During the winter of 1917-1918 block after block of residential and commercial Dartmouth presented the appearance of a battered war-town, with most windows in nearly every house and shop boarded up and blanketed with tar-paper covering.
One dwelling at 50 Pleasant St., near Burton’s Hill, remained that way for years afterward. Heaps of broken glass and debris shoveled and swept into downtown gutters, froze solidly and stayed there until spring.
Not until late summer was all the drifted explosion-rubble cleaned out of corner-catchpits. Hundreds of townsfolk and visitors that year hiked out to Albro’s Lake to take snap-shots of the twisted “Mont Blanc” cannon and the ploughed-up turf on Pine Hill.
In mid-January school-children got back to their studies but were again placed on part-time sessions, because Central and Park school buildings were no longer habitable and never used afterwards for classes.
The ruins of the wooden rink were removed, and preparations made to construct the present Park School on the site. North of this point, the Town advertised for sale 19 building lots of slate rock land banked with berry-bushes. On Synott’s Hill was erected a steel-supported lighthouse 140 feet high.
Postmaster W. H. Sterns died that winter, and was succeeded by Clifford R. Mosher, a local young man who had lost a leg in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The Dartmouth Relief Commission, in charge of A. C. Johnston, was established in the old Reading Room.
There was also set up a Claims’ Court to deal with applications for Explosion damages, under E. M. Walker and R. H. Murray. The Parker house at “Beechwood” was converted into a convalescent hospital.
The Telephone Company removed to the new building on Wentworth Street, from former cramped quarters in the present Cunard Coal office. Halifax Shipyards acquired the whole plant of the Chebucto Marine Railway at the Slip.
The first supervised playgrounds were started that summer on the Common field.
In October, a deadly epidemic of influenza broke out and carried off many prominent townsfolk. Schools, theaters, restaurants, pool-rooms and the like, were closed for a period.
In other public places such as ferry waiting-rooms and large stores, the number of people allowed to congregate was limited to ten.
Over in Europe, the Central Powers were successively collapsing, and in our neighborhood the ban on darkened windows and street lights was now lifted. When the armistice was signed on a Monday morning in November, Dartmouth got the news about 4.30 a.m., by means of four signal-guns fired from Citadel Hill.
Hundreds forsook their usual occupations and flocked over to the City where they joined the jubilant crowds surging along Barrington Street, or milling around bulletin boards of the three daily newspapers.
At Dartmouth, the Town Council immediately convened and made plans to commemorate the historical event. In the afternoon, services of thanksgiving were held in the various churches, and at night an impromptu procession was organized.
It was one of the longest ever held, consisting of bugle bands, Firemen, Axe and Ladder men, Boy Scouts, Church Lads’ Brigade and other organizations followed by hundreds of citizens on foot, in carriages or in gaily decorated automobiles. John Z. Lahey (“Red Jack”), mounted on a white horse, was Marshall. The town was ablaze with bonfires long into the night.
Tuesday was a Dominion-wide holiday. Thanksgiving services were again held in the churches in accordance with a proclamation of the Governor-General. At noon a mass meeting of all denominations gathered in front of the new Post Office where prayers were offered by Monsignor Charles Underwood of Saint Peter’s Church, and by Rev. W. B. Bezanson of King Street Baptist Church. Dr. A. H. MacKay delivered the oration.
On December 9th, Dartmouth was honored by an official visit from His Excellency the Duke of Devonshire, then Governor-General of Canada. From the beflagged ferryboat the procession party proceeded under a high archway at the corner of Portland and Water Streets, then through another arch of ladders erected by the firemen at Wentworth and Queen Streets. All along the route were lines of waving school children. At Greenvale School an official welcome was tendered and a civic address read by Town Clerk Alfred Elliot.
Dartmouth’s death-list for 1918 was unusually high as a result of explosion injuries and the prevalence of influenza. The epidemic took notable Dartmouthian Thomas Mott, brother of John P. Mott, at the age of 89.
It has been estimated that about 500 Dartmouthians including a score of nursing Sisters, went overseas in World War I, participating in perilous activities on sea, on land and in the air. Of these, nearly 100 made the supreme sacrifice. Others returned home gassed, maimed or crippled for life.
Children of present and future generations should be taught continually to observe Remembrance Day with the proper spirit and appreciation, and ever to bear in mind that the freedom they now enjoy was purchased at an appalling sacrifice of human lives.
In 1917 the United States entered the Great War, and the Dominion Government passed a Conscription Bill. Christ Church celebrated its 100th anniversary and erected a monument to her war dead on the Church grounds. Canon C.W. Vernon published a Centenary Book of Anglican parishes hereabouts. Alexander McKay late Supervisor of Halifax Schools died at Dartmouth in April.
In June the Auto Bus Company commenced a service to Woodside, Austenville and the North End. Among the promoters were G.G. Thomson, R.K. Elliott and P.H. Creighton. Hitherto everybody had hiked or pedaled, even to Imperoyal. Gerald Foot opened a small garage on Dundas Street, sold Chevrolet cars and operated taxi-cab. Sarsfield division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians was formed in Dartmouth, and a branch of the Canadian Club was organized. Daylight Time was voted down that year.
Owing to lack of funds, the Reading Room which had served the public since 1889, was permanently closed that spring. The MacKeari Shipbuilding Company acquired land at Tufts’ Cove north of the [Mi’kmaq] reservation. A tern schooner 135 feet long was launched at Williams’ shipyard. All classes of steamers and other vessels swung at anchorage in the harbor, some of then hazardously near the path of the Dartmouth ferries. The “Olympic” came and went from Pier Two, carrying troops over and invalided men homeward, with the regularity of a transatlantic ferry. Scores of ships from North American ports, laden with supplies of war and food for Europe, used to assemble in Bedford Basin and then steam overseas in an armed convoy. This war-time arrangement spelled doom for hundreds in the City and in surrounding area because it brought death, devastation and long years of suffering into their lives. As the memories of the great Halifax Explosion are slowly fading, and the survivors gradually disappearing, the tragic story is here related in considerable detail.
