1901

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In January 1901 died Queen Victoria. Shops and public places everywhere were draped in mourning. At Dartmouth the school children were assembled one afternoon in the auditorium of St. Peter’s Hall where appropriate orations were delivered, and where many of those present sang for the last time the familiar anthem of four generations, “God Save the Queen”.

At 18 Prince Street that winter died Postmaster John E. Leadley who had come from Windsor in 1864 to work at Symonds’ Foundry. Mr. Leadley afterwards operated an Inn at the present 19 Ochter-loney Street. In the large barn which still stands in the rear of the premises, he set up what is said to have been the first livery stable in Dartmouth, and he also was the first man to put a cab on the stand at the ferry.

The appointee to the Postmastership was J. B. Maclean, grocer and one-time schoolmaster at Cole Harbor. Mr. Maclean sold his business at 35 Portland Street to B. O. Bishop. (He is still there.)

The 8-year-old newspaper “Atlantic Weekly” was acquired in April by Joseph M. Weeks. He changed its name to the “Dartmouth Patriot”, and published as usual on Saturday mornings.

John Jago, Ferry Commission Secretary, died in June and was succeeded by Prescott Johnston, brother of the Mayor.

There was no Natal Day celebration in 1901. A few of the old guard made an attempt at organization, but got little support.

That autumn, Ebenezer Moseley the veteran marine architect, was invited by the Provincial Government to submit his plan of a cantilever bridge for the Strait of Canso. Mr. Moseley had sketched the plan in 1896, and was told at the time that such a bridge would not be built for 50 years. (He also had plans for a tunnel under the Strait. All of these later went to the Provincial Museum.)

The Dominion decennial census of 1901 gave Dartmouth’s population as 4,806. After months of agitation by the Board of Trade and others, the Town got its first postman when Freeman Crimp became Letter Carrier No. 1 in September. As a consequence the rate on drop letters was raised from one to two cents. At St. Peter’s Hall a two-night movie was put on by the Bioscope Company showing pictures of the Boer War. In July the Bank of Nova Scotia opened a branch at the present No. 38 Commercial Street.

The Duke and Duchess of York who had been visiting Canadian centres, terminated their tour at Halifax where they were accorded a regal welcome on a cold Saturday afternoon in October. All business was suspended while a monster naval and military review was carried out on the North Common. Most of the stores re-opened in the evening. From the Dartmouth side at night there was an excellent view of the illuminations on the royal fleet of warships anchored off the Dockyard.