
The government did not have enough money to
pay for oil for the Sambro
lighthouse. The militia was unable to
maintain a guard, and was disbanded.
Provisions were so
scarce during the winter of 1775 that Quebec
had to send
flour to feed the town. While Halifax was remote from the
troubles in the rest of the American colonies, martial law was
declared in November 1775 to combat lawlessness.
On March 30, 1776,
General William Howe
arrived, having been driven from Boston by rebel forces. He brought
with him 200 officers, 3000 men, and over 4,000
loyalist refugees, and demanded
housing and provisions for all. This was merely the beginning of
Halifax's role in the war. Throughout the conflict, and for a
considerable time afterwards, thousands more refugees, often "in a
destitute and helpless condition" had arrived in Halifax or other
ports in Nova Scotia. This would peak with the evacuation of New
York, and continue until well after the formal conclusion of war in
1783.
At
the instigation of the newly arrived Loyalists who desired greater
local control, Britain subdivided Nova Scotia in 1784 with the
creation of the colonies of New Brunswick
and Cape Breton Island; this had the effect of considerably diluting
Halifax's presence over the region.
During the American Revolution, Halifax became the staging point of
many attacks on rebel-controlled areas in the
Thirteen Colonies, and was the city to
which British forces from Boston and New York were sent after the
over-running of those cities. After the War, tens of thousands of
United Empire Loyalists from
the American Colonies flooded Halifax, and many of their
descendants still reside in the city today.
Napoleonic Wars
Halifax was now the bastion of British strength on the East Coast
of North America. Local merchants also took advantage of the
exclusion of American trade to the British colonies in the
Caribbean, beginning a long trade relationship with the West
Indies. However, the most significant growth began with the
beginning of what would become known as the
Napoleonic Wars. By 1794,
Prince
Edward, Duke of Kent, was sent to take command of Nova Scotia.
Many of the city's forts were designed by him, and he left an
indelible mark on the city in the form of many public buildings of
Georgian architecture, and a dignified British feel to the city
itself. It was during this time that Halifax truly became a city.
Many
landmarks and institutions were built during his tenure, from the
Town
Clock
on Citadel Hill to St. George's Round Church,
fortifications in the Halifax Defence Complex were built up,
businesses established, and the population boomed.
HMS
Shannon leads the
captured USS
Chesapeake into Halifax
Though the Duke left in 1800, the city's prosperity continued to
grow throughout the
Napoleonic Wars
and
War of 1812. While the Royal Navy
squadron based in Halifax was small at the beginning of the
Napoleonic Wars, it grew to a large size by the War of 1812 and
ensured that Halifax was never attacked. The Naval Yard in Halifax
expanded to become a major base for the Royal Navy and while its
main task was supply and refit, it also built several smaller
warships including the namesake
HMS
Halifax in 1806. Several notable naval engagements
occurred off the Halifax station. Most dramatic was the victory of
the Halifax-based British frigate
HMS
Shannon which captured the American frigate
USS Chesapeake and brought
her to Halifax as prize. As well, an invasion force which attacked
Washington in 1813, and burned the Capitol and White House was sent
from Halifax. Early in the War, an expedition under Lord Dalhousie
left Halifax to capture the Area of Castine, Maine, which they held
for the entirety of the war.
The revenues which were taken from this
invasion were used after the war to found Dalhousie
University
which is today Halifax's largest university.
The city also thrived in the War of 1812 on the large numbers of
captured American ships and cargoes captured by the British navy
and provincial privateers.
Halifax coin struck after Capt.
Philip Broke's victory over USS Chesapeake
The wartime boom peaked in in 1814.
Present day government landmarks such as
Government House, built to house the governor, and Province
House
, built to house the House of Assembly, were both
built during the city's peak of prosperity at the end of the War of
1812.
Saint Mary's
University
was founded in 1802, originally as an elementary
school. Saint Mary's was upgraded to a college
following the establishment of Dalhousie in 1818; both were
initially located in the downtown central business district before
relocating to the then-outskirts of the city in the south end near
the Northwest
Arm
. Separated by only few minutes walking
distance, the two schools now enjoy a friendly rivalry.