On the morning of Thursday, December 6th, 1917, a munitions: ship named the “Mont Blanc” steamed up from the harbor mouth where she had anchored overnight. Her murderous cargo consisted of deadly TNT, tons of picric acid and a deck load of benzine drums. About the same time, the Norwegian steamer “Imo” chartered for Belgian relief purposes, came out of Bedford Basin.
At the Narrows, these two vessels came into collision. The cause was never (fully) known. There was neither fog nor haze. A lemon-colored sun was arching its way up the far southeastern sky and the wind was so weak that it had not yet cleared away the nightly hangover from smoky chimney-tops. It was to be the last day of fine weather for more than a week. And sad to relate, it was to be the last day of all days for some 1600 unsuspecting men women and children hereabouts.
The effect of the collision was to burst the benzol tins which then sprayed other chemicals to set the French ship on fire. Realizing their perilous position the Captain, crew and Pilot hastily abandoned ship, rowed frantically to the Dartmouth shore and scurried far up Jamieson Street. All the while they kept gesticulating and shouting out wild warnings in French, which were not interpreted by the unmoved residents of that section who were watching the spectacle of the burning ship from the street, or through the windows of their comfortable kitchens, little dreaming that the steamer carried deadly munitions.
“Ground Zero”
At 9.05 a.m., a tremendous blast rent the air. Seconds later came a terrific concussion which shook the very foundations within an area of two and one-half square miles. Hundreds met instant death when houses were flattened, or large structures like the Richmond Refinery, the Ropeworks and Gland’s Brewery crashed into a mass of rubble. Showers of metal, water and oil fell like rain all over north Halifax, Tufts’ Cove and north Dartmouth.
To add to the terror, stoves were overturned and fires broke out, burning to death helpless victims pinned under the debris. The shrieks and moans of the blinded and bleeding were pitiful. Most of the “Mont Blanc” was blown to bits. A half-ton anchor on the forward deck was tossed up over the heights of Richmond to land on Edmonds’ grounds at the Northwest Arm, well over two miles away. A large cannon on her £tern deck described an arc through the air to the eastward almost in line with the present Courtney Road, to land on the south-western slope of Pine Hill not far from Big Albro Lake. The distance is almost two miles.
Mi’kmaq at Tuft’s Cove
The [Mi’kmaq] encampment at Tufts’ Cove was completely wiped out and never again restored. The number of persons killed outright on the Dartmouth side of the harbor was estimated at 40, but for the next fortnight there was an average of three or four deaths daily, no doubt due to explosion injuries or to pneumonia following shock and exposure. Many of these casualties resulted from a 10 o’clock alarm of a second explosion at the Wellington Barracks munitions magazine where fires were raging. The warning forced north enders to remove their sick and injured to open spaces like Victoria Park and Notting Park where they remained helpless and shivering. Downtown people fled to the Common Field and to Silver’s Hill.
In the remaining parts of Dartmouth and in the suburbs, structures of every description suffered in proportion to their proximity to the devastated north-end. The Rolling Mills, near the lower Canal, went down like a house of cards. Chunks of glass went whizzing from store windows, or smaller particles swept like horizontal hail through shops, offices and homes, so that hardly one in ten escaped being riddled In some part of the body. Nearly a score of persons lost their eyes. Some lost both.
Every possible vehicle was requisitioned to convey the victims to temporary hospitals set up at Greenvale School, at the Dr. Parker house at “Beechwood”, the Scarfe house at “Edgemere”, at Imperoyal and at the N. S. Hospital. The Imperoyal authorities also turned over several shacks which provide shelter for over 200 homeless. It was estimated that about 162 houses had been rendered uninhabitable in Dartmouth.
In order to give young people and newcomers an idea of the intensity of this disaster, we append a few excerpts from an account of the explosion written afterward for the Windsor Tribune by Mrs. A.C. Pettipas, whose residence stood (and still stands) at the southeast corner of Windmill Road and Dawson Street:
About 8.35 a.m., I had occasion to go into the bedroom which overlooked the harbor and noticed that something strange was happening. Two large steamers were almost together. One had swung round at right angles to the other and was drifting stern first into Pier 8 at Richmond. Tiny flames were leaping up from her stern section. At intervals of about three seconds occurred nine minor explosions, each successive one becoming more threatening. Then there was an alarming explosion. A great ball of black smoke rose some 500 feet, and out of this came lurid cardinal flames.
I raised the window to call to two women who were talking excitedly on the street corner. This act probably saved my life and certainly my eyes. As I leaned out to call, a blinding sheet of fire shot about a mile into the air and covered the whole sky. Then a violent concussion rent the air and threw me with a terrific force across the room. I struck the wall, and fell, coming into contact with the foot of the bed as I did so. There I lay, half under the bed, while the floor sagged down in the shape of a hammock. The chimneys crashed through the roof completely wrecking the bathroom. The house swayed and rocked. Doors and window sashes were ripped asunder. Splinters of glass shot through the room and buried themselves an inch deep in the plaster which by now was falling on me in whitened masses…
One could count fully 40 seconds while the deafening and fiendish noises filled the air. I was perfectly conscious and fully realized what had happened. I was certain that nothing could be left of the ship after such an explosion. I thought of my husband who was in Halifax, and of my mother who lived farther north on Hester Street. Then came a calm. I could not realize that I had been spared. I was deaf, there was a great roaring sensation in my head, and I felt stunned. Staggering to my feet, I found that the hall stove had been tipped back against the wall with the fire still burning brightly. It was badly battered with one leg smashed, but I propped it up with a brick and ran out to the kitchen. It was a shambles, but fortunately the kitchen fire had gone out.
I snatched my raincoat and hat and was on the street within a few minutes. Water was dripping from the teetering roofs of houses as if there had been a deluge of rain, although it was a perfectly fine day. (I was told later that a tidal wave had swept to Windmill Road. Some who were eye-witnesses along the waterfront, say that they saw the bottom of the harbor but I cannot vouch for the truth of this statement.) My feelings on reaching the street baffle all description. Across from our house lay a heap of ruins which but a few minutes before had been the new Emmanuel Church. I tried to run, thinking that my mother would be alone and if not killed, at least severely injured.
Emmanuel Church
(See more photos, primarily from the Windmill Road section here)
Along Windmill Road, every house was in a pitiable state of destruction, and at every doorway or window appeared faces of dazed and bleeding victims. I had not gone far north, when a heavy shower of black hail fell, great lumps of ice, coated in black soot. Smoke clouded the air like an overhanging pall making it almost as dark as night. Lumps of twisted metal, probably from the “Mont Blanc”, were falling all round, making it dangerous to be in the open.
Emmanuel Church
A woman in the street thrust a baby into my arms. The child was covered with blood and may have been dead. She begged me in God’s name to hurry it to a doctor. Just then a team came along and I got the driver to take the child downtown for medical assistance. As I passed Crathorne’s demolished mill, I saw more evidence of the great extent of the disaster. Women and children covered with blood and soot, unrecognizable even to their own families, were rushing hither and thither in a panic while their homes nearby were a mass of flames.
Reaching Hester Street, I learned from my little brother who had survived the Victoria School crash on Wyse Road, that my mother had gone to Halifax early that morning. Her house was almost a total ruin but strangely enough the kitchen stove was on all-fours and the fire was still smoldering. Stepping outside the door, I encountered a four-year old child who was barefooted and in its nightdress covered with blood and soot. His mother had been killed. With the child was a deformed boy who lived in the same house with his cousin. The latter had also been killed. The deformed boy had a gaping hole in his neck from which blood flowed freely. Mothers unironed clothes were still on the kitchen table, and with strips of these I hurriedly bound up the wounds of the two children.
Then a neighbor woman appeared with her daughter whose arms had been cut by flying glass. The mother had been ill in bed, and saved herself by covering up with bedclothes. The mother was dazed and unable to think, but I promised to take her daughter with the others to my home on Dawson Street until medical assistance arrived. I hardly know how I managed my way back, with the child in my arms and the boy and girl following behind. Heaps of rubble and glass strewed the streets, and houses were everywhere on fire. Dead and wounded lay on the sidewalks and sometimes in the middle of the street where they had fallen from loss of blood. Firemen were running from one fire to another. I struggled on, occasionally resting on a doorstep or a piece of fallen timber. Here and there we passed rescue crews from HMCS “Niobe” who were carrying dead and wounded to emergency shelters in the south end of Dartmouth and suburbs.
Tufts Cove School
Here is a mild sample of what structures looked like all over the north end after the 1917 Explosion. Some houses were completely flattened or had the roofs and sides blown out. Then they caught fire. This was Tufts’ Cove School at the Town limits on Windmill Road. As classes did not commence until 9.30 a.m., in winter, pupils were not in the building at the time. (The writer continues with an account of getting her patients comfortably settled, and then the warning of a second explosion at the Halifax magazine. This fresh panic sent nearly everybody fleeing to Victoria Park or to open spaces on the Common, but it did not move Mrs. Pettipas. She then describes the sight of houses afire on the Richmond slopes, and the safe arrival of her mother and husband from Halifax. The latter was cut in a number of places, but “mother didn’t have a scratch”.)
Among the eye-casualties on Explosion Day, the saddest case was at Tufts’ Cove where Mrs. William Dumaresq and her little daughter Vera, were both totally blinded by flying glass when their house at the foot of Indian Road was flattened, killing two other children. The husband was among those killed at the nearby Brewery. At Tufts’ Cove also, a little boy named Fraser lost an eye. Near the Basin shore at Burnside, Miss Mae Barry, daughter of Andrew Barry, lost the sight of an eye but saved the organ. At the Consumers’ Cordage Co., Manager Leo Graham and George (Sandy) Ferguson each lost an eye. At 31 Pelzant Street, Mrs. Owen Sawler lost an eye. (Almost 40 years afterwards, Mrs. Sawler told me that powdered glass was still working out through her forehead.)
In the downtown area, Miss Flora Heffeman, stenographer at Simmonds’ Hardware, lost an eye from a shattered electric-light-shade. Clifford Prescott, in the same office, lost his eye when windows blew to pieces. Flying glass on the 9 o’clock ferryboat from Dartmouth caused an eye-loss for Miss Flora Murphy of Preston Road. At 17 Dahlia Street, Mrs. Douglas Mills lost an eye when suddenly showered with glass and debris while at work in her kitchen. A boy named Russell Urquhart lost his right eye from bookcase glass at Hawthorne School. In her home at the corner of Portland and James Streets, Mrs. Charles A. MacLean lost the vision in one eye, but saved the organ. At 298 Portland Street, Mrs. Walter C. Bishop was pinned by the metal end of a diving window-blind-roller which necessitated removal of the eye. And so far as known, Miss Irene Wentzell was injured in almost the same manner in her home at 3 Albert Street. At any rate the eye had to be removed. (The above list is made from recollection and from inquiry, but there must be many names missing, especially in the north areas.)
Turtle Grove Breweries, (Oland)
These afflicted people walked, ran or were transported to Queen Street where were located our five town doctors. Dr. Burris was at 32, and Dr. Payzant at No. 31. Already the sidewalks were encumbered with the maimed and bleeding as more and more victims arrived. Hatless women from neighboring homes were working hurriedly with bandages, Dr, Dickson, at the northwest corner of King and Queen, was operating on a table outside his door, because there was then a warning not to remain inside of buildings.
In Dr. Gandier’s residence at 60 Queen Street, and in Dr. Smith’s at the southwest corner of Queen and Dundas, patients were the office and on the floors of the halls, dining room, living room and kitchen. Russell Urquhart, who was led by his brother from Hawthorne School, afterwards related that when his turn came, he was placed on a fur coat in that section of the street, where Dr. Smith put 22 stitches in his mangled face around the injured eye as fast as the boy’s mother could thread the needles.