19th Century Prosperity
In the peace after 1815, the city at first suffered an economic
malaise for a few years, aggravated by the move of the Royal Naval
yard to Bermuda in 1818. However the economy recovered in the next
decade led by a very successful local merchant class. Powerful
local entrepreneurs included steamship pioneer
Samuel Cunard and the banker
Enos Collins. During the 1800s Halifax became
the birthplace of two of Canada's largest banks; local financial
institutions included the
Halifax Banking Company,
Union Bank of Halifax,
People's Bank of Halifax,
Bank of Nova Scotia, and the
Merchants' Bank of Halifax, making the
city one of the most important financial centres in colonial
British North America and
later Canada until the beginning of the 20th century.
This position was
somewhat rivalled by neighbouring Saint John,
New Brunswick
during the city's economic hey-day in the mid-19th
century.
Having played a key role to maintain and expand British power in
North America and elsewhere during the 18th century, Halifax played
less dramatic roles in the many decades of peace during the 19th
Century. However as one of the most important British overseas
bases, the harbour's defences were successively refortified with
the latest artillery defences throughout the century to provide a
secure base for British Empire forces. Nova Scotian and Maritimers
were recruited through Halifax for the
Crimean War. The city boomed during the
American Civil War, mostly by supplying
the wartime economy of the North but also by offering refuge and
supplies to
Confederate blockade runners.
The port also saw Canada's first overseas military deployment as a
nation to aid the British Empire during the
Second Boer War.
Incorporation, responsible government, railways and
Confederation
Map of Halifax, 1894.
Halifax City Council, 1903
The cause of self government for the city of Halifax began the
political career of
Joseph Howe and
would subsequently lead to this form of accountability being
brought to colonial affairs for the colony of Nova Scotia.Howe was
later considered a great Nova Scotian leader, and the father of
responsible government in British North America. After election to
the House of Assembly as leader of the Liberal party, one of his
first acts was the incorporation of the City of Halifax in 1842,
followed by the direct election of civic politicians by
Haligonians.
Halifax became a hotbed of political activism as the winds of
responsible government swept British North America during the
1840s, following the rebellions against
oligarchies in the colonies of
Upper and
Lower
Canada. The first instance of responsible government in the
British Empire was achieved by the colony of Nova Scotia in
January-February 1848 through the efforts of Howe. The leaders of
the fight for responsible or self-government later took up the
Anti-Confederation fight, the
movement that from 1868 to 1875 tried to take Nova Scotia out of
Confederation.
During
the 1850s, Howe was a heavy promoter of railway technology, having been a key
instigator in the founding of the Nova Scotia Railway, which ran from
Richmond in the city's north end to the Minas Basin
at Windsor and to Truro
and on to Pictou
on the Northumberland Strait
. In the 1870s Halifax became linked by rail
to Moncton
and Saint John through the Intercolonial Railway and on
into Quebec and New England, not to mention numerous rural areas in Nova
Scotia.
The
American Civil War again saw
much activity and prosperity in Halifax. Merchants in the city made
huge profits selling supplies and sometimes arms to both sides of
the conflict (see for example
Alexander Keith, Jr.). Due to
longstanding economic and social connections to New England as well
as the
Abolition movement, a majority
of the population supported the North. However, parts of the city's
merchant class, especially those trading in the West Indies,
supported the South. Confederate ships often called on the port to
take on supplies, and make repairs. One such ship, the
Tallahassee, became a legend in Halifax as it made a
daring escape from Federal frigates heading to Halifax to capture
it.
After the
American Civil War, the five colonies which made up British North
America, Ontario
, Quebec, Prince
Edward Island
, Nova
Scotia and New
Brunswick, held
meetings to consider uniting into a single country. This was
due to a threat of annexation and invasion from the United States.
Canadian Confederation became a reality in 1867, but received much
resistance from the merchant classes of Halifax, and from many
prominent Halifax politicians due to the fact that both Halifax and
Nova Scotia were at the time very wealthy, held trading ties with
Boston and New York which would be damaged, and did not see the
need for the Colony to give up its comparative independence. After
confederation Halifax retained its British military garrison until
British troops were replaced by the Canadian army in 1906. The
British Royal Navy remained until 1910 when the newly created Royal
Canadian Navy took over the Naval Dockyard.