Hawthorne Street must have been in the line of bedrock that conveyed the concussion, for there were a series of casualties along that thoroughfare. There was one fatality. At 82 Hawthorne Street Mrs. James Cooper suffered such frightful jugular injuries from jagged glass that she had just strength enough to run screaming in the street where she bled to death before the flow could be stopped. In the very next house, Mrs. Edward Conrod lost an eye when window glass smashed into her kitchen at 80 Hawthorne Street. At No. 13 Hawthorne, Mrs. Ellsworth Smith lost the sight of an eye, but not the organ. Another eye casualty was Gladys, three-month-old child of Mr. and Mrs. John Riel 44 Dawson St. This girl had poor health and died at 17 years.
Of all the narrow escapes from death on that dreadful morning, the most miraculous case is that of George Holmes of Tufts’ Cove who still lives to tell the tale. Mr. Holmes was operating the north ferry motor-boat service at the time, and noticing the men rowing from the “Mont Blanc” in a hurry, he headed for the burning steamer with the intention of taking off anyone who might have been forgotten. According to Mr. Holmes, the French ship carried no red flag. The last thing he remembered was that his little craft was about 50 yards away from its destination.
After that, he was unconscious for 19 days in a temporary hospital at the Halifax Ladies’ College on Harvey Street. On Christmas day he revived. Only recently, George related that he knew exactly what happened him, but from meager particulars gathered from time to time, he learned that he was picked up Hanover Street in Richmond. The only clothing left on his bruised ash-embedded body was a heavy pair of high rubber boots.
Of the many pieces of metal that blew to our side of the harbor, not one seems to have been preserved as a memento. Missiles landed in the most unusual places. One sharp chunk hit the roof and through to the cellar of a house on Water St. It landed within a few feet of a little girl named Lynch lying ill in the upstairs bedroom. To this day, hundreds of people in the City and areas surrounding Dartmouth will tell you of similar incidents and how they just missed death by inches.
Many of those injured in the Explosion complain bitterly of the meager dole awarded them in years by the Relief Commission. It is high time Dartmouth had a say in the vast fund certainly not donated exclusively to Halifax.
Whatever chance our stricken and anguished north end residents had of salvaging essential household goods like bedding and clothing, was utterly ruined by a driving snowstorm which set in on December 7th, wrecking tented shelters and covering their abandoned or flattened premises with undulating masses of snow, so that the very location of former buildings was in some cases completely obliterated. The storm was followed by rain on the 8th, and afterward by a prolonged period of cold weather.
This photo was taken from the Dartmouth Rink tower in 1909. At left is the undeveloped Common on north-east side of Windmill Road. At right is one corner of the unfenced Chebucto Grounds. “A” marks the spot where “Imo” and “Mont Blanc” collided in 1917. “B” shows pier 7 at Richmond towards which the burning munition ship drifted for 20 minutes. “H” is the shore where the Imo was driven. “G” is brick Richmond Sugar Refinery. “I” is Pier 8. To the north of that, a railway bridge curved across to Tuft’s Cove until 1893. “D” is Dawson St., extending down to the trees at “Fairfield” marked “C” where Joseph Howe lived. The chimneyed house at left is Michael Lahey’s at the corner of Windmill Road and Lyle Street. (Photo courtesy of late John S. Misener.)
In 1916 more local boys enlisted with the 85th Highlanders, the 64th, the 112th and 219th Battalions. One platoon of the last mentioned composed exclusively of Dartmouthians and those of the suburbs, used the old wooden Rink for drill purposes. In February, St. James Church was packed with 85th members at a special Sunday service. Wounded men from the seat of war kept returning home and were accorded a warm welcome by the Returned Soldiers local committee. Many were badly gassed.
Farmers from the eastern sections protested to the City Council about the location of the new market building. They stated that it would be a hardship on those who were accustomed to leave their teams in Dartmouth. Now these small traders would be obliged to carry their produce up the steep Halifax hills.
The Dartmouth Land Company advertised a 180-lot subdivision at Crichton Park Annex, which was “bound to be a profitable investment now that a bridge at the Narrows was assured.” St. Peter’s congregation purchased the former Dustan house and land at “Eastwood”. The new Post Office was taken over from the Public Works Department. James Renner was appointed caretaker.
The Imperial Oil Company acquired an extensive tract of land near Woodside and made preparations to erect a million dollar plant. Real Estate in the vicinity was in big demand. Every available property was bonded. A large 3-masted schooner was launched at Williams’ Shipyard. Near Oland’s Brewery the French Cable Company constructed a new wharf and warehouse.
A half-holiday was declared in mid-September when all Dartmouth organizations united in holding a monster Fair on the Common field in aid of the British Seamen’s Relief Fund. Over $2,000 was realized. A. C. Johnston was Chairman. James Burchell was Secretary.
Daylight Saving Time was adopted that summer. Some 15 automobile owners took out $8 taxi licenses and operated at the cab-stand in spare time.
The 1916 necrology list (other than war casualties) included Mrs. J. Lester Griffin 94, Cornelius Herman 88, Mrs. C. A. Creighton 87, Deacon Charles Smith [black] 80, Steve Williams (truckman), Joshua Short, Mrs. Henry Findlay, Mrs. Jol Carter, Mrs. William Patterson and Mrs. James Settle.
Throughout the winter of 1914-1915, Dartmouth pupils continued on half-time classes until the new Greenvale and Hawthorne Schools were finally opened towards the end of April. Old Hawthorne School, however, still had to be utilized to take care of the overcrowding. Legislation was obtained in 1915 empowering the Park Commission to sell building lots on the Common from the wooden Exhibition Rink to Lyle Street. The name of Quarrell Street was changed to Queen Street, and the Town tax rate was fixed at $1.67. A Town Planning Board was formed. It comprised Mayor Williams, Councilors Lynch and Russell; R. Leo Graham and Dr. W. H. Hattie.
Collections for a machine gun were successful carried out by the Axe and Ladder Company under the leadership Harry Young. Recruiting speeches were made by military and other officials at every opportunity such as theatre audiences and at race gatherings. Numbers of youths donned naval or khaki uniform.
With the concentration of troops and ships at Halifax, more and more newcomers began to locate on our side of the harbor. It was the beginning of the end of old-time Dartmouth, whose ferry-passengers and townsfolk in general were fairly fixed in their number and in their habits, and whose business places had not yet seen many striking changes. No longer was the familiar “To Let” sign visible in vacant houses. Rents took a rise. Vacant spots of scrag land overgrown with burdock and buzzy bushes, which had long gone begging for buyers, now began to be acquired by speculators and new organizations such as the Dartmouth Development Co.
C. G. Walker’s new hardware store at his grandfather’s o. location on Portland Street sold “Model T” Fords on instalment Automobiles began to line up at the cab-stand to compete with horse-drawn vehicles, and to splash pedestrians on our muddy streets which were still macadamized, although the downtown permanent sidewalk program had gone steadily forward every summer. Some stranger with a Southern accent asked for a “cawh” ticket at the ferry, and was handed out a 10-cent one by the naïve young lad at the wicket, long accustomed to similar purchases from herders of cows and oxen.
Symonds’ old Iron Foundry was torn down that year. The Winston Steel plant was erected near Grove Street. The new Post Office was nearing completion. The brick Coombs residence was built on Crichton Avenue. More dwellings went up on Bligh Street. Walter C. Bishop erected the first house on Bell’s Hill opposite Lawlor farm. Ex-Councilor Peter McKenna retired after 35 years in the undertaking business. Cecil E. Zink built a new Funeral Parlor on Portland Street. The Board of Trade report listed the number of new houses at 35. (Peter McKenna was also a prominent Contractor.)
At 201 Windmill Road, died Mrs. Joseph Deyoung at the great age of 102. This remarkable lady’s patriotic activity of knitting socks for soldiers, brought her a personal acknowledgment from King George V. Peter Day, the north-end oarsman died at 92.
Other life-long residents to pass away, were Harry Ede Austen, Lewis Payzant, Mrs. George, Mrs. J. D. Murphy, Mrs. Paul Farrell and ex-Mayor James Simmons who had come to Dartmouth in 1854. Mrs. Dr. Parker 81, died at “Beechwood”. In the Morris house at Lake Loon died Gore Montagu after whose family the mining village is named, but misspelled.
Peter Beals died at Preston, aged 82. Margaret Downey (Mrs. James Kennedy) former school teacher, died at Revelstoke, B.C. Her sister Frances died at Beverley, Mass., and was buried in Dartmouth. Both were daughters of Maurice Downey and grandchildren of Joseph Moore of the Canal. In November, school pupils were escorted to Halifax to view the remains of Sir Charles Tupper, father of the Nova Scotia Free School Act.
In 1914 the whole world commenced to turn topsy-turvy. Our first upset occurred on January 28th, when wooden Greenvale School with its valuable museum specimens and library books was completely destroyed by fire. We got another shock in May when the “Empress of Ireland” sunk in the St. Lawrence with several prominent personages.
The crowded school situation was now greatly aggravated. In this expediency, most pupils were put on part time in Central and Park Schools. Other classes were set up in Christ Church Parish Hall and in the Merson building on Dundas Street. Plans were then made to erect new schools, and contracts were subsequently awarded to Rhodes Curry and Co., for the construction of fireproof structures at Greenvale and at Hawthorne.
Meanwhile the work of demolishing and removing buildings on the new Post Office site was rapidly progressing. The track of the Eastern railroad was well beyond Musquodoboit Harbor. Halifax and Dartmouth Boards of Trade now collaborated to urge upon the Federal Government the necessity of a harbor bridge so that freight from Dartmouth and the eastern sections of the County could go by rail directly across to Halifax. A bridge would also be the means of extending the Halifax tram lines to Dartmouth and to Cow Bay beach for summer tourist trade.
All these projects made life in Dartmouth look pretty rosy in the early summer of 1914. Boating, swimming, bathing, baseball, tennis and other outdoor activities were expanding, as more and more growing girls and boys emulated their oldsters. The lakes were alive with all sorts of craft. Shirt-waisted ladies and straw-hatted men of all ages reappeared in the usual summer garb. Seldom did we see a military or a naval uniform in Dartmouth, except when some local boy like George Myers came into port on HMCS ‘‘Canada” or the ‘Niobe” which then comprised the whole Canadian Navy on the Atlantic coast. Over the years, most of us had received training in cadet corps. Some afterwards joined various Halifax volunteer regiments for summer drill and encampment. Others attended Naval College, but probably very few contemplated a military career.
The Brightwood Golf Club under President I. W. Vidito opened a 9-hole golf course with a grand celebration in July. Unaware of any impending peril, the Banook Club Committee went ahead with plans for a Natal Day celebration (which was never held), and already had ordered the regular supply of fireworks.
Then the deluge of blood commenced in Europe.
The heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated. Germany flew to arms to assist her ally; declared war on Russia and France, and invaded Belgium. On August 4th, Britain declared war against Germany. Everybody was aroused to action.
At Dartmouth, sailors from a French trawler on the Marine slip paraded the streets with the Union Jack and Tricolor, alternately singing “God Save the King” and the “Marsellaise”. Troops from the volunteer regiments of Halifax manned the various port outposts and vulnerable points east of Dartmouth. Eastern Passage was closed to shipping. All the sources of our water supply system were heavily guarded. Scores of local boys were either already in the ranks, or on their way to Valcartier to join the First Canadian Contingent. Rumors were rife of enemy submarines.
Big transatlantic liners including the “Mauretania” and the “Cedric” raced for refuge into Halifax harbor, and anchored within shouting distance of the ferry route. Meat, flour and other produce took a sharp rise. The local Red Cross Society commenced to collect money and clothing for war purposes. The Canadian Patriotic Fund, to assist the families of men in the services, was organized. The Committee who canvassed in Dartmouth comprised Mayor Williams, Town Clerk Elliot, J. W. Allison, James Burchell, E. M. Walker, A. C. Pyke, James Tobin, Dr. F. W. Stevens, Leo Graham. The Acadia Sugar Refinery subscribed $10,000, and the Town Council voted $2,500. In Europe the German army was sweeping onward.