The city's cultural roots deepened as its economy matured.
The
Victorian College of Art was founded in 1887 (later to become the
Nova Scotia College of Art and
Design
.) Local artist John O'Brien excelled at
portraits of the city's ships, yacht races and seascapes.
The
province's Public Archives and the provincial museum were founded
in this period (first called the Mechanic's Institute, later the
Nova Scotia
Museum
.)
World War I
It was during
World War I that Halifax
would truly come into its own as a world class port and naval
facility.
The strategic location of the port with its
protective waters of Bedford Basin sheltered convoys from German
U-boat attack prior to heading into the open
Atlantic
Ocean
. Halifax's railway connections with the
Intercolonial Railway of
Canada and its port facilities became vital to the British war
effort during the First World War as Canada's industrial centres
churned out material for the Western Front. In 1914, Halifax began
playing a major role in the First World War, both as the departure
point for Canadian Soldiers heading overseas, and as an assembly
point for all convoys (a responsibility which would be placed on
the city again during WW2). In November 1917, a subway system was
presented to City Hall, but the city did not pursue the
scheme.
Halifax Explosion
Downtown Halifax, 1920
The war was seen as a blessing for the city's economy, but in 1917
a French munitions ship, the
Mont
Blanc, collided with a Belgian relief ship, the
Imo. The collision sparked a fire on the munitions ship
which was filled with 2,300 tons of wet and dry
picric acid (used for making
lyddite for artillery shells), 200 tons of
trinitrotoluene (TNT), 10 tons of gun
cotton, with drums of
Benzol (High Octane
fuel) stacked on her deck.
On December 6,
1917, at 9:04:35 AM the munitions ship exploded
in what was the largest man-made explosion before the first testing
of an atomic bomb, and
is still one of the largest non-nuclear man-made explosions.
Items from the exploding ship landed five kilometres away.
The
Halifax
Explosion
decimated the city's north end, killing roughly
2,000 inhabitants, injuring 9,000, and leaving tens of thousands
homeless and without shelter.
The following day a blizzard hit the city, hindering recovery
efforts. Immediate help rushed in from the rest of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. In the following
week more relief from other parts of North America arrived and
donations were sent from around the world.
The most celebrated
effort came from the Boston Red Cross
and the Massachusetts
Public Safety Committee; as an enduring thank-you,
since 1971 the province of Nova Scotia has donated the annual
Christmas tree lit at the
Prudential
Center
in Boston.
The explosion and the rebuilding which followed had important
impacts on the city: reshaping the layout of North End
neighbourhoods; creating a progressive housing development known as
the Hydrostone; and hastening the move of railways to the South End
of the City.
Between the Wars
The city's economy slumped after the war, although reconstruction
from the Halifax Explosion brought new housing and infrastructure
as well as the establishment of the Halifax Shipyard. However, a
tremendous drop in worldwide shipping following the war as well as
the failure of regional industries in the 1920s brought hard-times
to the city, further aggravated by the
Great Depression in 1929. One bright spot
was the completion of Ocean Terminals in the city's south end, a
large modern complex to trans-ship freight and passengers from
steamships to railways. The harbour's strategic location made the
city the base for the famous and successful salvage tug
Foundation Franklin which brought
lucrative salvage jobs to the city in the 1930s.
War Plan Red, a military strategy
developed by the United States Army during the mid-1920s and
officially withdrawn in 1939, involved an occupation of Halifax by
US forces following a poison gas first strike, to deny the British
a major naval base and cut links between Britain and Canada.
World War II
Plaque commemorating Halifax's role as
a convoy assembly point
Halifax played an even bigger role in the Allied naval war effort
of
World War II. The only theatre of
War to be commanded by a Canadian was the North Western Atlantic,
commanded from Halifax by Rear-Admiral
Leonard W. Murray. Halifax became a lifeline for
preserving Britain during the Nazi onslaught of the
Battle of Britain and the
Battle of the
Atlantic, the supplies helping to offset a threatened
amphibious invasion by Germany.