In the autumn Dartmouth joined with other centres in an extensive campaign for funds, food and clothing for the relief of sufferers in devastated Belgium. The local chairman was ex-Mayor A. C. Johnston, grandson of a former Premier. About 150 crates and barrels of food, clothing, boots, groceries and the like, were packed and added to the tons of similar material at Halifax where it was loaded aboard ships chartered by the Nova Scotia Government, and sent forward as a contribution of the people of this Province.
Meantime Dartmouth boys were continuing to rally to the colors, many of them enlisting with the well-known 25th Battalion then recruiting at Halifax. In Dartmouth the Home Defence Guards were organized and commenced drilling in the Dartmouth Rink under Captains H. D. Creighton, Dr. F. W. Stevens and J. Lorn Allan.
The Eastern Railway to Dean Settlement was completed that year, and on December 21st brought in its first load of passengers. They were disembarked at Woodside because the Government had not yet taken over the new road from the contractors.
The exodus of young people and sometimes of whole families, out of Dartmouth which had been going on since the 1890s, seems to have been halted about this time. This is indicated by school statistics. The total registration of pupils at the turn of the century hovered around the 1200 mark. In the year 1905 the figure was 1279, but by 1912 it had dropped to the low mark of 1084. The attendance picked up in 1913 when the annual enrolment stood at 1105. At last the tide had turned. It will be remembered that during these latter years the great development at the Halifax Ocean Terminals was well under way, bringing workmen and their families back to our district. On this side of the harbor, reconstruction of the Sugar Refinery brought increased trade to merchants in Dartmouth.
In 1913 the Ferry Commission erected the present station house at Halifax, replacing the small low building which stood on the southern side of the main gates. A new Post Office for Dartmouth was also on the Federal Government program. The proposal was to rebuild on the old site (present N.S. Light and Power office), but many townsfolk had been long agitating for the demolition of the Colored Barracks, and other old buildings fronting Quarrell Street. This location was decided upon, after President J. Walter Allison of the Board of Trade had interviewed Premier Borden at Ottawa in 1913.
More dwellings were erected in parts of Austenville that year, also on Hawthorne Street, Pleasant Street, and on Prince Albert Road south of F. S. Mitchell’s residence which had been built in 1909. The remainder of Eaton’s field (formerly Stanford’s) was still in its primitive state as far as Robert McElmon’s premises. The new North End Mission (Emmanuel) Church was opened in March.
The shipyard of Mayor E. F. Williams at the foot of Church Street was still flourishing in 1913. That summer he launched some half dozen small patrol boats for the Dominion Government. Dr. A. H. MacKay of the Board of Trade reported that his Bridge Committee had interviewed Federal Government engineers and the latter were then making estimates as to the cost of a bridge at the Narrows. Eugene Nichols succeeded Watson L. Bishop as Superintendent of Streets, after 21 years service. Mr. Bishop’s system of macadamizing had given Dartmouth some of the finest streets in the Province.
Since the turn of the century amateur baseball teams like the Casazos, Centrals, North Stars, St. Peter’s, Red Sox, DBCA, Woodside and Mount Amelias had attracted large crowds to the unfenced Chebucto Grounds for league games on summer evenings. The hat was passed around to defray cost of equipment. In winter the same enthusiasm was exhibited at the old Rink in the senior and junior hockey league games. In autumn there were generally four or five tug of war tournaments and athletic contests. The Boggshire boys, who were now young men, held their 15th annual regatta off the Slip in 1913. It was to be the last. Dartmouth celebrated its Natal Day on Thursday, August 14th. It also was the last for a while.
At this time, war was rumbling in the Balkans and in Mexico. Newspapers in parts of Canada, occasionally editorialized on the “German peril”; in other parts, the idea was ridiculed. All of it seemed very foreign to the carefree youths of Dartmouth who were then far more interested in battles of big-league baseball teams.
The Dartmouth Patriot newspaper removed from 85 Portland Street in 1912, and located at the present 48 Commercial Street in the building then vacated by C. E. Peveril when he closed out his 20-year old butcher business. John E. Walker also abandoned his father’s grocery establishment which had been started many years before by H. C. Walker at the present premises of E. S. Dickie on Portland Street.
Construction work in 1912 included rebuilding of the Sugar Refinery where 400 men were employed. Remodeling of the Baptist Church on King Street comprised a new vestry and Sunday School section. Their first parsonage was also built as a dwelling at northwest corner of Tulip and Pine Streets. Another house was erected at the northwest corner of Tulip and Maple; and a few more Ropework cottages were built on Dawson Street. Contractor Charles Short erected for his father-in-law Edward Stanley, the double dwelling at 26-28 King Street. Otherwise there was not much new work in the building line, probably on account of the large number of older houses already up for sale or to be let.
The Dartmouth Development Company bought up a few properties in downtown Dartmouth. Many others were on the market. Mrs. John Hunt, widow of the iceman, who then occupied Manor Hill, offered the residence, stable, coach house and nearly 40 acres of land, both adjacent and in the vicinity of Oathill Lake.
At 29 King Street that year, died Mrs. Thomas Hill, last of the family of Judge Charles R. Fairbanks, Canal Secretary. Paul Farrell, brother of Dominick and native of Dartmouth, whose former grocery and bar still stands at 66 Ochterloney Street, died at Halifax aged 86. Mrs. Farrell’s flower garden flourished on the present location of Masonic Hall, and on part of Wentworth Street.
The Dominion decennial census of 1911 gave Dartmouth’s population at 5,058. In February of that year, two-roomed Victoria School was opened at the southeast corner of Wyse Road and Common Road. The new ferry-steamer “Halifax” was launched in Scotland. Daniel Brennan commenced the first automobile-bus service around Dartmouth and also ran trips to Cow Bay Beach. In a short time, he abandoned the venture. Many Dartmouthians saw their first airship flights at the Provincial Exhibition. Sir Wilfrid Lauriercampaigned in Halifax for the Dominion elections. The big issue was reciprocity with the United States, and the result was a victory for the Conservative party, led by Robert L. Borden, the representative for Halifax County in the House of Commons.
More permanent sidewalks were laid in Dartmouth that year. The dates of construction are still indicated by brass figures embedded at our various street corners. Road racing continued in vogue, with Dartmouth boys making their usual creditable showing at the contests in Halifax. President Stanley MacKenzie of Dalhousie University, a former Dartmouth resident, presented the annual prizes at Greenvale School. Dartmouth firemen assisted at an all-night conflagration of the King Edward Hotel in Halifax. The Dartmouth Board of Trade took advantage of the change of Government, and renewed their requests to Ottawa for the construction of permanent bridge across the Narrows. The steam-yacht “Hirondelle” equipped with wireless telegraphy, sent out a musical program over the air, from her anchorage in Halifax harbor.
This is the Dartmouth Axe and Ladder Company running team taken during “Old Home Week.” celebrations at Yarmouth in July 1911. Out of ten teams contesting” in the hook and ladder race, the Dartmouth group were only one fifth of a second behind the winning team from New Aberdeen. Back row, left to right: Alexander (Sandy) Patterson, William Chapman, Arthur Bonang, James Baker, Richard Walsh. Front row, left to right: Douglas Patterson, Martin Murphy, Harry Young, Clarence Short, Fire Chief Trefry of Yarmouth, Arthur Emery.
During the first decade of the 1900s and up to the outbreak of World War I, there was a continual exodus of young people, particularly school-teachers, to the Canadian Northwest. Those who did not heed Horace Greeley’s advice, usually found employment locally or in Halifax. By this time there were many more female commuters on the ferry. At every trip, it was the custom of the male passengers to pop into the Reading Room and glimpse the morning papers while waiting for the boat. Then at the sound of the ferry-bell, they made a mad rush out of the door.
Some eight or ten hackmen with open carriages, made a small living at the cab-stand nearby. Low-slung ice-carts, returning empty at noon or night, had the rear step loaded with homeward-bound hitch-hikers. The few automobiles that passed through Dartmouth during the early part of that decade, were at first derided and even dreaded, for these chugging machines with their dust-coated and goggled drivers often caused runaway accidents. By 1910 cars were becoming fairly numerous. As there was no such thing as STOP signs, drivers were obliged to sound their horns at every corner. Failure to do this, drew a ten dollar fine in Police Courts.
Bathing spots at the lakes like Birch Cove, “Bull Rock” and Port Wallace Locks continued to be patronized by men and boys. After the Banook clubhouse was built, scores of canoes appeared on the fresh water surfaces. Billy McPhee, at the present Mic-Mac location, had boats for hire and made scheduled motor-boat trips up and down from Second Lake where whole families camped during the summer. Swimming was forbidden in Maynard’s Lake because it was a source of supply for the Nova Scotia Hospital.
Sunday bathers at Cow Bay beach kept increasing greatly after the turn of the century. The numerous wagons and four-horse teams returning to Halifax in the evening, created clouds of dust which literally coated houses on downtown Portland Street. (The watering-cart did not function on Sundays.)
McNab’s Island was another Sunday mecca for bathers and also for beer-drinkers. There were plenty of suitable spots for private picnics and beaching of row-boats, and plenty of ale for five cents a pint at the forts in the years up to 1905 when the Imperial regiments were garrisoned at Halifax.
The annual Sunday School picnic to Findlay’s Grounds on “the Island” was the one event in the lives of most youngsters to which they looked forward from one summer to the next. The march from the church, the band, the boat-trip, the Mauger’s Beach lighthouse, the rural surroundings, the smell of spruce, the creaking of swings, the welcome odor of dinner cooking, the cramming of food, the foot-races, the whir of the wheel of fortune, or the staccato tones of the agile young man calling figures through the strains of Buchanan’s Orchestra on the dance floor—all revive fond memories oJ those peaceful pre-war years with their comfortable sensation ol security, never to be known or understood by post-war generations
Such were some of the features of life hereabouts in the era preceding the coming of autos. Much of the energy of youth was there applied to things afloat. Their yachts, boats and boat-houses had to be repaired, and watched at every change of weather. On a summer evening, cushion-seated pleasure craft occupied by young couples, fairly dotted the Dockyard part of the harbor where British warships lay at anchor halfway across to Black Rock. Usually the naval band played nightly on the deck. Enterprising John Forsyth in his advertisement of a house to let on Fairbanks Street in the spring of 1905, mentioned as an inducement that the tenant would enjoy free band concerts all summer.
In 1910 the Consumers Cordage Company financed the expense of cutting a new street from the head of Crathorne’s Pond through the Brodie property to the Ropeworks gate. Seven more blocks c permanent sidewalks were laid downtown. Dartmouth installed it own street lighting plant by leasing telephone poles and erecting about 100 new ones. The Royal Bank came to Dartmouth when the organization absorbed all the branches of the Union Bank of Halifax
In the month of May, Hailey’s comet returned on schedule, and was the centre of attraction in the northern sky for nearly a week on fine evenings. Dartmouth firemen competed in a tournament at Truro on that Town’s 150th anniversary. Natal Day on Thursday, August 4th was fine in the morning, but the rowing races at the lakes were held in the rain.
The nine-year reign of King Edward VII ended with his death that spring. His successor, George V, was known in this port from the days of his service in the British Navy. In those years, he occasionally came to our side of the harbor on fishing and hunting excursions. Another death in England was that of wealthy Dominick Farrell, who lived there in retirement. At her Dartmouth home, died Mrs. J. W. Turner (Eliza Foster), who was 88 years of age and widow of James Turner, one time Mayor of Dartmouth.