Many convoys assembled in Bedford Basin to deliver supplies to troops in Europe. The city's railway links fed large
numbers of troopships building up Allied armies in Europe. The
harbour became an essential base for Canadian, British and other
Allied warships. Very much a front-line city, civilians lived with
the fears of possible German raids or another accidental ammunition
explosion. Well-defended, the city was never attacked although some
merchant ships and two small naval vessels were sunk at the outer
approaches to the harbour.
However, the sounds and sometimes the flames
of these distant attacks fed wartime rumours, some of which linger
to the present day of imaginary tales of German U-Boats entering Halifax
Harbour. The city's housing, retail and public
transit infrastructure, small and neglected after 20 years of
prewar economic stagnation was severely stressed. Severe housing
and recreational problems simmered all through the war and
culminated in the
Halifax Riot on VE
Day in May 1945.
The war was also marked by a massive
explosion of the Navy's Bedford ammunition magazine which
accidentally blew up on July 18, 1945 causing the evacuation of the
north end of Halifax and Dartmouth and fears of another Halifax
Explosion
Post-war
After World War Two, Halifax did not experience the postwar
economic malaise it had so often experienced after previous wars.
This was partially due to the
Cold War
which required continued spending on a modern Canadian Navy.
However, the city also benefited from a more diverse economy and
postwar growth in government services and education. The
1960s-1990s saw less
suburban sprawl
than in many comparable Canadian cities in the areas surrounding
Halifax. This was partly as a result of local geographies and
topography (Halifax is extremely hilly with exposed granite not
conducive to construction), a weaker regional and local economy,
and a smaller population base than, for example, central Canada or
New England. There were also deliberate local government policies
to limit not only suburban growth but also put some controls on
growth in the central business district to address concerns from
heritage advocates.
The late
1960s was a period of significant change and expansion of the city
when surrounding areas of Halifax County were amalgamated into
Halifax: Rockingham
, Clayton Park
, Fairview, Armdale
, and Spryfield
were all added in 1969.
Urban renewal plans in the 1960s and 70s resulted in the loss of
much of its heritage architecture and community fabric in large
downtown developments such as the Scotia Square mall and office
towers. However, a citizens protest movement limited further
destructive plans such as a waterfront freeway which opened the way
for a popular and successful revitalized waterfront. Selective
height limits were also achieved to protect the views from Citadel
Hill. However, municipal heritage protection remained weak with
only pockets of heritage buildings surviving in the downtown and
constant pressure from developers for further demolition. Selective
height restrictions were adopted to protect views from Citadel Hill
which triggered battles over proposed developments that would fill
vacant lots or add height to existing historical structures.
Another
casualty during the 1960s and 1970s period of expansion and urban
renewal was the Black community of Africville
which was demolished and its residents displaced to
clear land for industrial use as well as for the A.
Murray MacKay Bridge. The repercussions continue to this day
and a 2001
United Nations report has
called for reparations be paid to the community's former
residents.
Restrictions on development were relaxed somewhat during the 1990s,
resulting in some suburban sprawl off the peninsula. Today the
community of Halifax is more compact than most Canadian urban areas
although expanses of suburban growth have occurred in neighbouring
Dartmouth, Bedford and Sackville.
One development in the late 1990s was the
Bayers Lake Business Park, where warehouse style retailers were
permitted to build in a suburban industrial park west of Rockingham. This has become an important yet
controversial centre of commerce for the city and the province as
it used public infrastructure to subsidise multi-national retail
chains and draw business from local downtown business. Much of this
subsidy was due to competition between Halifax, Bedford and
Dartmouth to host these giant retail chains and this controversy
helped lead the province to force amalgamation as a way to end
wasteful municipal rivalries. In the past few years, urban housing
sprawl has even reached these industrial/retail parks as new
blasting techniques permitted construction on the granite
wilderness around the city. What was once a business park
surrounded by forest and a highway on one side has become a large
suburb with numerous new apartment buildings and condominiums. Some
of this growth has been spurred by offshore oil and natural gas
economic activity but much has been due to a population shift from
rural Nova Scotian communities to the Halifax urban area. The new
amalgamated city has attempted to manage this growth with a new
master development plan.
Amalgamation
During the 1990s, Halifax like many other Canadian cities,
amalgamated with its suburbs under a
single municipal government. The provincial government had sought
to reduce the number of municipal governments throughout the
province as a cost-saving measure and created a task force in 1992
to pursue this rationalisation.
In 1995,
an Act to Incorporate the Halifax Regional Municipality
received Royal Assent in the provincial
legislature and the Halifax Regional Municipality
, or "HRM" (as it is commonly called) was created on
April 1, 1996.
HRM is an
amalgamation of all municipal governments in Halifax County, these being the
cities of Halifax and Dartmouth
, town of Bedford
, and Municipality of the County of Halifax).
Sable Island
, being part of Halifax County, is also
jurisdictionally part of HRM, despite being located 180 km
offshore.
Although cities in other provinces affected by amalgamation
retained their original names, the new municipality is often
referred by its full name or the initials "HRM" especially in the
media and by residents of areas outside of the former City of
Halifax. However, the communities outside of the former City of
Halifax still retained their original place-names to avoid
confusion with duplicate street names for civic addressing, media
reference, emergency, postal and other services along with
Halifax.
In 1995, the city hosted the
G8 summit of the
world's major economic powers.
Geography
The
original settlements of Halifax occupied a small stretch of land
inside a palisade at the foot of Citadel
Hill on the Halifax
Peninsula, a sub-peninsula of the much larger Chebucto
Peninsula
that extends into Halifax Harbour. Halifax subsequently grew to incorporate
all of the north, south, and west ends of the peninsula with a
central business district concentrated in the southeastern end
along "The Narrows".
In 1969,
the City of Halifax grew westward of the peninsula by amalgamating
several communities from the surrounding Halifax County; namely Fairview, Rockingham, Spryfield, Purcell's Cove
, and Armdale. These communities saw a number of modern
subdivision developments during the late 1960s through to the
1990s, one of the earliest being the Clayton
Park development at the southwestern edge of
Rockingham.
Since
amalgamation into HRM, "Halifax" has been used variously to
describe all HRM, all of urban HRM, and the area of the Halifax
Peninsula and Mainland Halifax (which together form the provincially recognized
Halifax Metropolitan Area) that had been covered by the dissolved
city government. [466419] [466420]
[466421] [466422]
The
communities of mainland Halifax that were amalgamated into the City
of Halifax in 1969 are reasserting their identities [466423][466424] principally through the creation of the
Mainland
Halifax planning area, which is governed by the Chebucto Community
Council.
Halifax is also located on the Appalachian land form region
Neighbourhoods
Canada Day in Halifax
Colloquial neighbourhood names
Flag of the former City of Halifax
Colourful houses in Halifax
Official neighbourhood names
Historic neighbourhood names
Halifax "firsts" and other records
- World-wide
- 1800s
The sport of "hurley on ice", a precursor to ice hockey, was
refined and developed in and around Halifax, Dartmouth and Windsor (first unofficial rules in Halifax)
- 1840 First use of wood pulp to make
paper
- 1846-1850 Dr. Abraham
Gesner, developed the distillation of kerosene from crude oil
and bitumen, driving the Petroleum industry
- 1936
First live radio news coverage in
Canada and largest broadcast hookup originating on this continent
(on coverage of Moose River Mine Disaster
, April 1936) [466425]
- World's first skyscrapers to use seawater
for air-conditioning (Purdy's Wharf
Office Towers)
- World's longest downtown boardwalk (runs for over 4 km
alongside the harbour)
- 1986-First to hold International Busker Festival, in mid-August
annually since 1986.
Footnotes
References
- Akins, Thomas B., History of Halifax, 1895.
- Landry, Peter, Blupete Historical Essays.
- Halifax... Facts
and Trivia
- HRM History
- Destination Halifax, Halifax Trivia
- Pop Quiz, Canadian History
- St. George Round Church
- Government House, Halifax Sights & Activities,
Fodor's Online Travel Guide
- Government House - Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Campbell, Mike, Tour of
Halifax Itinerary & Overview
- Canadian Military Heritage
- Halifax Port Authority > Media Fact
Sheet
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Chronology of Ice Hockey History
- Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students - DAGS - About
Halifax
- Travel Trade - Newsletter: Summer 2005
- Map of the present community of Halifax
External links
on the Grand Parade)
)
was evacuated and burned during the War of 1812
)
)
) established and remain today in urban
centre
, USA
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