By 1909 efforts were still being made to start construction work on the Nova Scotia Eastern Railway. Rumors that the Provincial Government were considering an advance of one million dollars to promoters of the railroad, aroused strong protests from County Councilors that winter. They passed a resolution pointing out to the Government that such a financial outlay would benefit only a certain section of Halifax County, whereas if the same amount were applied to the macadamizing and widening of trunk roads, the money would be expended to much better advantage.
Speaking for the resolution, Councillor W. A. Temple of Waverley said that macadamized roads would be the forerunner of better means of communication. In the very near future, automobiles would be manufactured at a lower cost than at present, and could then serve the needs of farmers equally as well as railroads.
At the same session, County Councilors vehemently denounced the recklessness of certain auto drivers who kept speeding towardsa skittish horse, already showing signs of becoming unmanageable. The number of farmer’s’ horses and wagons along a highway far outnumbered automobiles; and moreover, the former used the roads for purposes of making a living, while the autoist raced through the countryside merely for motives of pleasure.
The Councilors thereupon drew up a by-law which in effect, was somewhat the same as had been adopted in some other Counties of Nova Scotia, and in some other Provinces. It declared that:
NO AUTOMOBILE SHALL BE ALLOWED TO RUN ON ANY ROAD IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF HALIFAX, EXCEPT ON TUESDAY AND THURSDAY IN EACH WEEK.
The penalty for infraction of the automobile bylaw was $50 for the first offence, $100 for the second and $200 for the third offence with or without imprisonment of 60 days.
The comment of the “Dartmouth Patriot” agreed that the law was drastic but the County Council felt that the highways should be preserved for the people. Some rural roads had not been improved for years, and were little better than wagon tracks around a side hill or along a river-bank where an automobile and an ordinary carriage could not pass, without one or the other being forced off the road, said the editorial.
A few months later the Dartmouth newspaper again commented:
“The vexed question of prohibiting motor vehicles from the use of the public highways is rapidly being adjusted in different places. The auto has come to stay. That might as well be understood. The only thing is to so regulate traffic that it will not interfere unduly with the great number of people who do not own these vehicles. Nearly every County in Nova Scotia has laws of its own which prohibit the traffic on certain days of each week. In Halifax County the prohibition is very severe, but so far no prosecutions have taken place although the law is violated every week. In fact the bylaw is a dead letter. In time, the auto will be as common as carriages are today, so it is better to prepare for them.“
Dartmouth made a far-reaching step towards modernity in 1909 when the Town commenced the construction of permanent sidewalks. The first stretch of concrete was laid along the east side of Water Street between Portland and Quarrell Streets. The western side of the same block was the next to be laid, and the concrete walk continued down the north side of the ferry hill to the railway tracks. Another half block was completed that autumn on the north side of Portland Street from Sterns’ corner to Prince Street.
There was a proposal to extend Prince Street through to Quarrell Street at a cost of about $6,000, but the question was defeated by an adverse vote of ratepayers at a plebiscite.
That year the Governors of Dalhousie University, who were seeking a suitable location for building expansion, came to Dartmouth and looked over the Common field as a possible site.
At Greenvale School in October, Lieutenant-Governor D. C. Fraser presented pupils with prizes won during the previous term. It was the first time that a representative of the Crown had paid an official visit to Dartmouth schools.
There was a real Jesse James hold-up with real shooting, in a lonely part of town that fall. The scene was nearly opposite the present Memorial Rink on Wyse Road, then a narrow thoroughfare bordered by a swamp of trees and bushes. Back in last century, the road had been constructed largely at the expense of the Ropeworks Company because of the more direct route it afforded their teams in the movement of raw and finished material to and from the ferry. On account of its isolated position, the road was seldom used by other vehicles, and its pedestrian traffic was mostly confined to the few factory or office workers, who lived downtown.
During the noon hour on Friday, November 5th, as accountant George Foot, with a leather-bag containing a $2,000 payroll for Ropework employees, was being driven from the ferry in an open-seated double-carriage by a veteran hackman named Lewis DeYoung, two masked men Suddenly sprang out from the bushy swale on the western side of the roadway.
One of the outlaws dashed forward to seize the horse’s bridle, while his accomplice made a leaping lunge at George Foot and tried to wrench the precious money-bag from his grasp. Both attempts failed. The startled horse violently jigged his head clear, and bounding forward, hurtled his assailant aside. At the same moment Mr. Foot’s attacker was knocked off balance by the sudden jerk of the wagon. Then a revolver went off. either accidentally or by design, but the bullet came near to being fatal for Mr. Foot in the fleeing carriage, for the deadly missile whizzed straight across his mouth inflicting a painful wound which bled profusely as the horse galloped furiously northward to safety.
The whole affair was over in a minute, according to eyewitnesses David Drury and Clifford Smith, two northend boys who happened to be on the road at the time, although some distance apart.
The gunmen jumped back into the woods, and were last seen scurrying up the slope of School Street through the Common. They must have continued past Albro’s and the other lakes to ‘the northward, then turned westerly towards the railway track because a volunteer posse from the Ropeworks were able to follow their trail. They were overtaken near Flint’s farm about three hours afterwards, and surrendered without resisting. Their names were Charles Gallagher and Herbert Hassett. Both were residents of Massachusetts, although Gallagher had been born in Dartmouth. They got eight years each in Dorchester Penitentiary.
In 1909 the Western Union Telegraph Office closed up after two years trial in Dartmouth. About this time also the operator and typist at the Consumers’ Cordage Company resigned, and the private telegraph wire there was disconnected. The last operator was Miss Isabel McKay of Pictou. The only other large establishment to have a private wire was the Sugar Refinery, but they had closed it out about ten years previously. John Toomey was the last operator. All messages were then sent by telephone.
That year Mrs. Annie Smith (formerly Mrs. William Dear of the Stag Hotel), died at Brooks’ Corner in Preston, aged 106. At Dartmouth, the well-known “Ned” Beals of Preston, after being tormented by a local gang, aimlessly smashed a plate glass window with a retaliatory missile on Portland Street.
